The Gathering - Dumbo, 200x200cm, oil on canvas, 2019
"Know thyself" (Socrates) While many of Virtosu's works do make references to phylosophical themes, and thus, by extension, to life itself, "The Gathering - Dumbo" is a particular kind of story. The massive canvas measures 200 by 200 cm and is painted to depict the veneration of Dumbo by a few seemingly devoted adepts. This magnificent work relates a feeling of blessed contentment and awe in the face of what seems to be a modern deity of sorts. This questioning of the idea of Deity and what that concept stands for in the modern world is Virtos's answer to the hermeneutics of disbelief in relation to contemporary art. The centrally placed deity inspires awe while at the same time keeping its rather naive and joyful appearance- a childlike glee emanating from the entire painting.
The Gathering - Bunny, 200x200cm, oil on canvas, 2019
Out in a non descript place, away from prying eyes, a few men have gathered. There's a distinctive sulfur smell in the air. There's a sense of urgency and mistery to their actions. The men are kneeling down forming a perfect circle facin the center. The middle of the circle is crowned by what can be described as a giant bunny...smiling awkwardly at the men while they perform their ritualic incantations.
The Gathering - Duck, 200x200cm, oil on canvas, 2019
"Know thyself" (Socrates) The massive canvas measures 200 by 200 cm and is painted to depict the veneration of Dumbo by a few seemingly devoted adepts. This magnificent work relates a feeling of blessed contentment and awe in the face of what seems to be a modern deity of sorts. While many of Virtosu's works do make references to phylosophical themes, and thus, by extension, to life itself, "The Gathering - Donald" is a particular kind of story. This questioning of the idea of Deity and what that concept stands for in the modern world is Virtosu's answer to the hermeneutics of disbelief in relation to contemporary art. The centrally placed deity inspires awe while at the same time keeping its rather naive and joyful appearance- a childlike glee emanating from the entire painting.
Sign not in use, 200x215 cm, oil on canvas, 2019
After a long rehearsal, the balerinas are tired and exhausted. Their rehearsal studio is not the most beautiful in the world, it is a worn-down hangar with a green overall color. Their mood is not grim but it's not joyful. It is an in-between state of mind. There is a sign of irony in the entire room "Sign not in use" says the sign, thereby negating it's own purpose. It we are not useful...are we still something? Do we even exist if our purpose has vanished? Is art something that exists?
Stairway to Heaven, 205x205cm, oil on canvas, 2019
Assuming a fighting position, these warriors of another galaxy mean business. Are they fighting, protecting or just menacing? The artist does not answer that question but lets us contemplate the presence of a higher force, a spirit or a threat that lurks in the darkness, just outside of the canvas. This force of the universe is the ultimate power and the ultimate downfall of humanity. Hence, the artist is suggesting a religious concept as a backbone to the entire structure of humanity. A sort of scaffolding on which all the rest is built.
Pop Bunny - 200x155 cm - oil on canvas - 2019
In the midst of wildlife and chaos you can still find time for the beautiful and the awkward.
Romance on Water 150x200cm, oil on canvas, 2019
Out of a green wavy water surface, erect poles emerge with radiating a kind of phallic beauty. On the poles, women pole-dancers, barely covered in their bikinis, glide and swirl majestically as if to tame the verticality and erectness of this dominant force. Gliding in-between them, a bright-red gondola penetrates the space that separates the ladies. The gondoliere is visible and his gondola is empty. He's travelled to this mystical place to harvest the beauty of these modern day nchanting sirens. A phallic story this is indeed, but one which begs the question: is it not a win-win situation for both the mermaids and the gondoliere? Do they both not find their purpose in this exchange of seduction and charm? The artist asks a provocative question and lets us, the viewer, pick a side. Or, for that matter, pick both sides and ride in the gondola with the ladies.
La belle Epoque - 150x200 cm - oil on canvas -2019
In an urban center, somewhere in France, a Merry-go-round is spinning frantically. It's glittering lights reflected on the wet pavement in the dark sunset. At first, it is hard to distinguish the figures hanging from the poles of this very fun amusement attraction, but, slowly, the silhouettes of beautifully shaped pole dancers come into sight. They have replaced the traditional horses and carriages and are now full-on making acrobatics much to the delight of passing fathers. The artist uses this work to question our assumptions about traditional values. In this juxtaposition of very different visual universe, we find our own mind jumping from one idea to the next with no particular apparent order.
Choke me Daddy - 205x170cm - oil on canvas - 2019
Bright colors, vivid tones of yellow and blue: all hint towards an optimism inducing painting. A work of serenity and peace, a work of beauty and pleasant summer breeze. The reality of the depicted subject presents itself quite bluntly after this initial sensual seduction: a scene of perversion and human struggle. An unsettling sight in which two blue dudes wrestle a yellow woman into submission. Her struggle is visible through her posture and restless demeanor: she is captive. Her look of despair will certainly illicit a reaction and, hopefully, a savior will come to her rescue. The question remains: does she need saving?
- 210x170cm oil on canvas - 2019
Tribal Jungle is a depiction of an imaginary three-way fight for dominance in a remote, isolated, dark part of the jungle. Two male characters (in blue) and one female (in orange) are struggling in a wrestling like stand-off. Their entangled bodies can be identified through the tribal markings on their skin - blue and orange lines cover them all over. The distressed and decisive look of the woman who is in the middle between the two males is a reminder of her power and her feminine mystery.
