Days without time are folds in the continuum of life, indecipherable by their lack structure, endless in their unperturbed state.
Today eschews time. The sky is thin grey – no sun. Earth’s spin hides its presence. No hands or glowing lights hint at progress through this day. Hunger and weariness whisper clues but give no clarity.
I have one goal today. When – if – I reach it I will celebrate but not mark the moment. Days without time allow us to shape experiences to suit our needs. All day? An instant? Or what’s between?
Today’s joy – or disappointment – will be timeless, like this day.
Assuming everything goes well, my Pretend Art School will reopen soon. You can find out more about that (as information becomes available) here: https://lifeintheblogbeams.wordpress.com
I founded the “school” in 2008 because I wanted to learn how to do art things – all the art things. Prior to that I’d drawn cartoons, painted abstracts to fill empty walls, and took pictures – one of which won a regional prize of $50 and press coverage – in a “Camera Shop” (the camera/photography store chain) photo contest. But I knew nothing. Everything I did was an experiment. A few gems turned up but most of what I did was pointless dreck. The terrifying realization that I KNEW NOTHING came after joining the new-ish art community on Redbubble. Other people knew what they were doing. Accidental successes didn’t make me happy anymore. I needed to learn.
So I rounded up books, guides, curricula, materials, and tools and set up my own one-student art school.
Doing this…taking that first step…now what? This: Try not to freak out and flee!
Oooo. Still here. Fourth sentence. Progress!
Not new to WP but squeaky-shoe new to OAM’s WP. Opening drawers, poking around in closets, searching for the warm comfort of familiarity but hoping for adventures in the unknown.
Enough for now. Back tomorrow.
The colors will wait.
EDITED TO ADD: There’s a good chance that I posted this in the wrong place. Please tell me if I did!
For more than six decades, Colombian born artist Rafael Salazar has explored the relationship between movement, emotion, memory and human transformation. It is an artistic journey that has continued to evolve throughout his life, responding to changing experiences, cultures and technologies without losing sight of the human emotions at its centre.
Today, at 82 years young, he continues that exploration through Motionalism, a contemporary artistic language centred on energy, silence, discernment and emotional motion.
“Motionalism™️ is not a style,” Salazar says. “It is a language.”
Light becomes part of the structure. Transparent geometric volumes intersect through color and light, creating a delicate balance between architecture, openness, and visual movement. Copyright 2026 – All rights reserved by Rafael Salazar.
Born in Colombia and shaped by a lifetime of global experiences across the Americas, Europe and Asia, Salazar’s artistic journey has evolved far beyond traditional definitions of painting or sculpture. His work bridges instinct, abstraction, digital experimentation, philosophy and emerging technologies, while remaining deeply centred on human emotion and the ways in which people experience and interpret the world around them.
Rather than allowing a particular medium to define the work, Salazar places the idea and the emotional response first. The tools may change, but the underlying search remains remarkably consistent.
At the core of Motionalism is a simple but profound idea: movement is not only physical. It can also be emotional, psychological, spiritual and internal.
“Motionalism is the moment where motion becomes emotion,” he explains. “The invisible movement inside the human being becomes visible through art.”
This concept allows movement to exist without necessarily depicting something physically moving. It might instead be found in a change of feeling, an emerging memory, a tension between forms or that difficult to define instant when one emotional state begins to become another.
Geometry moves through tension. Angular planes intersect and counterbalance one another, turning apparent structural stability into an active experience of direction and force. Copyright 2026 – All rights reserved by Rafael Salazar.
Rather than presenting literal subjects or prescribing a single interpretation, Salazar’s works often appear as luminous structures, energetic atmospheres, fragmented flows or suspended moments in transformation. Viewers may interpret the same piece in completely different ways, something he considers not merely acceptable, but essential to the movement itself.
“Only the observer possesses the message.”
For Salazar, the artwork is therefore never entirely complete until someone experiences it. The observer does not simply look at the work from the outside; they become part of its completion through personal memory, feeling and interpretation.
What one person recognises as serenity, another may experience as isolation. Movement may suggest freedom to one viewer and uncertainty to another. Neither interpretation needs to be wrong. The response belongs to the individual standing before the work.
This philosophy has become one of the defining principles of Motionalism and its theoretical counterpart, Motiology™️, the conceptual framework that explores the deeper human meaning behind the movement.
Two systems move toward one feeling. Cellular and linear structures curve toward one another, joining contrasting visual languages within a single organic form. Copyright 2026 – All rights reserved by Rafael Salazar.
“Motionalism creates,” Salazar says with a smile. “Motiology explains.”
