Sabin Garea (b. 1980) is a Romanian visual artist who lives and works in The Hague, the Netherlands. He has a BA in Fine Arts and an MA in Fine Arts in Photography and Time Based Media, both from The National University of Arts, Bucharest, Romania, and also an M.Mus., Master of Artistic Research, from a joint program of The Royal Conservatory and The Royal Academy of Art The Hague.
Through his recent research Garea attempts to unpack the layers embedded in the broad concepts of craft and craftsmanship. Using his practice as a medium for investigation, he explores how craft might be embodied and perfects techniques to make works that critically analyze his cultural background.
He uses his material practice as an opportunity to question the value embedded in an object. In this regard, often his approach exploits an absurdist point of view, building works where a great amount of time or skill is invested, challenging the norms of efficiency governing the production of goods nowadays.
He is involved in the technical education of The Royal Academy of Art of The Hague as a member of the coordinating staff of the metal and wood workshops. Motivated by his current research, Garea is interested in developing an educational approach for the workshop curriculum, meant to redefine the parameters of teaching in such spaces (context). His focus is centered on aiding the students to develop a solid set of skills and material knowledge, pushing them to conduct their theoretical research through directly working with matter.