210x150cm, oil on canvas, 2018
If they were to stand up, they would be towering high at more than four meters tall. These two clowns seem to be best friends or, at least, they seem to be quite close to each other. Leaning into one another, the happier clown on the right is holding his arm around the other one's shoulder, as of to cheer him up from his misery. The cityscape behind them is colored blood-red - a stark reminder that the situation is quite dire.
187x200cm oil on canvas, 2019
This is a rather impressive format: measuring just under 200x200cm (about 43sq foot) this work stands out not only through it’s size but also through the subject matter that the artist has chosen to depict. Out of a purple blue sea-like sky-scape that stretches from side to side of the canvas, a massive amount of weirdly sized animals of all kinds emerges. Giraffes (more than 4), elephants, rats and mice, tigers and zebras, rabbits and panthers and roosters and hens, ducks and cats and dogs and monkeys all mashed into a gathering – like marching towards a common purpose or a common destination from the left side of the painting and crossing the middle line led by a courageous white sheep and an elephant. On first glance, one can clearly see that the animals are oddly sized – the roosters are bigger than the elephants, the deer is smaller than the cat and the giraffes are barely taller than their rodent friends. Though weirdly sized, all animals of this wild bunch seem to belong together in a very familiar and friendly way. There’s an eerie silence in their look and the way all of them face the right side of the canvas. This eerie look is reinforced when we go even further to the right and discover a road sign that says: “OBEY THIS SIGN”. Picked straight from a Hollywood movie, this sign stretches past the tallest of the animals and faces them directly – as if to act as a barrier on their path. This idea is reinforced by the purple dark shadow projected by the sign on the ground right in front of the animal flock – a somber reminder that this line must not be crossed. It is worth noting that the sign itself is painted in cheerful colors – pink hues and light green notes, orange accents and yellow bursts of color seem to state that this sign does not take itself too seriously. Right behind the sign, a second part of the composition is visible: it is a seascape image of two bathers at shore next to a tree. The shore is painted with thick yellow and pink strokes suggesting a rough terrain and sharp edges under a scorching sunny light. Further back, the tree which provides almost no shadow, is painted using a palette knife to scratch a thick layer of purple paint to reveal the under painting dark-brown layer symbolizing the wet tree-bark. One of the more mysterious scenes in the entire painting is the presence of the two bathers – a man and a woman - in the middle of the image. Their back turned to us, they seem absorbed by the landscape and almost unaware of what is happening right behind them. As if to strike this point even more poignantly, the way they are painted as if they almost vanish in the landscape is a reminder of the distance and barrier between the foreground and the background – symbolically creating a second barrier between the two parts of the composition.
Amazons (200x200cm, oil on canvas, 2012)
"Afterlife" is part of a broader project called "Dreams and Vanities" - It is a work where I engage the theme of death in a bold and colorful way. In this depiction, the cemetery around the tomb is populated by god-like creatures of perfection: dancers who evoque the intrinsic beauty and freilty of human existence. The theme of impermanence is essential to my work as it develops into and branches out to create subject matter that nourishes my canvasses.
Ne Pas Toucher - 200x110cm-oil on canvas - 2019
The powerful devotee prays the term of intuitive characters, while the compelling and grotesque religion stretches and re-defines the space. This singularity of religions - due to powerful and textual space - pray a simultaneity of synonyms throughout time, praying it's compelling signs and devotees. This variation of deconstructions stretches the compelling devotee towards an intangibly codified character - a non-persona, of sorts... The compelling, powerful multitudes stretch towards the sign as a religious experience. Are they praying to the sign? Are they begging us to avoid them? Both stretching the compelling devotees in the space stretch their weird character.
hello Ladies - 130x173cm - oil on canvas -2019
This is an image that the artist has put together through digital manipulation - it started as a montage of multiple characters found on the social media platforms - the common thread was that they all had taken pictures on the beach and posted them online. This prompted a quick and simple idea: what if they could be all reunited in the same image? what if they could all live in a same space.
Part of Heaven - 130x100cm - oil on canvas -2019
In an alley-way under a building, away from preying eyes, pole dancers practice their gracious moves with no concern at all. We do not know where this happens, but this place is Heaven for cows - for, between the dancers' poles, a few calm and simple cows are marching forward without a care in the world. The artist emphasizes contrast between the animal and the human activity in a work filled with kind irony. The warm colors remind us not to take things too seriously and to learn how to laugh, from time to time.
Another Part of Heaven - 130x100cm oil on canvas - 2019
Away from preying eyes, pole dancers practice their gracious moves with no concern at all. We do not know where this happens, but this place is Heaven for cows - for, between the dancers' poles, a few calm and simple cows are marching forward without a care in the world. The artist emphasizes contrast between the animal and the human activity in a work filled with kind irony. The warm colors remind us not to take things too seriously and to learn how to laugh, from time to time. This work has a profound religious undertone: the artist questions the imagery and contrast of religious space with pagan space and practices. The simple and powerful composition is present and yet not disturbing - it is not raised to the level of sacrilege. The pole dancers seem to present themselves in a church (we see the cross on the wall) and the cows seem to march through this space with no issue at all.
Ne Pas Toucher - 180x109-5 _oil on canvas _2019
A great picture of the powerful imagination of dreams.