The distinction allows the visual work and the philosophy surrounding it to develop alongside one another. One communicates through image, form, energy and response; the other provides a framework through which the ideas behind those experiences can be examined.
What also distinguishes Salazar’s work is his perspective on technology and artificial intelligence. While many artists approach AI cautiously, he views it as another creative instrument within a much longer history of artistic evolution.
“Throughout history, artists have always adopted new tools,” he says. “The machine can assist, but emotion, discernment, responsibility, and consciousness remain human.”
For Salazar, embracing new technology does not require abandoning the human element. Instead, the question becomes what the artist chooses to do with the tools available and what human thought, judgement and emotion are brought to the process.
Color discovers a body in motion. Soft biomorphic structures rise, twist, and intersect, dissolving the boundary between sculpture, color, and imagined movement. Copyright 2026 – All rights reserved by Rafael Salazar.
That balance between the future and humanity defines much of his current work. His compositions can feel futuristic, yet deeply personal at the same time, reflecting a world increasingly shaped by technology while still searching for meaning, presence and emotional connection.
It also places his long career in an unusual perspective. Salazar has witnessed enormous changes in the ways art can be conceived, created, reproduced and shared. Rather than treating those changes as a threat to what came before, he continues to explore what they might make possible.
At an age when many artists focus primarily on legacy, Salazar remains firmly oriented towards the future. New collections, publications, philosophical texts and expanded presentations of Motionalism continue to emerge as the movement itself develops.
Form turns inward and discovers movement. Interlocking sculptural curves fold into themselves, creating a continuous exchange between volume, shadow, tension, and space. Copyright 2026 – All rights reserved by Rafael Salazar.
There is no suggestion that Motionalism has reached a finished form. In many ways, that would contradict its central premise. A philosophy concerned with movement and transformation must itself be capable of moving and transforming.
After more than sixty years of artistic exploration, Salazar therefore appears less interested in arriving at a final destination than in continuing the journey, questioning, creating and responding to a world that never remains still.
Motion bends until perception changes. Sweeping layers curve, separate, and reconnect across a luminous field, transforming movement into a shifting perceptual experience. Copyright 2026 – All rights reserved by Rafael Salazar.
Yet beneath the philosophy, experimentation and innovation lies a remarkably grounded message about the artist’s place within something much larger than any individual career.
“Art existed before us, exists through us, and will continue after us,” he says.
And perhaps that is the simplest expression of the idea behind everything else.
“Where there is movement — Motionalism continues.”
There is something wonderfully fitting about a photographer whose childhood hero was Johnny Appleseed spending his early years wandering around the garden, poking holes in the earth with a stick and planting imaginary apple seeds.
While other children were drawing black hatted outlaws, capturing enemy soldiers or dreaming of ninth inning home runs, John Moore was apparently already looking at the world a little differently. His mother noticed too. Her Kentucky twang still echoes in his memory:
“Boy! You are one weird sumbuk!”
The name stuck, and today weird sumbuk is the name under which John shares a body of work spanning photography, digital experimentation and, more recently, AI assisted imagery.
Copyright John Moore aka weird sumbuk
Now based in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, after moving from Riverton, Wyoming in 2008, John describes himself as an Air Force brat. He was living independently by sixteen, with his parents’ consent on the condition that he found a job, and he went on to graduate from Fort Madison High School.
John cannot pinpoint exactly when art first caught his attention, but he remembers an incident from the age of twelve. A friend came to the house and asked whether he wanted to help him paint.
John declined because he was worried he might mess it up.
After the friend left, his father asked the obvious question: how exactly did John expect to mess up painting a fence?
To John, the word painting had meant making a picture.
He ran after his friend and helped with the fence anyway.
Before photography took hold, John thought he might become a poet. He spent time drifting and gathering experiences, hoping to create pictures with words, but repeatedly found himself wishing for a camera so that he could preserve the things he was seeing.
Those sights, he says, were well beyond the capabilities of his stick figure drawings.
Ask John which camera he uses and the answer is wonderfully uncomplicated: Nikon.
Copyright John Moore aka weird sumbuk
In 1983, a friend sold him a Nikon EM and two lenses because he intended to switch to Canon. After John’s first roll of ISO 100 film was developed, that same friend offered to swap his new Canon for the Nikon EM.
John refused.
“I heard a whisper and have had a Nikon since.”
That relationship with the camera has lasted for decades. For John, photography is less about constructing a technically perfect scene and more about recognising the instant worth keeping.
One photographer who particularly influenced him was Eugène Atget, and the philosophy John took from his work was simple: capture the moment.
John currently uses PhotoScape X, although he prefers to get as much right in camera as possible. Editing is generally kept to resizing and small adjustments.
