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Artist Statement
Using oil panting with elements of embroidery, printmaking, drawing, and a performative aspect, