STORIES WITHOUT WORDS
Between 2004 and 2017, my painting has involved reconnecting to childhood, being able to see the world with nothing but curiosity and wonder. The main inspiration for this is that at one point in my life I lost contact with childhood. The home where I grew up in rural Romania burned, destroying everything-- our clothes, our photos, my artwork, our books and toys. I was left with only memories. Later I painted children’s illustrations, which expressed a fantasy realm that seemed to provide comfort. I even remember I used to say “I want to be in kindergarten!” Most of the images I painted looked very much like those I did in my childhood – smiley houses, sleepy suns, donkeys in the mood for travel. A nostalgia for times and things that didn’t exist anymore was strongly present in my work - longing for childhood, family, house, the entire life and our farm animals lost in the fire, for life as it was before. I used nostalgia as a counter-attack to the unknown and painful present. It was an antidote to extremely confusing times. Living with past memories grounded me and offered a much needed emotional equilibrium and hope for a good future. It offered a sense of continuity of the past, and probably prevented me from living in a state of anxiety. I lived in a liminal space between reality and fantasy.