His favourite image adjustment tool of all, however, belongs to another era: his colour head Omega enlarger.
His relationship with digital photography was not exactly love at first sight. Around 2000, as he puts it, he finally “quit whining digital wasn’t real photography”. He began scanning photographs and experimenting with software to turn them into something new.
Curiously, that experience has made the arrival of AI easier for him to accept. He now experiments with Copilot, sometimes beginning with one of his own photographs and allowing his imagination to take the image elsewhere.
“I want to show I do use AI to make images. This was easier for me to accept as a photographic tool than digital was back in the day.”
That makes his work particularly interesting. John has experienced photography through film, darkroom equipment, digital cameras, image editing and now generative AI. Rather than pretending those changes never happened, he has allowed his methods to change with them.
Of his own work, John’s favourite is Faithful Bison.
The photograph came from one of the family’s visits to Yellowstone. As Old Faithful erupted, a bison happened to be walking nearby. Despite having visited the area a couple of times a year, John had never before been there when an animal wandered close to the geyser during an eruption.
It was exactly the sort of fleeting conjunction his photography is built around: be there, have the camera ready, and recognise the moment when it appears.
Not every photographic moment survives.
John once photographed a neighbour’s pets and showed him several pictures on the back of the camera. The neighbour particularly liked a few of them, so John promised to download the photographs and email them over.
Copyright John Moore aka weird sumbuk
Then he went to remove the memory card.
There wasn’t one.
The photographs they had admired were temporary demonstration images and had not been saved anywhere.
Fortunately, both photographer and neighbour found it funny. John put the card back where it belonged and photographed the pets again.
When John and his wife were younger, long trips meant loading the children and his Nikon into the van and setting off, often without much of a plan. Camping and hiking in the mountains became part of family life, and the camera came too.
His family were not always delighted to find themselves in its sights. John remembers variations of “You’re embarrassing!” whenever the Nikon appeared.
These days, those same family members ring him asking for photographs from the day.
His wife once told him his photography was getting out of hand. Now they sit together looking at those photographs on a large television, seeing their children and the places they visited years ago.
She squeezes his hand and smiles.
Perhaps that explains better than anything why John photographs.
His son has called him a “selfish photographer”, because John admits that for many years the photographs were primarily for himself and his wife to enjoy when they became old.
As John now says simply:
“Old age is now.”
John has never been particularly interested in becoming known. He does not actively market his work and has little enthusiasm for social media. Fine Art America gives him somewhere to share what he has seen, while also allowing him to discover the work of other artists.
Nor is he pursuing commissions. Friends and family occasionally ask him to photograph their children or pets, and he is happy to do it for the pleasure of using his Nikon.
There is one condition when photographing children: he lets them play and be themselves.
It fits his wider philosophy perfectly. Don’t force the moment. Watch for it.
John has never followed a formal photography course. Instead, he read books on photographic history, studied photographs in magazines, watched television with an eye on how scenes were framed and cropped, and, in his words, wasted plenty of film learning what not to do.
He is equally comfortable receiving constructive criticism. Improvement, he believes, is always possible. Criticism based solely on somebody disliking a particular image is different. Not everybody enjoys the same things, so he listens and moves on.
His advice to new photographers comes from the same uncomplicated philosophy:
“Learn the rules, but shoot what catches your eye, and catch that moment you know the emotion is going to show.”
John has never tried drone photography.
In fact, he says he has never really thought about it.
Then comes the inevitable question:
“Does Nikon make a drone?”
There is another reason John’s son encouraged him to let other people see his photographs.
During a serious medical situation, John found himself in hospital where a doctor asked him, “How are you still alive?”
The experience left him considering whether perhaps the photographs he had accumulated should be shared rather than simply kept.
They were never created with fame, exhibitions or sales in mind. They were made because John happened to be somewhere, saw something worth remembering and had his Nikon with him.
Perhaps that is precisely why they matter.
His photographs contain the roads travelled, the animals encountered, children growing up, landscapes visited and those peculiar fractions of a second when everything happened to fall into place.
And somewhere beneath all of it is still the boy wandering around a backyard with a stick, planting imaginary apple seeds where nobody else could see them.
A Few More Things To Know
John’s musical tastes lean towards rock and roll with a smattering of blues, and Janis Joplin remains his all time favourite singer. YouTube itself holds little attraction for him unless his seven year old grandson is involved, in which case video game videos apparently take command.
His hobbies these days include photography and, as he puts it, letting his grandchildren spoil him.
He has no gallery exhibitions planned and does not seem especially troubled by that. The work was never really about gallery walls.
