Time Out Sydney / Issue 35: July 9 - 15, 2008
She charts the history of the world and he doodles. Nick Dent meets Sydney Biennale's oddest couple

In 1900 the trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales decided it would be a neat idea to add decorative bronze relief panels to the outside of their grand classical building. Only four were ever completed - representing Assyrian, Egyptian, Grecian and Roman art - leaving eight empty panels and a lot of red faces. "They ran out of money," says Dan Perjovschi. "So now it's chalk drawing instead of bronze."
Perjovschi, who hails from Romania, is the guy who spent the week leading up to the opening of the Biennale of Sydney filling in the blanks on the façade of the AGNSW with graffiti. His humorous and political scribblings range from slogans such as "Middle class have middle dreams" and "From Big Bang to Big Mac" to visual gags such as "Revoluti on/off". "A woman was passing by when I was drawing," Perjovschi says. "She said: ‘Finally, some meaningful graffiti'."
Perjovschi's wife Lia also has work showing at the AGNSW. In contrast to her husband's sketchy, Leunig-esque works, she has created three highly detailed ‘timelines' that are packed with information. The first is a brief history of the world from prehistoric times; the second, a detailed chronicle of art history (including photographs of works by several artists represented in the Biennale); and the third focuses on the history of the couple's own artistic practices. "She's a scientific person and I'm the PR," Dan says. "I'm attracting attention to the serious stuff."
The Perjovschis have been making art together since 1986. Their work has been indelibly marked by life under the repressive Ceaucescu regime. "I created my timelines because our history was interrupted," Lia says. "The 1950s to 1990 was a black hole, or a parallel reality." Up until the revolution of 1989 the couple would stage performances and installations in their own flat in Bucharest. "It was the only place we could control. We did projects there, sometimes only for us, or two friends."
"When we talk about ‘freedom of expression' we really mean it," says Dan. "We've seen the other side, when you were totally controlled and censored."
An obvious fit for the Biennale's ‘revolutions' theme, the Perjovschis have taken their work to the Venice Biennale and to major galleries including New York's MoMA. This is the first time, however, that Dan has been allowed to graffitise the front of an institution as well as its interior. "It's like I've been waiting all my life to do this on a museum façade. I have powerful statements to make, but they will go with the first rain. And that's the idea."