Afterlife, 200x200cm, oil on canvas, 2017
"Afterlife" is part of a broader project called "Dreams and Vanities" - It is a work where I engage the theme of death vs. dream in a playful, colorful and very serious way. Misterious blue dancers with red outfits populate this incredible surreal landscape. Death here is but a dream of something beyond. It is a stage, a steady fluid state in which color and reality merge. I wanted this composition to be as colorful as possible in spite of it's dark theme. I worked with oil paints and many layers, using artist-tape to cover-up and spray paint on different areas of the canvas. The canvas is 200x200cm: this is a size that I favour because it allows me to work freely with color and gesture, while keeping a good amount of control over the details that I wanted to introduce for each characters face. The tomb in the middle has a traditional Romanian cross - with many rounded corners - as symbols of our simple yet elegant decoration for the process of death. You could say that this composition is sort of a vanity.
200x200 cm, oil on canvas, 2015
Swimming graciously in the open sea, while a giant war-ship approaches piercing through the waves - the synchronized swimmers have no care at all. Just like our approach to much of life's challenges: let's all do the same and hope for the best.
MicroPolitics_200x200 cm_oil on canvas _2015_
Sometimes, life is just a collection of moments. For this painting, I've collected some of the more iconic images of actors pointing guns in Hollywood movies that I could find. The aim is blank, but you can imagine your own reaction when faced with such multiplied violence all at once. Micropolitics is a statement about what it is we actually, subconsciously, retain from much of what interactions we have in the world.
Towards the Light, 100x127.5 cm, oil on canvas, 2018
This painting is made using the traditional Flemish method of under painting and glazing. I chose this technique because it conveys the message of light and powerful energy that is contained in the image. As the dancers reach for the light, their bodies become defined by the light itself, they exist where the light exists. The ellipses on the ground are a perfect geometrical match to the bells generating the light. (Towards the Light, 100x127.5 cm, oil on canvas, 2018)
Fly with Guilt (200x200 cm, 2011, oil on canvas, private collection)
Focusing on the way we all relate to the subject of guilt, punishment and sexual desire, I have created an attempt to portray a situation of uncertainty. This image is a kind of Schroedinger's cat - we cannot say precisely what situation is described, yet we can fully comprehend that it is very dramatic.
Magic Dance (200x200cm, oil on canvas, 2018)
For „Magic Dance” the artist has invested the transformed the entire canvas into the scene of a balet rehearsal. The giant composition transposes us into the universe of the dancers where we can discover the sensitivity and harshness that come with this very strict discipline. The work is especially powerful because of the very natural style in which the characters are painted – effective, powerful strokes of color precisely define each line of the dancers – like the painter was executing a „dance” with his brush on the canvas when creating them. The composition, assimetrically distributed towards the top, is hinting toward the heaviness of the training as well as the power of the dancers determination: a tribute to this great art that has produced so many extraordinary performers.
Original Story - 170x160cm, oil on canvas, 2016
The conscious, the subconscious and the unconscious mind - all working together to achieve a higher level of consciousness. I dig deep below the surface and then dive again below that into a myriad of colors and amazing shapes and figures.
Love_the_beach_170_150_cm_2010_
In an age of evolution and equal rights, one of the more troubling questions to be addressed is 'how is Christianity dealing with these issues?' Through the spectre of this question, the artist captured and developped this piece which is so adroitly titled: "Love the Beach". By his own personal accounts, the artist was under a feeling of revolt for he had just witnessed an christian-orthodox wedding ceremony and the priest had said: "....and the woman shall obey to what her man says...". Infuriated, he came home and I painted this piece which features topless women sunbathing on a beach under, what seem to be, very stormy skies. The women's faces are all covered with smiley faces as if to say that they become just nameless persons in a crowd. At the forefront, one of the women has glued some magazine cutouts on her smiley face head. Towering above this grim landscape is a church hanging on a rocky cliff side.
(oil on canvas, 170x150cm, 2010, private collection)
On a mild sunny day, the clouds are gently rolling their puffy shadows over the harmonious hilly landscape. A bunch of cows are grazing on the thick, dense, high grass and a beautiful country road is drawing what seem to be excellent driving curves towards the horizon. And, among all this quietness and peace, a half naked tied up woman is getting her brains exploded right ijn the middle of the road, just as the landscape is beginning to lose signal behind her in the distance. As if this entire scene was the last view of her life. One last glimpse before total anihilation and total demise. What are those last moments before a sudden death? What will I see? What will I feel? Maybe it will be like a tv-station loosing signal - with all its colors going pink.
Memory Empty (oil on canvas, 170x150cm, 2010)
What do you see here? Do you see the bride jumping to grab her prized baby? Or maybe you have spotted the Hulk-ish woman preparing to jump in a second. Either way, I bet you haven't noticed the happy dog in the foreground. In a major way, this painting is an introspection. It is the result of years of thought about what I am doing here, as an individual, how I am relating to other people, what my purpose might be in the world and other such major questions that have accumulated themselves as a crowd in my mind. For Memory Empty, I am reinventing my way of painting and producing a collage that means something different and discloses its metaphors gradually. This work speaks of power, of daring to see beyond the visible and to go beyond the known. It is a strange marriage between the usual (a match of beach volley) and the unusual characters that are playing. It is my way of saying: there's more to the eye then the mind can see. I have used oil paint and extensive sketching to produce this work and I have chosen a large canvas to span and create the atmosphere that such a scenery needs in order to be properly received. The work itself is a depiction of modernity: lifestyles and attitudes in a strange and daring combination. Like a kaleidoscope of characters that form the civilization on the beach. I am attempting to create image associations that are visually surprising and recognizable.