Some photographers document the world they find. Joshgun Suleymanov wants to take that familiar world and make us question what, exactly, we are looking at.
An independent visual artist, photographer and filmmaker based in Baku, Azerbaijan, Joshgun creates experimental photography using physical and optical techniques in camera rather than constructing his images afterwards through digital editing. Everyday reality is still there, but altered through his way of seeing it: a mannequin becomes an otherworldly presence, familiar shapes become uncertain, and ordinary scenes seem to hover somewhere between reality and dream.
Joshgun’s desire to create images began long before he knew what form that creativity would eventually take.
“As far back as I can remember, I wanted to become a filmmaker. I just didn’t know where or how to begin.”
Music and painting had fascinated him since childhood, but photography found its place when he began taking pictures with an old Nokia phone. That simple beginning became his entry into visual art.
Photography would eventually become far more than a means of recording what was around him. After years of street photography, Joshgun began searching for something recognisably his own: not simply photographs of the world, but a personal visual language.
Joshgun most often uses a Fujifilm X100S, although equipment itself is not the centre of his photography. At times he has spent months working with toy cameras, including cameras capable of producing an immediate print.
The X100S originally appealed to him because of his background in street photography. Its small size allowed him to work without the camera dominating the encounter.
“When people see you with a large camera, they often freeze up, but with a small camera, they usually don’t take you seriously, which creates a comfortable environment.”
He later moved to a Sony α6500 for its adaptability, particularly the range of lenses he could use and its versatility for small film projects.
Ultimately, though, his allegiance is not to a particular camera.
“For me, the main point isn’t the camera itself, but what I want to express through it.”
One of the most distinctive aspects of Joshgun’s practice is what happens after he takes a photograph.
Essentially, nothing.
He does not digitally edit his photographs. For Joshgun, this is not simply a preference but a discipline. The finished image must be created at the moment of capture.
“It is essential for me that the photograph is fully formed at the exact moment of capture.”
Even sensor dust can remain. He may remove it if it becomes particularly intrusive, but usually chooses not to. Those tiny imperfections belong to the physical act of making the photograph and, for him, help preserve its real character.
That makes the strange visual effects in his work particularly compelling. They are not digital inventions added afterwards. They originate in the physical and optical experimentation taking place between subject, camera and photographer.
The turning point in Joshgun’s photography arrived in one of the least predictable places possible: while he was asleep.
He had been photographing the street but was increasingly conscious that he wanted a signature of his own, something that would make a viewer recognise his work without first seeing his name.
Then, one night, he dreamed of a visual concept.
He woke in the middle of the night with an idea for a particular photographic method and, rather than waiting until morning, immediately tested it.
It worked.
“I was amazed to see that it actually worked. From that day on, I shifted my entire artistic approach, and today I work primarily with the technique I discovered that night.”
For Joshgun, this was more than the discovery of a photographic trick or technical process. It changed the way he understood photography itself.
“It wasn’t just a technical discovery; it was the turning point in how I view photography.”
Unsurprisingly, Joshgun chooses photography over editing when asked which part of the process excites him most.
“The core element for me is the moment of shooting: searching, observing, encountering something, and filtering it through my own vision.”
That idea of filtering reality through his own perception runs throughout his work.
One of his favourite photographs began with nothing more exotic than a mannequin in a shop. The object itself was entirely ordinary. Joshgun photographed it so that the familiar display figure appeared to become something else, an entity belonging to another reality.
That transformation is precisely what interests him.
He does travel when finances allow, but rejects the idea that compelling photography requires distant or exotic locations. An ordinary object nearby can become extraordinary if the photographer learns to see it differently.
Joshgun has never taken a formal photography course. Asked about the best photographic advice he has received, he admits that nobody gave him any. Instead, he developed advice for himself.
“The more you desire and the harder you work, the more you will learn to see.”
There is, however, no point at which he believes an artist has finished learning.
“Art is not something where you can ever say ‘this is enough.’ You must constantly work, search, and evolve.”
He approaches criticism with similar openness. Sincere and respectful criticism can act as a mirror, particularly when an artist has become too close to a piece to judge it objectively. An outside perspective can reveal something the artist themselves has missed.
Joshgun recognises that the internet has made it considerably easier for photographers to place their work before an international audience. He is less convinced that everything accompanying that accessibility has been beneficial.
Likes, views and popularity can begin to determine how work is perceived, regardless of the quality or meaning of the art itself.
“I don’t believe art can be measured by social media metrics.”
His own response is to resist the demand for constant content. Rather than posting simply to remain visible, he shares work on selected days and only when he is genuinely satisfied that it represents his artistic vision.
