MAIA ȘTEFANA OPREA (n. 1987)
is a multidisciplinary visual artist who lives and works between Inotești (Prahova) and Nucșoara (Argeș).
A graduate of the National Arts University of Bucharest and a full member of the Union of Visual Artists of Romania, she has exhibited internationally at venues such as Vienna Contemporary, the Chișinău International Painting Biennale, the Romanian Cultural Institute in London and Venice, as well as in museums and galleries across Romania, Germany, Tunisia, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Italy, and France.
Recent appearances include the Constanța Art Museum (National Painting Biennale 2025), Meron Gallery Cluj-Napoca, Gallery-Studio 76, the National Art Museum of Moldova in Chișinău, and exhibitions at AnnArt Gallery, Creart Gallery, and The Cage Kunstlerhaus in Germany.
She is interested in the dynamic interaction between painting, sculpture, photography, video and performance. Her creative process deals with abstraction, dissimulated narratives, the dissolution of time, consumerism and the aesthetics of co-presence. As a multimedia artist, concerned with environmental and artivist issues, addressing themes as sustainability in art and society and the reconciliation with an environment increasingly weakened by human intervention, her creative process often starts from the notion of rest, based on both natural remains and consumerist residues – both of which are observed in natural settings, where it really makes sense to pay attention to the value of regenerative life, which is part of our existence, as human beings responsible for the environment in which we live.
Maia Oprea’s artistic practice integrates painting, drawing, installation, eco-material research, video-performance, animation, exploring the subtle relationships between humans, landscapes, nonhuman organisms, and processes of transformation. As the recipient of the three-year The Big GreenCreative Europe project coordinated by the University of Bucharest within the UNESCO Global Hațeg Country Geopark, she combines scientific observation—from geology and pedology to fungi and aquatic microbiologies—with a poetic and intuitive approach, creating works that investigate memory, ecosystem fragility, consumerism, and regeneration.
Through her curatorial programme at The Garden of Ideas, her practice includes collaborations with researchers, volunteers, and local communities, aiming to develop participatory installations in which audiences observe, contribute, and co-create, transforming art into a shared space of learning and ecological responsibility. graduate of UNArte Bucharest, with scholarships in France and the USA.
EDUCATION
2014: Haute École d’Art de Strasbourg, France (module La Fabrique: prof. Patrick Lang, Gérard Starck)
2013-2015: Master of Fine Arts – strategies of creation in painting, Bucharest National Arts University, Bucharest, Romania (Conf.Univ.Dr.Atodiresei Cezar)
2012 B.F.A, Bucharest National Arts University , Bucharest Romania (Conf.Univ.Dr.Atodiresei Cezar)
2010-2011 Ecole Superieure d’art et design de Grenoble-Valence, Grenoble, France (module Cosmetique et Politique, Prof. Slimane Rais, Abdelkader Damani)
2007- 2008 Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA, USA
2002-2006 Nicolae Tonitza Fine Arts High School, Bucharest, Romania
SOLO FOREIGN EXHIBITIONS
2023 The Cage Kunstlerhaus, Pissing in The Wind, Bad Schwartau, Germania
2019 – My Collection of Forms, AnnArt Gallery at Vienna Contemporary Art Fair 2019, Wien, Austria
2014 Cap Marina Gallery, Monastir, Tunisia
2013 Ruse Art Gallery, Waste-first stage, Ruse, Bulgaria
2005 Romanian Cultural Institute of London, Through the Looking Glass, London, UK
2005 Cornerstone Gallery, Liverpool, UK
2005 Turner Sims Concert Hall, Southampton, UK
2005 Instituto Romeno di Cultura e Ricerca Umanistica, Venice, IT
SOLO EXHIBITIONS IN ROMANIA
2025 Meron Gallery – MY OLD GROWTH TREES, Cluj-Napoca
SOLO EXHIBITIONS IN BUCHAREST
2025 ETAJ Artist Run Studio – MY OLD GROWTH TREES II
2025 Gallery-Studio 76 – R(a)ise th’eM
2023 AnnArt Gallery – MORPHOGENETIC INDUSTRIES – eveniment colateral Romanian Design Week
2023 Galeria Creart – RECONCILIATION