Porcelaine Tenerife 160x170cm, oil on canvas, 2016
Around the corner there was a kitschy porcelain shop. In the window there, I photographed a few of the figurines: a dancer with lavish moves, a woman expressing freedom and some children figures infused with melancholy. I put them all together in a collage of pictures that I took on the island of Tenerife in 2015.
Cremaster (business as usual) (print on canvas, 200x200cm, 2012)
The relationship of power and domination between the strong and the weak has been an object of perpetual fascination within my range of subject matters. This work was originally exhibited at the "After Cremaster" exhibition in 2012 at the Caminul Artei Gallery of Bucharest. The theme of the exhibition was an ode to the great Matthew Barney and his epic work-cycle "Cremaster".
Las Meninas (Bam - Bam - Bam) - 200x200cm, digital work, 2012
Velasquez's Meninas never ceased to impress me. Since I was a student I have been fascinated with the perfect composition, the imaginative juxtaposition of characters and the incredibly vast symbolism of this work. There are many interpretations to the Meninas - i guess this is my version from that time.
Hot Shower (food & sister) (170x160cm - digital work - 2015)
I am interested in the process of creating new realities through gradual juxtaposition and subtraction. This composition contains images that I've found and re-contextualized into a new scenario.
Sweet Nectar - 170x160cm - digital work - 2015
Within the framework of a montage, I am interested in thought-provoking scenarios. Missing bits and pieces of a scene - like people's faces or relevant gestures - I speculate on what our mind does to replace or create an acceptable story-line. I fiddle around with images until a scene emerges and I am satisfied with the amount of uncertainty created.
War of Milk (oil on canvas, 200x250cm, 2012 - Private Collection)
I made "War of Milk" during my Erasmus scholarship in Leipzig, Germany in 2011. At the time, it was my most accomplished work - a piece where I had put all my effort and talent. It spoke about justice, exploitation and weirdness of the capitalist system in a way that attracted a lot of criticism. At first glance, this is an idyllic landscape: a mountain range in the distance, sunset light rays beaming through the whole picture, a beautiful and peaceful little girl enjoying the simple pleasure of playing in the grass. The entire picture is framed by the huge body of a cow. It's legs and belly act as a viewing frame for pur eyes - forced perspective obliges us yo be at the same level as the little girl and to see the world from her point of view. And then, the horror of war appears: fighter jets drop bombs on what appears to be a convoy of trucks and a small village in the distance. The peace is disrupted in an erruption of violence and force. This same violence is reffered to in a different manner through the squirting of milk from the cow on the little girl. There's something definitely unsettling about seeing this image.
circus equilibrium_230x190cm_oil on canvas_2012
Circus Equilibrium relates to a dream (a sensation) I had when I was a child: I felt as if I was carrying the whole world on my head. It was the feeling of being an Atlas - like a greed god who has both all the power and all the responsability all at once. This became a drawing and then a series of two paintings.
Circus Equilibrium _173x130cm_oil on canvas_2016
This amazing painting was made to order for a collector friend of mine in Switzerland. I chose the colors to represent the calmness and wisdom of serene choice. The equilibrium of life is a fragile balancing act that we accomplish everyday with more or less success.
Bankrobear_150x150cm_digital montage_2014
For a long time, I have been interested by cartoon characters and the way advertising uses them to convey simple messages. The focus behind this painting was to displace the context in which "nice" and "cute" characters act and create a more threatening and challenging situation.
On the Rocks (Snowboarder) (oil on canvas, 170x150cm, 2013)
I've created this work as part of my Master's project. The painting is a painted montage of myself snowboarding down a steep mountainside. The dreamy sunset landscape interested me as part of a surreal aspect of snowboarding.
Raging_Bull_2013_160x150_cm_acrylic_on_canvas
Imagine a cozy, warm, spanish street. The sun shines on the yellow facades of the houses. The town is quiet, it’s late afternoon. A slight breeze whiffs through the drying clothes that hang between the houses on the upper floors. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a bull races through this peaceful landscape. The bull is young and full of vitality – the metaphor is clear. This view is recreating an imaginary but not unlikely scenario. The artist questions the idea of primal instinct and juxtaposes this powerful force with the civilizing attributes of social behaviour. A theoretical tug of war which creates a cognitive social dissonance bridged by the acceptability of eroticized imagery. This is one of the artists few acrylic paintings and was painted in 2013 in Bucharest – some of the details were finalized in Posca fine-liner.
CamaroBear_montage_2015_160x150cm
Out of a vivid and eye-scratching background - made up of flowers, fruits and other table-cloth-like imagery - two dolphins and a Bear emerge eerily floating as if to say "we defy gravity". The work "Camaro Bear" is made of kitchy colored plastic table tops, plastic pink and white roses covered in glitter, plastic funeral flowers and textile materials that the artist has recovered from his uncle after his passing. The two dolphins were part of the same beach towel and the bear has been cut out from a cheap kitchy blanket. The entire scene radiates with kitch to the utmost level and this is precisely the point that the artist wanted to bring across : our taste has so much to do with what we experience and what the surrounding conditions of our environment are.