He is equally conscious that the internet has made unauthorised use of artists’ work much easier.
For Joshgun, originality matters more than feeding an algorithm. After years of recording the streets around him, he realised that documentation alone was no longer enough. He wanted to construct his own visual world and develop a signature that belonged to him.
Although Joshgun has not yet held a solo gallery exhibition, his work has already travelled considerably further than Baku.
It has been featured and published internationally, including AFB’s photobook Land of Fire Through the Lens in Baku, AnFond in Istanbul, Pexsel in Turkey, Progressiv Photo Festival in Denmark, TK-21 La Revue in France and Naahbox Magazine in Spain, where he participated in the Winter’s Tale group exhibition. He also placed first in a competition at Photo House in Baku.
Several projects are now ready for exhibition, including a photobook concept inspired by Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. Bringing those projects fully into the world requires resources, something he is currently working towards.
He does not undertake custom commissions, although collectors who encounter his work at exhibitions can request prints of existing pieces.
Photography is only part of Joshgun’s creative world. Film was his earliest ambition and remains part of his practice, while music provides another outlet. He enjoys playing music and recording song covers.
His family took time to understand the direction he had chosen, but they now understand both his work and what he is trying to achieve. His mother, in particular, is a strong source of support.
And then there is Paris.
Asked what he dreams about when asleep, Joshgun gives an answer that could almost be one of his photographs:
“I dream of standing in Paris, holding a glass of wine, looking at my own artwork displayed on the wall.”
Perhaps it is particularly appropriate for an artist whose defining photographic technique first appeared to him in a dream.
For now, he continues working in Baku on new series and projects while managing prints and sales from his existing work. The search continues: not for the next trend, the next burst of likes or the quickest route to visibility, but for ways of seeing that are unmistakably his own.
John Hughes’ introduction to photography came not through ambition, but through a gift. As a teenager, many years ago, he received an Olympus Trip 35mm film camera. That modest camera became his doorway into the world of photography, a world he would never really leave.
As his interest deepened and finances allowed, he progressed to a Nikon FM, gradually building a range of lenses that expanded both his technical possibilities and his creative confidence. Photography developed alongside two great passions, wildlife and motorcycle racing. Many long days were spent immersed in nature, waiting patiently for that elusive masterpiece. At the same time, weekends often found him at local race meetings, photographing competitors he knew personally and enjoying access to prime locations that allowed him to capture the intensity and speed of the sport.
With the dawn of the digital age, John transitioned from film to Nikon DSLR cameras, upgrading every few years as technology advanced. His loyalty to Nikon has remained steady, largely for practical reasons. By staying with the same brand, he was able to continue using his original lenses on newer digital bodies, a sensible decision that kept both quality and cost in balance.
Editing plays a role in his workflow, but only a restrained one. He keeps it simple, cropping where necessary, enhancing colours slightly, straightening images. For years he has used Smart Photo Editor, finding that it comfortably covers his needs without unnecessary complication. For John, the true joy lies not in software but in being out somewhere with a camera in hand, capturing great shots in real time.
When speaking of inspiration, he mentions Ansel Adams with genuine respect. Adams’ landscape photography, those sweeping, majestic compositions, represent something most photographers can only aspire to. That admiration is reflected in John’s own favourite work, born from two unforgettable trips to Alaska. One image stands above the rest for him: a single track railway stretching towards distant snow capped mountains. There is a quiet power in that composition, a sense of scale and solitude that clearly left its mark.
Alaska itself provided one of his most treasured photography memories. The landscapes were extraordinary, the wildlife unforgettable. Brown bears, bald eagles, and countless other species filled his viewfinder. Yet it was a whale watching trip that became the experience of a lifetime. Seeing a mighty humpback whale up close, watching it breach before disappearing into the depths, left him stunned. It is a moment that has stayed with him ever since, long after the shutter clicked.
Travel has been a defining thread throughout his photographic life. He has visited over fifty countries, always with a camera packed and ready. Whether near home or on the other side of the world, the camera has been a constant companion. Despite this wealth of experience, he has never exhibited in galleries. Perhaps one day, he says with quiet openness. There is no frustration in his tone, simply the sense that photography has always been about the experience first.
Constructive criticism is welcomed. John sees photography as a journey of learning, and believes we are all travelling that road together. Around fifteen years ago, he formalised his knowledge by attending evening classes at a local college, earning an A Level qualification in Photography. The course deepened his understanding of technique and encouraged him to approach projects with greater intention.
His advice to new photographers is refreshingly straightforward. Keep it simple. As long as you enjoy and like your own work, that is what matters most. If others like it too, that is a bonus.
