“Deeply entrenched in the formal and thematic tenants of Abstract Expressionism, Romanian painter Mihai Bara seeks to translate the human condition and experience onto his canvases. Brilliant, vibrant color splashes through Bara’s works, invigorating our sense of the nature of reality and fantasy in playful enchantment. Dynamically fluid yet alluringly geometric shapes cascade throughout these paintings, speaking to the sometimes messy and problematic, yet poignantly poetic nature of human existence.

Bara explores and exploits painterly texture, yielding an exquisite richly tactile quality in his work that engages the viewer. His materials are eclectic, with latex, paper or string often mixing with traditional acrylic paints. Through this assortment of material, Bara speaks to the opulent diversities and differences alive and intermingled throughout the world. He sites his childhood hometown,Brasov, a place flush in varied languages, cultures and religions, as the source of his deep appreciation for multiplicity. It is through the plasticity of expressionism that the artist gives voice to the nuanced multitudes of human emotion.

“I would like my art to be accepted as an interesting point of view based on a true emotion,” he says. “My idea is to open a little bit the big labyrinth we have all inside.”

Mihai Bara lives and works inAndorra, a small country inSouthwestern Europe. He exhibits his work widely throughout Europe and the United States.”

www.Agora-Gallery.com/ArtistPage/Mihai_Bara.aspx

Jason Plymer  july 2011 New York