The Gathering - Dumbo, 200x200cm, oil on canvas, 2019
"Know thyself" (Socrates) While many of Virtosu's works do make references to phylosophical themes, and thus, by extension, to life itself, "The Gathering - Dumbo" is a particular kind of story. The massive canvas measures 200 by 200 cm and is painted to depict the veneration of Dumbo by a few seemingly devoted adepts. This magnificent work relates a feeling of blessed contentment and awe in the face of what seems to be a modern deity of sorts. This questioning of the idea of Deity and what that concept stands for in the modern world is Virtos's answer to the hermeneutics of disbelief in relation to contemporary art. The centrally placed deity inspires awe while at the same time keeping its rather naive and joyful appearance- a childlike glee emanating from the entire painting.
The Gathering - Bunny, 200x200cm, oil on canvas, 2019
Out in a non descript place, away from prying eyes, a few men have gathered. There's a distinctive sulfur smell in the air. There's a sense of urgency and mistery to their actions. The men are kneeling down forming a perfect circle facin the center. The middle of the circle is crowned by what can be described as a giant bunny...smiling awkwardly at the men while they perform their ritualic incantations.
The Gathering - Duck, 200x200cm, oil on canvas, 2019
"Know thyself" (Socrates) The massive canvas measures 200 by 200 cm and is painted to depict the veneration of Dumbo by a few seemingly devoted adepts. This magnificent work relates a feeling of blessed contentment and awe in the face of what seems to be a modern deity of sorts. While many of Virtosu's works do make references to phylosophical themes, and thus, by extension, to life itself, "The Gathering - Donald" is a particular kind of story. This questioning of the idea of Deity and what that concept stands for in the modern world is Virtosu's answer to the hermeneutics of disbelief in relation to contemporary art. The centrally placed deity inspires awe while at the same time keeping its rather naive and joyful appearance- a childlike glee emanating from the entire painting.
Sign not in use, 200x215 cm, oil on canvas, 2019
After a long rehearsal, the balerinas are tired and exhausted. Their rehearsal studio is not the most beautiful in the world, it is a worn-down hangar with a green overall color. Their mood is not grim but it's not joyful. It is an in-between state of mind. There is a sign of irony in the entire room "Sign not in use" says the sign, thereby negating it's own purpose. It we are not useful...are we still something? Do we even exist if our purpose has vanished? Is art something that exists?
Stairway to Heaven, 205x205cm, oil on canvas, 2019
Assuming a fighting position, these warriors of another galaxy mean business. Are they fighting, protecting or just menacing? The artist does not answer that question but lets us contemplate the presence of a higher force, a spirit or a threat that lurks in the darkness, just outside of the canvas. This force of the universe is the ultimate power and the ultimate downfall of humanity. Hence, the artist is suggesting a religious concept as a backbone to the entire structure of humanity. A sort of scaffolding on which all the rest is built.
Pop Bunny - 200x155 cm - oil on canvas - 2019
In the midst of wildlife and chaos you can still find time for the beautiful and the awkward.
Romance on Water 150x200cm, oil on canvas, 2019
Out of a green wavy water surface, erect poles emerge with radiating a kind of phallic beauty. On the poles, women pole-dancers, barely covered in their bikinis, glide and swirl majestically as if to tame the verticality and erectness of this dominant force. Gliding in-between them, a bright-red gondola penetrates the space that separates the ladies. The gondoliere is visible and his gondola is empty. He's travelled to this mystical place to harvest the beauty of these modern day nchanting sirens. A phallic story this is indeed, but one which begs the question: is it not a win-win situation for both the mermaids and the gondoliere? Do they both not find their purpose in this exchange of seduction and charm? The artist asks a provocative question and lets us, the viewer, pick a side. Or, for that matter, pick both sides and ride in the gondola with the ladies.
La belle Epoque - 150x200 cm - oil on canvas -2019
In an urban center, somewhere in France, a Merry-go-round is spinning frantically. It's glittering lights reflected on the wet pavement in the dark sunset. At first, it is hard to distinguish the figures hanging from the poles of this very fun amusement attraction, but, slowly, the silhouettes of beautifully shaped pole dancers come into sight. They have replaced the traditional horses and carriages and are now full-on making acrobatics much to the delight of passing fathers. The artist uses this work to question our assumptions about traditional values. In this juxtaposition of very different visual universe, we find our own mind jumping from one idea to the next with no particular apparent order.
Choke me Daddy - 205x170cm - oil on canvas - 2019
Bright colors, vivid tones of yellow and blue: all hint towards an optimism inducing painting. A work of serenity and peace, a work of beauty and pleasant summer breeze. The reality of the depicted subject presents itself quite bluntly after this initial sensual seduction: a scene of perversion and human struggle. An unsettling sight in which two blue dudes wrestle a yellow woman into submission. Her struggle is visible through her posture and restless demeanor: she is captive. Her look of despair will certainly illicit a reaction and, hopefully, a savior will come to her rescue. The question remains: does she need saving?
- 210x170cm oil on canvas - 2019
Tribal Jungle is a depiction of an imaginary three-way fight for dominance in a remote, isolated, dark part of the jungle. Two male characters (in blue) and one female (in orange) are struggling in a wrestling like stand-off. Their entangled bodies can be identified through the tribal markings on their skin - blue and orange lines cover them all over. The distressed and decisive look of the woman who is in the middle between the two males is a reminder of her power and her feminine mystery.