On the subject of the internet, John views it as a powerful advancement for photographers, opening access to a vast global audience. While infringement can occur, he believes it remains limited compared to the opportunity the online world provides. He has been on Fine Art America and Pixels for over ten years, promoting his photographic artwork through his dedicated Pixels site and carefully chosen social media platforms. After experimenting with various networks, he now focuses on three that have proved effective for him: X, Mastodon, and Bluesky.
He is not available for commissions, preferring instead to concentrate on his own creative pursuits. Away from photography, football is his main hobby, though his playing days are long behind him. These days, he attends matches as a supporter rather than a participant.
John took early retirement from the Northern Ireland Civil Service over ten years ago and now considers himself fortunate to split the year between Northern Ireland and Spain. Two homes, two climates, two distinct qualities of light. It is a lifestyle that offers both familiarity and variety.
Behind the scenes stands his wife, Gillian. Not only his travel organiser, she has been a steadfast supporter of his photography over the years. His grown son and daughter are impressed by his output, a quiet acknowledgement that his dedication has not gone unnoticed.
And when it comes to dreams? Strangely, he says he can never remember them. Perhaps that is because his waking life has already provided so many remarkable images, railway tracks disappearing into mountain ranges, whales breaching against vast northern skies, wildlife encountered across continents.
John Hughes’ photography is grounded, steady, and sincere. It is not about chasing trends or technical excess. It is about being present, camera ready, wherever the next moment might unfold.
As we step into a new year, I wanted to share an important update with openness and gratitude.
I have now moved all of my own articles from Our Arts Magazine over to abbie-shores.com. The only pieces remaining on OAM are work created by our members, along with interviews, all of which will be carefully updated throughout January 2026. This marks a moment of complete change, intentional, thoughtful, and very much needed.
From here on, Our Arts Magazine is truly and wholly for its members. I am stepping out of the equation creatively so that I can focus on building my own site, while dedicating my energy to doing what I believe matters most in the year ahead, properly marketing and championing our members in the way they deserve. Not as an afterthought, not as filler, but as the heart of the platform.
This shift has been a long time coming. It feels right. It feels honest. And it allows OAM to become what it was always meant to be, a space where member voices are front and centre.
I am deeply grateful for the support I’ve received along the way. This community has meant more to me than I can neatly put into words. I would especially like to thank Robin, Hugh, Rudy, John and Ludwig, who have been there through thick and thin. Your steadiness, encouragement, and presence have mattered more than you know.
Here’s to a year of clarity, growth, and doing things properly… and to a future where our members shine as they should.
I am a contemporary artist with a background in architecture, living and working in Lyon, France.
My style is modern impressionist, semi-abstract and in some cases with expressionist influences.
I am fascinated by the explosive textures and the intense chromatic that you can explore and reinvent by working the medium of oil painting. The palette knife oil painting technique that I developed over the years confers expressiveness to my paintings and an amazing three dimensional aspect. It can be seen as a form of textural impressionism, as I use thick layers of oil paint to achieve a vibrant movement in my works.
Most of my oeuvre focuses on the city life and urban spaces. In addition, I enjoy applying and developing my skills through the exploration of other subjects as still lifes, flowers, animals, landscapes, figures.
I love to wander from one city to the next, to discover new places and to revisit the old and then to express these emotional experiences in my paintings. My professional training as an Architect has allowed me to study in depth and to grasp the City subject with all of its complexity. In my urban landscapes I merge the experience of architectural drawing concepts with the freedom, the strength and the energy that Palette Knife Painting allows me to express in a world of tones and colourful hues.
I am a painter and architect currently living in Lyon, France, originally from Bucharest, Romania. The art, since childhood has always held a fascination for me. I had the big opportunity to grow up in an artistic environment and today I realize how important this was. My parents have always been able to help me with advice in both domains, of painting and architecture – my mother is an architect and my father a professional painter. My grandmother was also a very artistic and talented person and I will never forget our long hours of drawing and painting together or practicing the piano, since I was just a few years old.
Regarding my professional background, I graduated the Fine Arts High School “N. Tonitza” in Bucharest and I’m really feeling lucky about this. I learned a lot there, I had some extraordinary art teachers and I keep many good memories. My background was not just one classic, cause after the Art high school I decided to follow the “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urban Planning in Bucharest. During this decade, I complemented my architecture studies with live drawing and painting classes. I continued with postgraduate studies in Bucharest and Lyon, obtaining in 2008 a master degree in urban planning. I don’t regret my choice, I think that the 6 years of architectural drawing studies completed very well my art ones and today I feel confident in myself whatever I draw or I paint. Immediately after graduating the faculty I was hired in an Architecture Office in Bucharest, my first job. At the same time I started my Master and I also taught as an assistant teacher in the small years of Landscape Design and the Urbanism Faculty, an experience that I remember with great pleasure. I opened an architecture and urban design business in Bucharest at the same period of time, we had beautiful, varied projects and collaborations with talented colleagues. Meantime I had a great opportunity to work for a few months in an interior architecture office in Paris, a unique experience that brought me a lot of satisfaction. It was then when I irremediably fell in love with this amazing city. Maybe this is why I love so much to paint it.
