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Paula Craioveanu
PASSION #1 - Nude Male painting Paula Craioveanu oil on canvas

2024

About the Item

"Passion #1" - An original signed oil painting on canvas by artist Paula Craioveanu - titled "Passion #1". Hand painted and hand signed by artist upper right. It is also signed, titled and dated on verso. Part of Paula Craioveanu's "Male Nude" series. Painting has been part of "Wings of God" solo show. Composition with two male nudes, oil on canvas, 35.5x23.5in / 90x60cm. Mint condition. See the other paintings from the same series, "Passion #2" and "Passion #3". Shipped stretched, ready for hanging. Free shipping with 1stDibs code FREESHIP. Passion #1, Passion #2, Passion #3 - a thought-provoking series, with a unique blend of expressive movement, emotional intensity, and layered meaning. Together, these three works create a multi-layered narrative of passion, where each piece examines a different emotional and physical relationship to intensity, desire, and tension: Passion #1 - Surrender & Vulnerability– Passion as something that overtakes the body. Passion #2 - Merging & Sensuality– Passion as connection, fluidity, and transformation. Passion #3 - Struggle & Strength– Passion as control, resistance, and endurance. By alternating between male and female figures, the series suggests that passion is not bound by gender—it is a universal human experience that manifests in different ways. The use of red as the dominant color amplifies the emotions running through all three works, from desire and heat to tension and release. The painting "Passion #1" presents a male figure in the foreground, sitting with his hands tied above his head. His posture is both vulnerable and expressive, suggesting a sense of tension or surrender. In the background, a second male figure is visible in transparency, lying horizontally, his body relaxed and appearing almost detached from the struggle of the foreground figure. The overlapping forms create a layered composition that connects the two men in an intimate, surreal dialogue. The foreground figure is muscular and nude, with a body that exudes strength despite his restrained position. His arms are raised and bound, emphasizing a sense of captivity or submission. His face, slightly tilted back, suggests a state of exhaustion, contemplation, or perhaps even defiance. The background figure, rendered faintly and lying horizontally, contrasts in posture and tone. This man’s relaxed position and lack of visible tension make him appear as though he is either unconscious, resting, or symbolic of a deeper emotional or psychological state. As with the other works in the series, the background is an intense, uniform red, devoid of environmental details. The red amplifies the emotional and psychological atmosphere, serving as a metaphorical space rather than a physical one. The layering of figures in this abstract environment evokes a dreamlike or cinematic quality, blending time and space. The texture is gestural and dynamic, with loose, fluid brushstrokes defining the forms of the figures. The transparency of the second figure adds depth and complexity to the visual narrative, creating an almost spectral or double-exposed effect. The lines are raw and energetic, suggesting immediacy and emotional intensity. The monochromatic red dominates the composition, symbolizing passion, struggle. Black outlines define the figures, creating a stark contrast that draws the viewer’s attention to their intertwined forms. The absence of additional colors enhances the surreal and symbolic impact of the scene. Traditional lighting and shadows are absent, as depth is achieved through the layering and overlapping of the figures. The transparent rendering of the background figure creates an ethereal quality, further emphasizing the surreal narrative. The tied hands of the foreground figure are a central motif, symbolizing restraint, vulnerability, or entrapment. The juxtaposition with the background figure, who lies free and unrestrained, suggests a duality—a conflict between physical and emotional states, action and passivity, or two aspects of the same individual. The transparency of the second figure hints at memory, subconscious thought, or an alternate reality. This painting continues the surreal exploration of human emotion and connection seen in the series. The tied hands of the foreground figure evoke themes of powerlessness or submission, while the relaxed posture of the background figure provides a counterpoint, introducing questions about freedom, duality, or internal conflict. The monochromatic red amplifies the intensity of the scene, inviting the viewer into a layered and psychological interpretation. It is a striking example of how modern surreal art uses abstraction and transparency to delve into complex emotional and existential themes. Artist Statement "I started by painting interiors, being interested in space and perspective through my studies. These scenes evolved, when I added the human figure. I focused more on the human figure and its relation to the background. The human figure is more present than ever in my paintings now. As a woman artist I’ve been preoccupied with the female form and its imagery. One of my goals was to capture the solitary moments and the nude’s relation to the surrounding space. My interest turned from depicting the space to rendering the atmosphere and the scene as a whole, the feeling a woman adds to the environment: warmth, desire, joy, a feeling of power and control, or the opposite – sadness, despair. Here is a collection of figurative paintings, exploring the nudes in interior spaces, seeing the nudes from my perspective, as a woman artist, considering the physical and spiritual realities of a woman’s body, in a new level of intimacy. My paintings are the opposite of objectifying a woman’s or a man’s anatomy. Painted works, featuring female nudes and a also men nudes, in a reversal of the male-artist/female-muse pattern, validate the feminine experience, defining myself through it. I was interested in how one experiences the body in a sensual form, and later focused on my own body, as I experience it myself, looking into the mirror and reconnecting. My work challenges the tradition of the nude by capturing my point of view, the gaze of a female painter, by using photography, drawings, sketches, and painting on canvas, for, both physical and psychological exploration. My art tries to create a visual language for emotion, beauty, feelings of intimacy and in the same time autonomy, captured with paint and vivid colors. My intense interest in colour and the gestures of the brush strokes are the means I see and convey the subjects in space, as living, passionate beings." Paula Craioveanu Biography: Paula Craioveanu is a Romanian artist, born in 1976. She grew up surrounded by art and inspiration, in a family of artists. Trained in Bucharest and New York as an architect and painter. Holds a degree in Architecture and a PhD in Visual Arts. Presently working as a full-time artist. At the age of 16, Paula Craioveanu moved to New York, where she came in contact with New York’s vibrant art scene, she graduated from high school and then studied at Parsons School of Design. Then she moved back to Romania where she studied for the next 6 years at the Architecture University in Bucharest and graduated with a degree in Architecture in 2000. In 2013 she earned a Ph.D in Visual Arts at the University of Arts in Bucharest with the theme “Geometry of Space in 17th century Dutch painting”. After this, she dedicated her full time to art, and showed her talent to the art world. Paula Craioveanu works in acrylic and oil paints, but also pen and ink or tempera works on paper. She regularly participates in shows and exhibitions in galleries along the East and West Coast of the United States, like bG Gallery Santa Monica, Dacia Gallery and Perseus Gallery in New York. Paula Craioveanu’s work is featured on the two most exclusive online art marketplaces, 1stDibs and Artsy. Over the course of 20 years, Paula Craioveanu has created several painting series: “Abstract”, “Interiors”, “Nude in Interior”, “NeoMythology”. Paula Craioveanu’s work has been placed in private collection around the world, both in Europe and in the United States. Today, Paula Craioveanu has set up studios and works in Bucharest and New York. Find original Paula Craioveanu paintings, works on paper and other art on 1stDibs. Next: Works on display - December 2024, Context Art Miami. Shipped as it is, stretched. Get free shipping with 1stDibs code FREESHIP.
  • Creator:
    Paula Craioveanu (1976, Romanian)
  • Creation Year:
    2024
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 35.5 in (90.17 cm)Width: 23.5 in (59.69 cm)Depth: 1 in (2.54 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Forest Hills, NY
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: Romanian-American artist. PhD in Visual Arts.1stDibs: LU2240215178772

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