About Artist Cristina Marcu
Cristina
Marcu is a contemporary artist blending impressionist and
expressionist styles. Her brightly colored works are inspired by the
Russian and Romanian folk art that surrounded her as a child in her
native country of Romania. Cristina was born in Communist Moldovia,
Romania in the politically charged 1960’s. Beginning at age seven,
she attended the George Enescu Conservatory of Music where she
studied classical piano.
Romanian
painters such as Nicolae Grigorescu and Corneliu Baba inspired
Cristina from an early age and while she harbored a childhood dream
to be a painter she turned that inspiration towards her musical
studies. At age thirteen Cristina and her sister followed their
parents to the United States and lived in New York where she
continued her musical studies. Cristina received her degree BA in
Piano Performance from
USC and began
performing in concerts as well as teaching music privately.
Cristina
began nurturing her painting aspirations in the early 1990’s. Her
desire to paint became so strong that eventually she gave up
teaching and performing to pursue her lifelong dream of being a
painter. Bright yellows, reds and oranges, accented with clear blues
and greens echoes her romance with color. She looks to the French
Impressionists for inspiration: Van Gogh for his bold colors and
Matisse for his sense of line and design. Russian artist, Wassily
Kandinsky's early landscapes played an important role in the
development of Cristina’s ever evolving work and like Kandinsky,
Cristina has developed a deep desire to connect her spirituality and
her music to her art.
Fluent in
various mediums Cristina utilizes oil, watercolor and acrylic to
paint diverse subject matter, with her focus primarily on
landscapes, seascapes and still life. In addition, Cristina has
authored Sounds of Color, a children’s book combining audio
awareness and primary color recognition. Cristina Marcu's paintings
are found in private collections across the United States and
Europe.
Education
-
USC
School of Music, Bachelor of Arts
-
Art
Center College of Design, Pasadena
Member Affiliations
-
Marin Arts Council
Located in Northern California MAC is a nonprofit organization
with a highly visible and effective network of programs,
services and events that is changing the way people look at the
arts
-
Valley Artists Guild
The
Valley Artists Guild (VAG) is founded on the belief that when
individual artists join together in creating their destinies,
their growth and impact is multiplied in their own lives and
throughout the world. With visual art exhibitions, ongoing
education and creative interaction, we empower artists to
fulfill their highest potential.
-
Laguna Plein Air Painters Association
Laguna
Plein Air Painters Association (LPAPA) links the strong plein
air movement of the early California painters to the present
ones and creates a bond amongst the contemporary plein air
painters throughout the nation. See
Cristina Marcu's featured work at LPAPA.