Sanda Iliescu & Ana Rendich: Tracing Hope

Les Yeux du Monde is delighted to announce its first show of 2025: Tracing Hope, a two-person exhibition featuring new work by LYDM artists Sanda Iliescu and Ana Rendich. The exhibition opens with a reception on Saturday, February 15th, from 4:00 to 6:00 PM, and will be on view through Sunday, March 23rd, 2025.

Sanda Iliescu’s new works on paper, which she calls Summer Songs, are a jubilant celebration of color and movement. Painted during the summer of 2024, these works use watercolor and gouache to capture lyrical rhythms and patterns that convey joy, wonder, and the ephemeral beauty of nature. “Together, white field and brush marks compose a visual song,” Iliescu writes, “a melody that might suggest a lullaby, or mazurka, or sonata.” Her vibrant marks and forms, which sometimes hint at figures like the sun or moon, invite viewers to immerse themselves in a world of bold brushstrokes and quiet contemplation. “My aspiration is that Summer Songs evoke deep joy and Hope, as well as a sense of wonder,” Iliescu writes, “the wonder of looking at a bouquet of wildflowers, or of glimpsing a bright red cardinal fly swiftly across the deep greens of a meadow, or of watching a child draw scribbles on a page as she examines a flower or watches a bird’s flight.”

Born in Romania, Iliescu emigrated to the United States at 17 and went on to earn her BSE in Civil Engineering and M.Arch in Architecture from Princeton University. She is a Professor of Architecture and Art at the University of Virginia, where she has also created murals and public art projects with her students. Her many accolades include The Rome Prize, a McDowell fellowship in painting, and the Distinguished Artist Award of the New Jersey State Council of the Arts. Iliescu has exhibited her work internationally and published extensively on art and aesthetics, including the books The Hand and the Soul: Aesthetics and Ethics in Architecture and Art and Experiencing Art and Architecture: Lessons on Looking.

Ana Rendich brings new 3D works to this exhibition, which reveal her masterful understanding of color, materiality, and spatial relationships. These works are at once aesthetic delights and intimate meditations on space and connection—both physical and spiritual—that speak to our relationships and shared humanity. In Tracing Hope, Rendich also links her colorful 3D pieces to a large work on geometric canvas and works of mixed media, incorporating two types of Japanese paper, Sekishu Torinoko Gampi and Natural Kozo, and collaged elements of Japanese storybooks into her pieces to investigate new visual ideas and perspectives. These are a “reminder that there are different views and outcomes, exposing and making visible other views, and of our common humanity,” Rendich writes, “I see Hope as bone marrow for Aliveness, to keep going, having a Sense of Safety and Belonging, healing, looking for safe spaces, creating safe spaces, walking towards the growth of being and offering better possibilities.”

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Rendich studied Scenic Design at Universidad del Salvador and Costume Design at the Instituto Superior de Arte at the Teatro Colón, one of the world’s premier opera houses. Rendich’s work has been shown in solo and juried exhibits, and selective exhibitions in museums and galleries throughout the United States and internationally – including the Lincoln Center in New York City, the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C., the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio, the Bellevue Arts Museum in Bellevue, Ohio, and the Siena Art Institute in Italy.

Together, the distinct yet complementary practices and ideas of Sanda Iliescu and Ana Rendich weave a narrative of hope, wonder, resilience, and renewal. Don’t miss this opportunity to experience the transformative power of Hope in their new work.