Liviu Mocan

Liviu Mocan is one of the most important Romanian sculptors today. He studied at the Art Academy in Cluj-Napoca, followed by post academic studies in the U.S.

Mocan has won several commissions to create sculptures for different public events in Romania, such as 'Shot Pillars' commemorating the martyrs of the 1989 revolution which overthrew the Communist regime. In 2017 he was chosen to create a memorial in Turda for the 450th anniversary of the first edict of religious toleration in Europe after the Reformation.

Mocan grew up in an era when expressing one’s faith publicly was a serious crime. Although he is known as a Christian sculptor, his art appeals to people of many faiths and none, and he currently has public works displayed across four continents.

To date his largest sculpture is the monumental ‘Decalogue’, commissioned in Geneva for the 500th anniversary of John Calvin’s birth in 2009 (image below). After three exhibitions in Geneva, including at the World Council of Churches, the installation was shipped to USA for the 2010 ArtPrize competition, before being exhibited for a year at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The Decalogue is now permanently located a few miles from where it was made, at Sun Garden Resort in Cluj, Romania.

To create the Archetypes exhibition, Liviu worked closely with a number of other creative professionals, including the architect Bogdan Goția, and the artists Valer Bulat and Radu Pop.

In the video below the artist shares some of the early inspiration behind each of the five sculptures. www.liviumocan.ro