2021 Arbor.art.room – expoziție în spațiu VR : ON THE NATURALNESS OF THINGS
2018 Cultural Center Brâncovenești Palaces, Mogoșoaia, Galeria Foișor – NEST(s)
2018 Annart Gallery – LOCUS NEMINIS II
2017 Seabam Gallery, Kube Musette – LOCUS NEMINIS
2016 Annart Gallery – STACKING
2014 Galeria Signum, AFTER ZĂERCS
2014 Orizont Gallery
2012 Melenia Art Gallery, DUST
2010 National Bucharest Opera House, Design Youself project
2007 Baku Art Gallery
2006Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) 2
COLLECTIVE THE GARDEN OF IDEAS
2026 Curtea de Argeș Municipal Museum – Grădina Ideilor, Curtea de Argeș
2025 ETAJ MAHAL – Grădina Ideilor , Bucharest
SELECTED INTERNATIONAL GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 National Museum of Art of Moldova, Collective Wall – Liminal Marks, Chișinău, Republic of Moldova 2015 International Painting Biennial of Chișinău, Republic of Moldova
2013 Fórum Eugénio de Almeida, Open Doors , Évora, Portugal
2012 Ciminiere di Catania, Stop allo 048 degli oggetti 2ed, Catania, Sicilia, Italy
2012 Galeria A Pedja Acimovic, Second International Watercolor Biennale, Belgrade, Serbia
2012 Underwater Art Elsahara, Dahab, Egipt
2011 La Boîte Noire de Saint- Priest, Biennale of Contemporary Art in Lyon, Lyon, France
2011 Hungarian Cultural Institute of Sofia, The Old School, Sofia, Bulgaria
2008 Goslarer Museum, Romanians in Goslar, Goslar, Germany
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS IN ROMANIA
2026 House of Art, Atelier 21, Bucharest
2025 CoArt – Vila Vlădescu, PRICINA, Câmpulung Muscel
2025 Nicolae Gane Museum, Tower of Strength, Iași
2025 Brașov Art Museum, Tower of Strength, Brașov
2025 WASP, Fragile Landscapes, Bucharest
2025 National Technical Museum „prof.ing. Dimitrie Leonida“, National Contemporary Art Salon 2025, Bucharest
2025 History Museum of Ploiești, Prahova International Biennial, Ploiești
2025 ParkLake Shopping Center, Breaking the Silence ! , Bucharest
2025 „Dimitrie Brândză“ Botanical Garden, SOIL, TheBigGreen I , Bucharest
2025 Mogoșoaia Brâncovenești Palaces, Martha Bibescu Salon, Bucharest
2025 Alert Studio, Pink Shape of the Heart, București
2025 Constanța Art Museum, National Biennial of Painting Constanța, Constanța
2025 Reperaj Gallery – Oradea Fortress, Sign, Oradea
2024 Galeria SENAT, Plastic, Salonul Național de Artă Contemporană, București
2024 WASP Working Art Space for Production, Collective Wall – Liminal Marks, Bucharest
2024 Art Safari – Young Blood 3.0 The New Wave of Contemporary Female Artists
2024 Sibiu Contemporary Art Museum, Multispecies – Towards Future, Sibiu
2024 Museum of Art Casa Avramide, Multispecies- Towards Future, Tulcea
2024 Alert Studio, We are called Iele II, București
2024 AnnArt Gallery, Garden of the Rising Sun
2023 Simeza, Experimental Space. National Salon of Contemporary Art, Bucharest
2023 Filarmonica Brașov, Oximoron. The Blue Biennale, Brașov
2023 WASP Working Art Space and Production, Exploring Plurealities, Bucharest
2023 Atelier 030202, Eco-LiterArt Aluniș
2023 Alert Gallery, We are called Iele, Bucharest
2023 “Sub-sol” gallery of Simian Art Museum, Landscape/ a contemporary provocation, Râmnicu Vâlcea
2023 Arthub Garden, Botanica, București
2022 Galeria Cozia Pasaj 1 și 2, Geometrii 3.Natural Urban, Râmnicu Vâlcea
2022 Anka Coller Studio, The Warmest colour is Blue, White Night of the Galleries, Bucharest
2022 Visual Arts Center, Interior Laboratory 3, Bucharest
2021 Câmpulung Art Gallery, Câmpulung Map, Câmpulung Muscel
2021 National Peasant Museum (Sala Acvariu), ZENIT- Arthub
2020 Aluniș Art Center, Homo Faber / Femina Faber, with Samir Mihail Văncică, Buzău
2020 National Museum of Literature, Biennale of bibliophile book and object book– 2nd edition
2019 Miniature Saloon, Modern and Contemporary Art Museum Pavel Șușară, București
2019 Castelul Cantacuzino, Books & Arts – The Art of Lecture, Bușteni
2019 Arthub, Perspectives and anatomy of a female art I: 1977-1987, Bucharest
2018 „Ion Andreescu” International XIth Biennial , Buzău
2018 Romanian National Literature Museum, MĂCINAT – ArtHub
2018 ArtHub, Re-Start, Bucharest
2018 Romanian National Literature Museum, Bibliophile and Object-Book Biennale, Bucharest
2016 GoldArt Auction House, ContempLart 03
