Bogdan Bocanete

The story of painting began for me a long time ago. I was in the second front bench of the elementary school, and when I was bored, I would find myself drawing on the back sheet of the notebook geometric shapes that randomly intersected, abstract lines that now conjure up images of the drawings our ancestors made in caves . Drawing relaxed me and was the first activity that introduced me to what I later learned is called "flow", a state of presence, energizing concentration, full involvement and joy in the process of the activity. Fast forward to when I had my first computer with an internet connection, I was looking for Van Gogh paintings. I had read Lust for Life, by Irving Stone, and was impressed by the story of the famous painter. By chance, Jackson Pollock's Number 31 also came my way. My reaction was: WOW! I didn't even know why, but it didn't matter. It was like reading a book in a second. Then I continued to re-read it all my life, each time understanding new things, impossible to express in words. Pollock's experience was more of a state of mind, a revelation. Only later did I learn that abstract art frees our brain from the dominance of reality, allowing it to flow into its inner states, create new emotional and co...