In 2011, I moved to Lyon, I embraced my life-long passion for painting and I returned to a full-time career as an artist.
Does your artwork come from that background?
Yes, it surely does. As a result of my education and experience, most of my oeuvre focuses on the city life and urban spaces. However, I also enjoy applying and developing my skills through the exploration of other genres as florals, landscapes, animals, figures… I work predominantly in oils, but create also works in pastel, acrylic, watercolour, ink and charcoal. I love to attend live model classes when I have the chance. I am doing this since high school and I consider it is an excellent exercise to practice your drawing skills.
Regarding my urban paintings, I have always loved to approach them in a myriad of ways. They have a particularity as I enjoy stylizing architectural forms in various manners. This has always been one of my goals, even a preoccupation from the time I was studying at the school of architecture until the present. The versatility of oil paint along with my prototypic work with palette knives allows me to play with the urban forms abstracting the city in an unconstrained manner.
What are you trying to say with your work?
My style is modern impressionist, semi-abstract and in some cases with post-impressionist and expressionist influences. I am fascinated by the explosive textures and the intense chromatic that you can explore and reinvent by working the medium of oil painting. The palette knife oil painting technique that I developed over the years confers expressiveness to my paintings and an amazing three dimensional aspect. It can be seen as a form of textural impressionism, as I use thick layers of oil paint to achieve a vibrant movement in my works.
Regarding the creative process of my work, the main idea can be an emotional impulse, a special moment in my life or a place that particularly touched me. I love to wander from one city to the next, to discover new places and to revisit the old and then to express these emotional experiences in my paintings. My professional training as an Architect has allowed me to study in depth and to grasp the City subject with all of its complexity. In my urban landscapes I merge the experience of architectural drawing concepts with the freedom, the strength and the energy that Palette Knife Painting allows me to express in a world of tones and colourful hues.
I also love to paint landscapes, floral or trees… I have a rich imagination, I often find myself daydreaming about things and places that nobody else is feeling or dreaming about. All those sensations, thoughts and images I incorporate in my art. Each painting is an experience, enriching my inner self. Thus was born my series of phantasmagorical landscapes, especially the ones representing the Northern Lights in my personal vision. I am deeply fascinated by this wonder of Nature and it inspires me a lot.
I believe painting is more than a combination of nice colors. It needs to pass on a message, to raise a reaction. Painting is one way mean of communication. The message of the surroundings – an unique combination of personal impulses – is immortalized and time stops. This message is being reflected in the eyes of the beholder. Thinking beautifully isn’t enough; it is essential to be able to accomplish the beauty of our thinking.
In the past years I specialized in textural impasto palette knives oil paintings. I just love the amazing textures that I can achieve by working the medium of oil painting in the impasto technique. I usually work with heavy textures and I love the vibrant dynamic color schemes. I mostly use a variety of palette knives in the realization of my impasto works, sometimes in combination with brushes for the underpainting. Many of the art collectors that purchased my original paintings told me that this is what they love a lot at my works, the incredible textures that seems pop out the canvas, giving life to the painting.
Do you work in a studio?
My Studio in October 2018
Yes, I do. I am working at home, but I set up one of the rooms as my studio. It is a beautiful place, an apartment style haussmannien in Lyon, from 1890. I believe in the energy of a place and this one it truly has positive vibes for me. The truth is that I would manage to set up a corner studio and to paint comfortable almost everywhere. As soon as I have my colors and my palette knives everything goes perfect.
What is the one thing in your studio you just could not be without?
My first thought went of course towards my painting tools, like my palette knives, my colors, my Easel… Actually thinking better I realize that my computer/my smartphone connected to the internet are as well indispensable… Especially because I use as reference for many of my painting photos that I took during my travels. Also because I display and sell my art mostly online so I keep the contact with my followers and I regularly add new artworks on my online shops and share them on my social media platforms.
My Venice Painting and I
Who are your biggest influences?
