About me
Ever since I can remember, I had a pencil or a brush in my hand. Everything that I would find interesting, I would sketch. Slowly, I got into trying different mediums, but there was always something that took me back to oils. The bold texture, the vibrancy, the way you can combine and control the brushstrokes gave me a sense of freedom that was only between me and the canvas. Capturing the hidden beauty in every day things is something that my artworks are inclined to. A simple avocado, a coffee cup, an old telephone - things that we walk past without a second thought. My paintings reflect the life that I can give to those subjects through bright colors, thick and almost sculptural brushwork - giving weight, presence and ultimately life, to the things we have learned to overlook.
My dad was the one who initially rooted this passion in me as he had this natural talent of sketching so realistically. I found that fascinating from a very young age and I tried to replicate that. He would paint my bedroom walls with Disney princesses (or later, Eminem), make portraits of me, or even correct my own sketches.
Because of the old cliché, that you cannot make a living out of art, I didn't pursue this domain. I only treated it as a hobby, and more and more as a way to escape. I have always been a very self-conscious, self-reflecting and very introvert person, so spending many hours in a flow state sketching or painting, was something that always helped me quiet the noise and come back to myself. To find a stillness that I couldn't quite reach anywhere else.
On my 16th birthday, my dad flew me to the Van Gogh Museum as it was one of my dreams to see the famous paintings up close, not only from a screen. Maybe my main source of inspiration, the Van Gogh brushwork. After that trip, I chose to move aboard from Romania to the Netherlands in order to study Tourism Management at a prestigious university in Amsterdam. Being a fresh 18 years old teenager moved in a completely different country, no friends or family (besides my dad who lived a few hours away), I had to put my art aside for a while. I still sketched and painted from time to time, but my priority was my higher education. But I still managed to find a way or another back to art. In between classes (or sometimes even during), I would take out my art books and read. Color theory, art movements, famous painters and their works, and all kinds of research so that I could extend my knowledge even further.
During the pandemic was the time when I got back to painting and experimenting, developing my own style. I had to move 5 times in less than 6 months in 3 different cities across the NL. I would paint even 3 canvases per day, ending up intoxicated from the oils twice. Ultimately, after overcoming and healing from my not so happy experiences, I finally started painting out of happiness instead of misery. I found a strong sense of creating and I haven't let go of that to this day, and probably never will.
After graduation, I got into a corporate job which I am still working at to this day. It gets quite intense most of the times, but that is exactly the reason I would not stop painting. Art keeps me focused, grounded, and balanced. It is my best way of not losing myself in a fast paced world, where there are superficial values and beliefs that I don't agree with. It is my quiet act of resistance, a reminder of who in a world that is constantly trying to tell you who to be.
