5. Tenderness Print

I was born in Slanic, a very small town in Romania. Having grown up surrounded by nature and old, traditional and mystical stories, my orientation towards art has come naturally. With a background in engineering, my decision to change fields and pursue fine arts came easy. The step I took towards art has been made by enrolling in the hobby painting classes organized by the Romanian visual artist and writer, Alina Gherasim. A few years later I graduated Fine Arts at University of Hertfordshire, in the United Kingdom. I am interested in exploring my own cultural identity and Romanian traditions and folklore. I engage with social events and how they have an impact over us. Living in an era of huge technological evolution, my works can be seen as a contemporary representation of what I consider important to be remember and what is important to be conserved. I approach a figurative style in painting, which I consider part of my national identity. Sometimes, I combine this approach with new technologies using digital collages or films in order to preserve the authentic models. My classic style is inspired by the Impressionist masters who made me love painting. The fragmentation of objects, I believe that came from Cubism, from great painters such as Gris, Braque and Picasso. But many other contemporary artists influenced my work: Julie Mehretu, who, through her works addresses political, social and cultural themes, Victor Man - who approaches themes from his own biography and Alina Gherasim who express her experiences through collages and paintings. I need to translate the mental images, related to contemporary events and my feelings within, into forms that can transmit my intentions to others; my works are my experiments and represent the desire to convey messages to the world!