210x150cm, oil on canvas, 2018
If they were to stand up, they would be towering high at more than four meters tall. These two clowns seem to be best friends or, at least, they seem to be quite close to each other. Leaning into one another, the happier clown on the right is holding his arm around the other one's shoulder, as of to cheer him up from his misery. The cityscape behind them is colored blood-red - a stark reminder that the situation is quite dire.
187x200cm oil on canvas, 2019
This is a rather impressive format: measuring just under 200x200cm (about 43sq foot) this work stands out not only through it’s size but also through the subject matter that the artist has chosen to depict. Out of a purple blue sea-like sky-scape that stretches from side to side of the canvas, a massive amount of weirdly sized animals of all kinds emerges. Giraffes (more than 4), elephants, rats and mice, tigers and zebras, rabbits and panthers and roosters and hens, ducks and cats and dogs and monkeys all mashed into a gathering – like marching towards a common purpose or a common destination from the left side of the painting and crossing the middle line led by a courageous white sheep and an elephant. On first glance, one can clearly see that the animals are oddly sized – the roosters are bigger than the elephants, the deer is smaller than the cat and the giraffes are barely taller than their rodent friends. Though weirdly sized, all animals of this wild bunch seem to belong together in a very familiar and friendly way. There’s an eerie silence in their look and the way all of them face the right side of the canvas. This eerie look is reinforced when we go even further to the right and discover a road sign that says: “OBEY THIS SIGN”. Picked straight from a Hollywood movie, this sign stretches past the tallest of the animals and faces them directly – as if to act as a barrier on their path. This idea is reinforced by the purple dark shadow projected by the sign on the ground right in front of the animal flock – a somber reminder that this line must not be crossed. It is worth noting that the sign itself is painted in cheerful colors – pink hues and light green notes, orange accents and yellow bursts of color seem to state that this sign does not take itself too seriously. Right behind the sign, a second part of the composition is visible: it is a seascape image of two bathers at shore next to a tree. The shore is painted with thick yellow and pink strokes suggesting a rough terrain and sharp edges under a scorching sunny light. Further back, the tree which provides almost no shadow, is painted using a palette knife to scratch a thick layer of purple paint to reveal the under painting dark-brown layer symbolizing the wet tree-bark. One of the more mysterious scenes in the entire painting is the presence of the two bathers – a man and a woman - in the middle of the image. Their back turned to us, they seem absorbed by the landscape and almost unaware of what is happening right behind them. As if to strike this point even more poignantly, the way they are painted as if they almost vanish in the landscape is a reminder of the distance and barrier between the foreground and the background – symbolically creating a second barrier between the two parts of the composition.
Amazons (200x200cm, oil on canvas, 2012)
"Afterlife" is part of a broader project called "Dreams and Vanities" - It is a work where I engage the theme of death in a bold and colorful way. In this depiction, the cemetery around the tomb is populated by god-like creatures of perfection: dancers who evoque the intrinsic beauty and freilty of human existence. The theme of impermanence is essential to my work as it develops into and branches out to create subject matter that nourishes my canvasses.
Ne Pas Toucher - 200x110cm-oil on canvas - 2019
The powerful devotee prays the term of intuitive characters, while the compelling and grotesque religion stretches and re-defines the space. This singularity of religions - due to powerful and textual space - pray a simultaneity of synonyms throughout time, praying it's compelling signs and devotees. This variation of deconstructions stretches the compelling devotee towards an intangibly codified character - a non-persona, of sorts... The compelling, powerful multitudes stretch towards the sign as a religious experience. Are they praying to the sign? Are they begging us to avoid them? Both stretching the compelling devotees in the space stretch their weird character.
hello Ladies - 130x173cm - oil on canvas -2019
This is an image that the artist has put together through digital manipulation - it started as a montage of multiple characters found on the social media platforms - the common thread was that they all had taken pictures on the beach and posted them online. This prompted a quick and simple idea: what if they could be all reunited in the same image? what if they could all live in a same space.
Part of Heaven - 130x100cm - oil on canvas -2019
In an alley-way under a building, away from preying eyes, pole dancers practice their gracious moves with no concern at all. We do not know where this happens, but this place is Heaven for cows - for, between the dancers' poles, a few calm and simple cows are marching forward without a care in the world. The artist emphasizes contrast between the animal and the human activity in a work filled with kind irony. The warm colors remind us not to take things too seriously and to learn how to laugh, from time to time.
Another Part of Heaven - 130x100cm oil on canvas - 2019
Away from preying eyes, pole dancers practice their gracious moves with no concern at all. We do not know where this happens, but this place is Heaven for cows - for, between the dancers' poles, a few calm and simple cows are marching forward without a care in the world. The artist emphasizes contrast between the animal and the human activity in a work filled with kind irony. The warm colors remind us not to take things too seriously and to learn how to laugh, from time to time. This work has a profound religious undertone: the artist questions the imagery and contrast of religious space with pagan space and practices. The simple and powerful composition is present and yet not disturbing - it is not raised to the level of sacrilege. The pole dancers seem to present themselves in a church (we see the cross on the wall) and the cows seem to march through this space with no issue at all.
Ne Pas Toucher - 180x109-5 _oil on canvas _2019
A great picture of the powerful imagination of dreams.
