From 1981–1984, Cataraga was a student in the sculpture department at the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts. As a graduate student at the same Institution (1989), he worked with Professor Sergey Kubasov. He became a member of the Union of Artists of Moldova in 1993 and of the International Association of Arts (IAA-UNESCO) in 1997. In 2000, he was named chair of the Sculpture Department of the Union of Artists of Moldova. In 2011, Cataraga and his wife were killed in a car accident.
1998 - The Prize of the Union of Plastic Artists from Romania for the sculpture The Man Bird (bronze, 36x19x12 cm, 1994). Now in the public collection of the Artists Union, Romania2000 - Medal "Eminescu", awarded by the President of Romania2001 - Order of the Star of Romania (Commodore)Awarded the National prize of the Culture ministry"...As a starting point for the understanding of the artist's repertory of shapes, I would suggest two monuments: Monument to Ion Dumeniuc, The Guarding Angel (stone, 1995, Central Orthodox Cemetery, Chisinau) and Mihai Eminescu (bronze, 1996, square of the "Mihai Eminescu" National Theatre), both of them representing visual arguments of a precise spiritual and historical identity.
The first monument is characteristic for the religious, spiritual aspect, always present in the sculptor's work. We can place the Guarding Angel project, first executed in baked clay and in a smaller form in 1990, into a larger family of works: Prayer (metal, 1991) and Sound of Sadness (baked clay, 1992). The "simplicity as a resolved complexity" Brancusi is an important key for the understanding of these works.
...for the monument to Mihai Eminescu, Tudor Cataraga selects only abstract principles, imagining a "cosmic" portrait of the national genius. Far more modern in visual expression, the sculptor is now free to play with three-dimensional elements and he conceives a rhythmical network that concentrates in the poet's figure /symbolic nucleus, without stirring the space, but comprimating. This second direction of his research, his playing with neo-expressionist forms can be seen in a series of his recent experimental works: The Woman-Crossbow (bronze, wood, 1994), The Man-Bird (bronze, granite, 1994), Motherhood (bronze, granite, 1998).
Tenacious in his research leading him from deductive to inductive thinking, without any disruption from his way, the sculptor's interest is gradually sliding to architectural constructions, and constructivism. The ever more pregnant abstract trend, the play with geometrical modules epitomise his fascination with the assemblage and with the rich relation "entity-detail": Genesis (wood, metal, 2000), Masterpiece (wood, metal, 2000). Tudor Cataraga, in his full artistic maturity, has the energy and the firm gesture of an inquisitive and attentive sculptor".
Oana Tanase - Art critic, Bucharest
1990 Archeology, bronze and stone1990 Manole the Builder, chamotte1994 Guarding Angel, funeral monument dedicated to Ion Dumeniuc, stone, Chișinău, Moldova1994 Woman-Crossbow, bronze and wood1995 Levitation, bronze and wood1995 Human bird, bronze1996 Mihai Eminescu, bronze-granite, Chișinău, Moldova2000 Medieval Throne, sandstone, Ungheni, Moldova2001 Beginning and End, granite, Changchun World Sculpture Park, Changchun, Jilin province, China2002 Meeting in space, wood-stone-metal, Ungheni, Moldova2002 Rigid fluidity, funeral monument dedicated to Andrei Sârbu, Chișinău, Moldova2004 Stephen III of Moldavia, stone, Nisporeni, Moldova2005 Mihai Eminescu-bust, stone, Nisporeni, Moldova2005 Meşterul Manole, stone, Criuleni, Moldova2006 Dispersal In Time, stone, Ungheni, Moldova2006 Dolmen, granite, Chișinău, Moldova2006 Alexander I of Moldavia, bronze, Ialoveni, Moldova2008 Leonardo Da Vince, stone, Technical University of Moldova2008 Mihai Eminescu-bust, bronze, Iurceni, Moldova2010 Alert Flying, graved stone stele dedicated to writer and diplomat Aurel Dragoș Munteanu, Buda village, Moldova2010 Masa Raiului, mosaic-concrete, Sangeorz-Bai, Romania1992 Galda Moment, Alba-Iulia, Romania1993 Nine Masters, George Apostu Art Center, Bacău, Romania1993 Mold-Expo, Chișinău, Moldova1997 First International Symposium of Bronze Sculpture, Chișinău, Moldova1998 Second International Symposium of Bronze Sculpture, Chișinău, Moldova2000, 2002, 2006 Stone Sculpture Symposium, Ungheni, Moldova2001 International Sculpture Symposium, Changchun, Jilin province, China2005 Stone Sculpture Symposium, Criuleni, Moldova2008 Stone Sculpture Symposium, at Chișinău Technical University, Moldova2009 Stone Sculpture Camp, Bran, Romania2010 Sculpture Camp, Sangeorz-Bai, Romania1998 Gallery Latin America House, Bucharest, Romania1999 Vasile Pogor Memorial House, Iași, Romania2000 Parliament Hall, Bucharest, Romania2003 Center Constantin Brâncuși, Chișinău, Moldova2005 UNHCR, Chișinău, Moldova2005 Art exhibition at OSCE Mission, Chișinău, Moldova2006 National Museum of Art (MNAM), Chișinău, Moldova2014 Cu pietate, in eternitate, in memory of Tudor Cataraga, curated by Tudor Braga (art critic), at the Exhibition Center Constantin Brancusi, Chișinău, Moldova1986 Youth's Palace, Petrograd, Saint Petersburg, Russia1987 Exhibition Center Saint Petersburg Manege, Russia1988 Contemporary History and Civilization, Saint Petersburg, Russia1989 Exhibition OHTA, Saint Petersburg, Russia1989 Leningrad and its inhabitants, Saint Petersburg Manege, Russia1989-2001 Moldova's Salon, Chișinău-Bacau-Bucharest1990,1994 Spring Salon, Exhibition Center Constantin Brancusi, Chișinău, Moldova1990 The Disciples of Art Academy of USSR Saint Petersburg, Russia1991 The Disciples of Art Academy of USS, Tbilisi, Georgia1991,2001 Autumnala '91 Exhibition Center Constantin Brancusi, Chișinău, Moldova1992 Limba Noastră, Exhibition Center Constantin Brancusi, Chișinău, Moldova1992-1993 Bassarabian Artists in Bucharest, Art-Expo, Bucharest, Romania1995 Painting Exhibition, Düsseldorf, Germany1996 Art Exhibition, Budapest, Hungary1999 Art Exhibition, Strasbourg, France2000 Parliament Hall Art Exhibition, Bucharest, Romania2001-2010 1 December - National Day of Romania, Chișinău, Moldova2002 Sculpture Exhibition, Constantin Brancusi Exhibition Center, Chișinău, Moldova2002 Painting Exhibition, Leone, France2003-2006 Orizont Eminescian, Constantin Brancusi Exhibition Center, Chișinău, Moldova2004 Art Exhibition at National Museum, Chișinău, Moldova2005 Art Exhibition, Vilnius, Lithuania2006 Exhibition TsDH, Moscow/Krimskiy Val/, Russia2006 Art from Republic of Moldova, Utrecht, Holland2006 Emergenţă Sala Rotonda, Iasi, Romania2008 Exhibition Center Constantin Brancusi, Chișinău, MoldovaNational Art Museum of Moldova, Chisinau, MoldovaRomanian Literature Museum, Chişinău, MoldovaRomanian Literature Museum, Iasi, RomaniaMoldova State University, Chisinau, MoldovaCulture Center George Apostu, Bacău, RomaniaArtists Union of Romania, Constantin Brancusi Exhibition Hall, Bucharest, Romania
