Q: Your work explores profound themes of humanity, time, and historical cycles. Can you share how your background influences these philosophical undertones in your art?

A: I grew up in Romania, in the closed-off space of the so-called “golden age” - the age of a dictator; paradoxically, however, thanks to the circle of artists who often gathered in my parents’ house, I could easily escape in the boundlessness of poetry - and not only poetry. Derealisation is a necessary process for survival and the levels of it are endless. It is there where I found the refuge and the instruments with which I remodelled the desperations of the proletariat, which I then compiled in an initial series called “Proletarian Surrealism” (the 80s).

Q: You’ve been described as fearless in your work, never standing still and always embracing risk. What motivates you to continually push boundaries in your art, and how do you navigate the challenges that come with such bold experimentation?

A: Creation, true creation, cancels out fear. I am always treading on the edge of a chasm. How else could I shed light into the abyss? Nowadays I am standing on the edge of a digital abyss, looking to fill these unearthly, empty spaces, as Eugen Ionesco called them, with “the water of life”.

Q: Your pieces are deeply layered with symbolism and narrative. How do you decide which symbols or elements to include, and what role does intuition play in your process?

A: I am a mere spokesperson for multiple universes. The decisions are mine or not, they are dictated by intuition as well as by an academic background. These two levels, seemingly discordant, are actually the frame upon which the image is built. However, in order to reach an optimal version of concretion, I cast, for example, thousands of layers in the mass pit of the virtual world.

Q: The character of Luna seems pivotal in your artistic journey, marking a shift into new creative territories. What does Luna represent to you, and how did she open up a new dimension in your work?

A: Luna represents the fragility of nascent words. I eliminated her from my website for this reason. I am trying to protect her in the same way I try to protect a recently begun artwork. The series dedicated to her includes a subseries titled “Luna’s Molecular Structures”, which became the starting point for new series such as “ITunnel Syndrome” and “Fog Island” (2018-2024).

Q: From eerie landscapes of solitude to surreal, whimsical digital creations, your art seems to oscillate between the unsettling and the playful. How do you navigate these extremes, and do you find one mode more cathartic or challenging than the other?

A: I often immerse myself in the world of the Cruel Fairy Tale. Here, the playful intertwines with maladjustment; it is the area I explore in the late hours of the night, when cracks in our day-to-day reality ensue. Through these breaches in reality, information seeps out, information which then aids in the construction of images.

Q: What advice would you give to emerging artists who want to explore digital art or tackle complex themes like you do? How can they remain authentic while navigating such a rapidly evolving creative landscape?

A: As I have previously mentioned, I believe a classical, academic type of training is crucial in discerning what is and what is not essential in this Pandora’s box that is AI. In order to stay true to yourself in the creative sphere - especially now, in the age of digital bombardment - compromise must be shunned. Creation is a maximum risk area which is navigated in solitude.