Ruxandra Gutu

As a child, I would spend many hours in my father’s studio, observing how he painted. I was dazzled by the vivid colors of the strokes that emerged from his brush, and intrigued by the intense emotions that certain forms on a canvas could stir up in me. Once, when I was four, after I had been watching my father paint a landscape of a monastery near Moscow all day, he had to run an errand and left me home alone, forbidding me to touch the painting. Compelled by the temptation of what is forbidden, I did just the opposite. I remember feeling sheer delight as I whimsically applied paint to the canvas, it felt liberating. Naturally, my parents were not pleased, but I have no recollection of being scolded. On the other hand, I can clearly recall what a joy it was to really paint for the first time. Looking back, I think that experience planted a seed in me, from that point on I knew I wanted to become an artist.
Throughout my childhood I liked to make my own toys. As I played, I modelled characters and objects out of plasticine, recreating the scenes I was fantasizing. Despite their imperfections, they seemed more real and alive to me than mass-produced toys because they reflected my imagination -the world I had dreamt up. After all, art can be seen as simply a collection of symbols; it is the thoughts and meanings that we attribute to the symbols that give it its value. To create art is to discover and materialize those patterns of symbols that reflect one’s being; it is intimately linked with introspection. Whether I was shaping things to play with or dry-pointing for a university project, I have found that my work has pleased me in proportion to how much it has revealed me to myself.
Until the age of seven I lived in Moscow, a city that is still close to my heart, and that I return to occasionally for inspiration. My education in art began there, at home and through the frequent visits I made to galleries and exhibitions with my parents. And it continued after we moved to Bucharest, where I now live. I would say that up until high school my father was my art teacher. From him I learned the basic principles and was imbued with idealism and passion for art.
I attended a fine arts high school in Bucharest, which was an entirely new experience that brought me into contact with many different people and new forms of art. There I met Iuri Isar, an extraordinary graphics teacher, a professor of scenography at the National University of Arts and a celebrated Romanian artist, who aroused my interest in printmaking. A curiosity which I pursued throughout my undergraduate studies in fine arts and graphics at the National University of Arts, culminating in a final project comprised of a series of dry-point engravings, entitled “Ephemeral Game” -a meditation on the transient nature of life, partly inspired by Eugenio Montale’s poems.
Overall, my undergraduate university experience was a disillusionment. Unlike my high school teachers, the professors there were rigid in their thinking and demanded conformity rather than ingenuity. Disappointed, I chose to focus on developing my own artistic vision, and my grades suffered a bit as a result. However, I partook in my first group exhibition in 2005 and had my first solo one in 2008, and have participated in several since then, in the course of which I have also sold some of my work. Sharing my art with others has been a blessing and a dream come true. Although feedback has not always been positive, it has helped me to see my creations from a distance and get an understanding for how various techniques affect its viewers. I have also realized how empowering and gratifying it feels to jolt people out of lethargy by captivating their imagination.
Ever since I graduated, in 2008, I have wanted to continue my studies but have felt reluctant to do so in Romania. Instead, I chose to take on a full-time job while pursuing my studies in my own time. Over the past two years, I have worked as a graphic designer for two firms in the wood production industry. My duties have included the design of logos, product catalogs, online adds, and even wooden doors. I feel that I have gained useful experience as an artist trying to earn a living in this world, and some insight into human relations. Earlier this year I resigned to spend time improving my English, in view of returning to academia.
I am currently completing my Master's Degree in European Arts Practice at Kingston University London.

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