2015 Orizont Galleries, National Painting Salon, Bucharest
2015 Cantacuzino Castle, Colours of Life, Bușteni
2015 Anca Poterașu Gallery, What About Gregor Samsa
2014 Colony Art Gallery, Un-finished
2012 Romanian Peasant’s Museum, How was it possible ?, Bucharest
2010 Museum of Art in Ploieşti, Dan Platon, Ploieşti
2010 The Ark-Center for Contemporary Art, RIVER-independent expressions, Bucharest
2010 Museum of Art in Constanţa, Art Embodiment, Constanţa
2009 Cotroceni National Museum, Balkanic Art Inspirations, Bucharest
2009 Anaid Art Gallery, October, Remember, December, Bucharest
SELECTED AWARDS / HONORS
2024 Mother/Artist scholarship, offered by the Juxta Foundation to an artist mother
2018 Mention at the Biennial of Bibliophile Book and Object-Book, National Museum of Romanian Literature, Bucharest
2017 Matei Brâncoveanu Award for Visual Arts 2017, offered by the Alexandrion Foundation
2016 AnnArt Prize 2016, offered by AnnArt Foundation for excellency in a visual arts domain
SELECTED RESIDENCIES / Art Camps / Art Colonies
2026 TBG – WATERS International UNESCO Global Hațeg Country Geopark
2025 The Big Green Retreat II, Faro, Portugal
2025 Artist Talk, Un-Conference Homonovus, Riga, Letonia
2025 The Big Green I – SOIL – Creative Europe, art and science residency in the International UNESCO Global Hațeg Country Geopark
2025 Pottery residency, Pottery School in Colți, Land of Buzău
2023 Eco Aluniș Liter-Art, Aluniș Eco Retreat, Buzău
2023 Moondash Garden, Cisnădioara, Sibiu
2015 Maternity (ART) Leave, 2 Mai, Romania
2015 Harilaq Kosova Art Festival 4, Kosovo
2015 Kalanirvana Art Residence, Bhubaneswar, India
2014 Monastir International Festival of Plastic Arts – FIAPM –Monastir, Tunisia
2013 International Zlatograd Art Colony, Zlatograd, Bulgaria
2013 International Apolo Art Colony, Fier, Albania
2013 International Art Colony of Kicevo, Macedonia
2011 International Art Camp Inter-Art Aiud, XVIth edition, Aiud, Alba county, Romania
2010 The Old School Art Residence, Gorna Lipnitsa, Bulgaria
2010 R.I.V.E.R, Lodz Academy of Humanities and Economics, Lodz, Poland 2010 Elie Wiesel, National Institute for Holocaust Studies in Romania Elie Wiesel, Borsec, Romania 2010 Dan Platon International Art Camp, Vth edition, Breaza, Prahova
2005 Hope University of Art and Performance, Liverpool, UK
SELECTED MEDIA REFERENCES
2024 Ilina, Alexandra, “The garden is broken from heaven”, Arta Magazine, visual arts #68 – 69 / 2024
2020 Sultana, Ana-Daniela, “Eco art of living and creating”, http://www.agentiadecarte.ro/2020/04/arta-eco-de-a-trai-si-de-a-crea/
2018 Tronaru, Doinel, “the Nests of Maia Ştefana Oprea can be seen at the Mogoşoaia Palace”, https://adevarul.ro/stil-de-viata/cultura/cuiburile-maiei-stefana-oprea-se-vad-la-palatul-1913158.html
2016 Tronaru, Doinel, ART BOOK “Stivuire”, by Maia Ştefana Oprea. Or about the victory of spirit over matter, https://adevarul.ro/blogurile-adevarul/cartea-de-arta-stivuire-by-maia-stefana-oprea-1830437.html
2016 Massaci, Gabriela, “Maia, the girl from the archive of life”, http://www.life.ro/cultura/arta-caritate/maia-fata-de-la-arhiva-de-viata-15577058 – Life magazine .US
2013 Reinhard, Fuchs, WOMEN IN ART Volume I, The Great Female Artists From the Middle Ages to the Modern Era, Publishing: Berger Verlag, Horn, Austria, ISBN: 978-3-9503574-1-7
2013 Mihalcă, Laura Lucia, “Maia Ştefana Oprea – An oasis in the Romanian contemporary art”, Art Out magazine no. 17, year 3
2012 Toma, Florin, Maia Ştefana Oprea – Serious games about fear, Romanian Life 9-10
2011: Stan, Liviu G., “My motivation remains intense curiosity”, Cultural Objective no. 5
WORKS IN PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Art Museum in Ploiești, Romania
Collection of the Abam Association, Art Museum in Monastir, Tunisia
Collection of the National Art Gallery in Ruse, Bulgaria
Kiss Art University in Bhubaneswar, India
Art Gallery in Fier, Albania
Elie Wiesel Institute, Romania
WORKS IN PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
Romania, Slovakia, Austria, United Kingdom, United States of America, Australia, Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, Greece, North Macedonia, Tunisia, Brazil