For the Menhirs series I have explored mines and mining sites in Romania. These visits stimulate all my senses and feed my never ending fascination for painting complex patterns, textural surfaces, and a dramatic play of light and color.
The old buildings are a huge portion of a mining town’s culture. Once ubiquitous in the Romanian landscape and central to the economy, many mining sites are now relics of another time. There is in these paintings evidence of a physical and grinding way of work, but also the hope for a brighter post-coal future.
I find these abandoned structures resonate with me on a number of levels – as a symbol for society, but also for the human condition. I want the work to embody the sense of vulnerability, fragility and disfigurement that I perceive in the subject.