I have always been inspired and attracted in a special way by the Impressionist movement. Other preferences are the Post-Impressionism, the Romanian Modernism and The group of Seven. Some of my favourites artists: Monet, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne, Suzanne Valadon, Felix Valloton, Klimt, Tom Thomson, N. Tonitza, Stefan Luchian, Corneliu Baba, Iosif Iser.
What is your favourite piece of work by yourself?
It is very difficult to choose one in particular, as I am very fond of many of my paintings. However, I have a special feeling for my “Nightfall over Lyon”, a large nightscape canvas of 116×81 cm that I painted in 2017 and shortly after have sold it to an art collector in Canada. This modern impressionist palette knives oil painting captures one of the most beautiful squares in Lyon, La Place des Terreaux. The impressive facade of Hotel de Ville shines in the night…while people with red umbrellas are rushing under a burst of evening rain, each with their life stories…
How much time (on average) does it take to complete a work?
Referring to a palette knives oil painting, it depends very much on the complexity of the subject and the dimensions of the canvas. Small works can take a few hours and large canvases with complex compositions up to two weeks.
How do you know something is ‘finished’? Is it easy to walk away?
I just feel it. I feel when the moment to stop is. Sometimes is totally natural, but occasionally I return and add a few touches to a painting the next day. Especially when I finish it late in the night.
What project are you working on now?
I am working on a series of cityscapes from my recent travels: France, Greece, Spain…and toujours Lyon, my home town.
Actually in this very moment I am working on three commissioned paintings. I often take commissions from collectors. Some of them wish me to paint them recreations of older paintings of mine, others desire new works by sending me their photos as reference.
Lately, I started to realize some process videos of me painting, in time-lapse mode. If you wish to watch them please check them out on my Instagram page or my Facebook page in videos section. I really enjoyed doing them, but I believe they are above all very enjoyable to watch.
What was the best advice given to you as an artist?
Don’t ever stop what you are doing (painting). I remember I had a teacher in elementary school that called my Mom and insisted to enrol me in an art school. That I have lot of talent and it is a pity not to follow this path. I think it was a wise decision that my mother took back then. That’s how I started the formal painting lessons and then the fine arts high school. There were also my family and all my friends who continuously supported me to paint even while I was in the architecture school. Some of them often used to pose as models for me.
A triptych oil painting of Lyon rooftops that someone commissioned me to paint in 2010.
Do you find it hard to navigate the artworld?
I don’t find it hard, only very demanding. Actually I was always a very techie person and did well with computers and internet. It is true that it demands lot of hard work to marketing your artworks online. And especially lot of time. This would be the only problem in what concerns me… I would love to be able to use this time for painting more.
What are you personally doing to advance your work career?
I paint very much, I paint almost every day. I really take it like a full time job, every morning I enter my studio and start to work… painting, sketching ideas for future works, doing some online marketing… I also organize personal exhibitions in Lyon and I often attend group exhibitions. I am a member of several associations of artists: “La Maison des Artistes Paris”, “Ligne et Couleur Paris – l’association des architectes artistes”, “Fondation Taylor”. I exhibit every year in Paris and occasionally in other European cities, through Ligne et Couleur Association. Last month I took part in a group exhibition in Venice, Italy, where I exposed two of my paintings.
I was most active on my Instagram account in the past years, as it grows rapidly. I spend enough time for marketing and I think it’s important to be active and visible on the online market. I have an online shop on Fineartamerica.com where I sell prints of my artworks and lots of nice products in addition. I am selling regularly over there, but I have to admit that this demanded lot of marketing work in the past. I also have an online shop for my original paintings on Artfinder gallery which works very well. I make process videos while painting and publish them on my social media platforms. I don’t follow any art trends but I always try to be updated with the new trends and tools in marketing (as for ex on Instagram).
How do you price your work and why do you price it that way?
At the beginning, when I first came up on the art market, I compared my prices with other similar contemporary artists. I tried to fairly and objectively evaluate how my art measures up to other art on the market at that moment. I also took in account that I had art studies and an important experience in the fields of art and architecture. I also consulted some specialists, members of art associations I am part of. They also helped me in correctly choose my prices. With the years passing I started to also take in account other criteria, like all my experience, the number of years since I am working as full time artist and selling, my previous sales history, the time and the investment in one painting (that could change much from one artwork to another). I always price my artworks according to their value, in a fair and reasonable manner.
Do you use social networking in your day to day life?
I mostly love to paint, that is for sure… However, I don’t think I can consider this my hobby, knowing that now it is my full time job, so yes, I enjoy a lot playing the piano, I love to travel, to read or to watch a good movie.
I was born in Romania but I am now living in France, in the beautiful Lyon, a city in east-central France in the Rhone-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille.