Afterlife, 200x200cm, oil on canvas, 2017
"Afterlife" is part of a broader project called "Dreams and Vanities" - It is a work where I engage the theme of death vs. dream in a playful, colorful and very serious way. Misterious blue dancers with red outfits populate this incredible surreal landscape. Death here is but a dream of something beyond. It is a stage, a steady fluid state in which color and reality merge. I wanted this composition to be as colorful as possible in spite of it's dark theme. I worked with oil paints and many layers, using artist-tape to cover-up and spray paint on different areas of the canvas. The canvas is 200x200cm: this is a size that I favour because it allows me to work freely with color and gesture, while keeping a good amount of control over the details that I wanted to introduce for each characters face. The tomb in the middle has a traditional Romanian cross - with many rounded corners - as symbols of our simple yet elegant decoration for the process of death. You could say that this composition is sort of a vanity.
200x200 cm, oil on canvas, 2015
Swimming graciously in the open sea, while a giant war-ship approaches piercing through the waves - the synchronized swimmers have no care at all. Just like our approach to much of life's challenges: let's all do the same and hope for the best.
MicroPolitics_200x200 cm_oil on canvas _2015_
Sometimes, life is just a collection of moments. For this painting, I've collected some of the more iconic images of actors pointing guns in Hollywood movies that I could find. The aim is blank, but you can imagine your own reaction when faced with such multiplied violence all at once. Micropolitics is a statement about what it is we actually, subconsciously, retain from much of what interactions we have in the world.
Towards the Light, 100x127.5 cm, oil on canvas, 2018
This painting is made using the traditional Flemish method of under painting and glazing. I chose this technique because it conveys the message of light and powerful energy that is contained in the image. As the dancers reach for the light, their bodies become defined by the light itself, they exist where the light exists. The ellipses on the ground are a perfect geometrical match to the bells generating the light. (Towards the Light, 100x127.5 cm, oil on canvas, 2018)
Fly with Guilt (200x200 cm, 2011, oil on canvas, private collection)
Focusing on the way we all relate to the subject of guilt, punishment and sexual desire, I have created an attempt to portray a situation of uncertainty. This image is a kind of Schroedinger's cat - we cannot say precisely what situation is described, yet we can fully comprehend that it is very dramatic.
Magic Dance (200x200cm, oil on canvas, 2018)
For „Magic Dance” the artist has invested the transformed the entire canvas into the scene of a balet rehearsal. The giant composition transposes us into the universe of the dancers where we can discover the sensitivity and harshness that come with this very strict discipline. The work is especially powerful because of the very natural style in which the characters are painted – effective, powerful strokes of color precisely define each line of the dancers – like the painter was executing a „dance” with his brush on the canvas when creating them. The composition, assimetrically distributed towards the top, is hinting toward the heaviness of the training as well as the power of the dancers determination: a tribute to this great art that has produced so many extraordinary performers.
Original Story - 170x160cm, oil on canvas, 2016
The conscious, the subconscious and the unconscious mind - all working together to achieve a higher level of consciousness. I dig deep below the surface and then dive again below that into a myriad of colors and amazing shapes and figures.
Love_the_beach_170_150_cm_2010_
In an age of evolution and equal rights, one of the more troubling questions to be addressed is 'how is Christianity dealing with these issues?' Through the spectre of this question, the artist captured and developped this piece which is so adroitly titled: "Love the Beach". By his own personal accounts, the artist was under a feeling of revolt for he had just witnessed an christian-orthodox wedding ceremony and the priest had said: "....and the woman shall obey to what her man says...". Infuriated, he came home and I painted this piece which features topless women sunbathing on a beach under, what seem to be, very stormy skies. The women's faces are all covered with smiley faces as if to say that they become just nameless persons in a crowd. At the forefront, one of the women has glued some magazine cutouts on her smiley face head. Towering above this grim landscape is a church hanging on a rocky cliff side.
(oil on canvas, 170x150cm, 2010, private collection)
On a mild sunny day, the clouds are gently rolling their puffy shadows over the harmonious hilly landscape. A bunch of cows are grazing on the thick, dense, high grass and a beautiful country road is drawing what seem to be excellent driving curves towards the horizon. And, among all this quietness and peace, a half naked tied up woman is getting her brains exploded right ijn the middle of the road, just as the landscape is beginning to lose signal behind her in the distance. As if this entire scene was the last view of her life. One last glimpse before total anihilation and total demise. What are those last moments before a sudden death? What will I see? What will I feel? Maybe it will be like a tv-station loosing signal - with all its colors going pink.
Memory Empty (oil on canvas, 170x150cm, 2010)
What do you see here? Do you see the bride jumping to grab her prized baby? Or maybe you have spotted the Hulk-ish woman preparing to jump in a second. Either way, I bet you haven't noticed the happy dog in the foreground. In a major way, this painting is an introspection. It is the result of years of thought about what I am doing here, as an individual, how I am relating to other people, what my purpose might be in the world and other such major questions that have accumulated themselves as a crowd in my mind. For Memory Empty, I am reinventing my way of painting and producing a collage that means something different and discloses its metaphors gradually. This work speaks of power, of daring to see beyond the visible and to go beyond the known. It is a strange marriage between the usual (a match of beach volley) and the unusual characters that are playing. It is my way of saying: there's more to the eye then the mind can see. I have used oil paint and extensive sketching to produce this work and I have chosen a large canvas to span and create the atmosphere that such a scenery needs in order to be properly received. The work itself is a depiction of modernity: lifestyles and attitudes in a strange and daring combination. Like a kaleidoscope of characters that form the civilization on the beach. I am attempting to create image associations that are visually surprising and recognizable.
