Romanian art at CSUS

Bears dance on their hind legs wearing decorative red halters. No, it’s not the circus, and those actually aren’t bears: They’re men inside bear suits in a video projected onto two walls by artist Aurelia Mihail, with mesmerizing drum and flute music guiding their steps. The piece is her recreation of a Romanian New Year’s dance that’s performed in the Carpathian Mountains.

Tradition, history and evolution are subjects of the works in Traces: Contemporary Romanian Art, a group show of Romanian artists at Sac State. The work is young and diverse—acrylic nails with naughty bits on them, Stalin dressed in gold (gilded mustache included), S&M embroidery—and social and individual changes are strong influences in the pieces, including the end of communism, as with Gili Mocanu’s intricate drawings of chains. The spellbinding, tight, circular formation, with the dark black center, hints at the artist’s feeling toward Romania’s version of communism.

Through October 3 at the Robert Else Gallery, Kadema Hall at Sac State, 6000 J Street; www.csus.edu/galleries/else.html.