Stem Cell Research Sculpture

Alexandru Darida was born to an Italian father and Romanian mother, he grew up amidst breathtaking medieval castles in a small town in Transylvania, Romania. The romantic imagery of his youth and his father's love of art provided the framework for his own artistic endeavors. After graduating from the Ecole de Belle Art, Darida began his artistic career during the communist regime of Romania. He had no artistic freedom - he was limited to painting what the government told him to paint and was denied permission to paint anything else. Darida realized that he would have to escape the tyranny of communism in order to pursue his artistic vision. Darida escaped to Italy, and enrolled at the Benedetti Liberal Academy of Art in Rome and traveled extensively around Western Europe finding inspiration in the works of Botticelli, Rembrandt, and Modigliani. While in Italy, Darida was still harassed by the Romanian government, so he emigrated to the U.S. with the help of Italian officials, including the Mayor of Rome. Darida finished his education at the Academy of Art in Chicago. Darida is heavily involved with music, which he finds inspirational, soothing and even a bit magical. He paints to music and often finds inspiration in the voice of his wife, Marianna, an accomplished opera singer. He is an experienced Madrigal conductor, and plays the piano (adding with self-effacing charm that he is "not very good" but finds it relaxing, nonetheless.) "Between painting and music," he says, "that is my life!"