Porcelaine Tenerife 160x170cm, oil on canvas, 2016
Around the corner there was a kitschy porcelain shop. In the window there, I photographed a few of the figurines: a dancer with lavish moves, a woman expressing freedom and some children figures infused with melancholy. I put them all together in a collage of pictures that I took on the island of Tenerife in 2015.
Cremaster (business as usual) (print on canvas, 200x200cm, 2012)
The relationship of power and domination between the strong and the weak has been an object of perpetual fascination within my range of subject matters. This work was originally exhibited at the "After Cremaster" exhibition in 2012 at the Caminul Artei Gallery of Bucharest. The theme of the exhibition was an ode to the great Matthew Barney and his epic work-cycle "Cremaster".
Las Meninas (Bam - Bam - Bam) - 200x200cm, digital work, 2012
Velasquez's Meninas never ceased to impress me. Since I was a student I have been fascinated with the perfect composition, the imaginative juxtaposition of characters and the incredibly vast symbolism of this work. There are many interpretations to the Meninas - i guess this is my version from that time.
Hot Shower (food & sister) (170x160cm - digital work - 2015)
I am interested in the process of creating new realities through gradual juxtaposition and subtraction. This composition contains images that I've found and re-contextualized into a new scenario.
Sweet Nectar - 170x160cm - digital work - 2015
Within the framework of a montage, I am interested in thought-provoking scenarios. Missing bits and pieces of a scene - like people's faces or relevant gestures - I speculate on what our mind does to replace or create an acceptable story-line. I fiddle around with images until a scene emerges and I am satisfied with the amount of uncertainty created.
War of Milk (oil on canvas, 200x250cm, 2012 - Private Collection)
I made "War of Milk" during my Erasmus scholarship in Leipzig, Germany in 2011. At the time, it was my most accomplished work - a piece where I had put all my effort and talent. It spoke about justice, exploitation and weirdness of the capitalist system in a way that attracted a lot of criticism. At first glance, this is an idyllic landscape: a mountain range in the distance, sunset light rays beaming through the whole picture, a beautiful and peaceful little girl enjoying the simple pleasure of playing in the grass. The entire picture is framed by the huge body of a cow. It's legs and belly act as a viewing frame for pur eyes - forced perspective obliges us yo be at the same level as the little girl and to see the world from her point of view. And then, the horror of war appears: fighter jets drop bombs on what appears to be a convoy of trucks and a small village in the distance. The peace is disrupted in an erruption of violence and force. This same violence is reffered to in a different manner through the squirting of milk from the cow on the little girl. There's something definitely unsettling about seeing this image.
circus equilibrium_230x190cm_oil on canvas_2012
Circus Equilibrium relates to a dream (a sensation) I had when I was a child: I felt as if I was carrying the whole world on my head. It was the feeling of being an Atlas - like a greed god who has both all the power and all the responsability all at once. This became a drawing and then a series of two paintings.
Circus Equilibrium _173x130cm_oil on canvas_2016
This amazing painting was made to order for a collector friend of mine in Switzerland. I chose the colors to represent the calmness and wisdom of serene choice. The equilibrium of life is a fragile balancing act that we accomplish everyday with more or less success.
Bankrobear_150x150cm_digital montage_2014
For a long time, I have been interested by cartoon characters and the way advertising uses them to convey simple messages. The focus behind this painting was to displace the context in which "nice" and "cute" characters act and create a more threatening and challenging situation.
On the Rocks (Snowboarder) (oil on canvas, 170x150cm, 2013)
I've created this work as part of my Master's project. The painting is a painted montage of myself snowboarding down a steep mountainside. The dreamy sunset landscape interested me as part of a surreal aspect of snowboarding.
Raging_Bull_2013_160x150_cm_acrylic_on_canvas
Imagine a cozy, warm, spanish street. The sun shines on the yellow facades of the houses. The town is quiet, it’s late afternoon. A slight breeze whiffs through the drying clothes that hang between the houses on the upper floors. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a bull races through this peaceful landscape. The bull is young and full of vitality – the metaphor is clear. This view is recreating an imaginary but not unlikely scenario. The artist questions the idea of primal instinct and juxtaposes this powerful force with the civilizing attributes of social behaviour. A theoretical tug of war which creates a cognitive social dissonance bridged by the acceptability of eroticized imagery. This is one of the artists few acrylic paintings and was painted in 2013 in Bucharest – some of the details were finalized in Posca fine-liner.
CamaroBear_montage_2015_160x150cm
Out of a vivid and eye-scratching background - made up of flowers, fruits and other table-cloth-like imagery - two dolphins and a Bear emerge eerily floating as if to say "we defy gravity". The work "Camaro Bear" is made of kitchy colored plastic table tops, plastic pink and white roses covered in glitter, plastic funeral flowers and textile materials that the artist has recovered from his uncle after his passing. The two dolphins were part of the same beach towel and the bear has been cut out from a cheap kitchy blanket. The entire scene radiates with kitch to the utmost level and this is precisely the point that the artist wanted to bring across : our taste has so much to do with what we experience and what the surrounding conditions of our environment are.