A Very Personal Style (Artistic Approach explained by Cosmina)

My painting style was built little by little through my personal life experience. Born in Europe and raised in France, I was initiated into oil painting at the early age of eight. Since then, I have always used oil paint that European painters have used for many centuries. I think it is the most durable and pleasing medium with which to work.

I graduated from university with a degree in the Japanese language and culture. I also studied Chinese painting and practiced Japanese calligraphy. This is why I like to structure my compositions based on the duality symbolized by the yin and the yang, light and dark, empty and full. I spend a lot of time on each painting, finding this balance, emphasizing the spiritual expression, and creating colors suitable for meditation.

Since 2006, I have chosen an abstract idea to give a common thread to my works and build a collection. I usually develop my views through ten or twelve paintings in varying colors and compositions.

After reading Wassily Kandinsky’s and Paul Klee’s writings, I decided to reduce the graphics to their simplest expression: point and line. The unique purpose of these “shapes-colors” is to trigger the expression of feelings. The absence of any object suggestion strengthens the idea that there is no need for words - something does not need to be described to be felt. I do not expect viewers to search for any hidden representation of subjects or visual interpretation.

I chose the approach of “drip painting” adopted by Jackson Pollock. These unexpected and unpredictable flecks of paint, flung with controlled randomness upon the canvas, are a way to free the deeply buried emotions within us. Painting in this way led me to create an approach that I call “controlled serendipitous painting.” I use different unconventional tools to control the shape of my paint marks and the intensity of their color. This method allows me to work upon a canvas in a spontaneous manner that reflects the nature of the universe. It also serves to express the complexity of human thinking and the unpredictability of human reactions.

I work until these unpredictable paint marks translate perfectly the feelings I wish to express.  When I reach this goal, a painting is finished.

Working on the floor and turning around my canvas, as the Amerindians did on the sand, gives me the feeling of actively participating in the construction of my work and allows me to physically and mentally absorb myself into the pictorial universe.

I like being overwhelmed by colors, and I enjoy this journey “into” the painting. I expect the same behavior from viewers: to immerse in my universe and allow their senses to awaken. I just want to induce an emotional experience.

CONVERSATION WITH COSMINA

The Secret Garden of the Mind

Cosmina explains the whys and wherefores of these three series of works

COSMINA

Painting the invisible

Retrospective 2006-2013

Text in French and English

ISBN: 978-2-919309-05-4

Publication date: 2013

Hard cover 140 pages, 77 photos, 11" x 11"

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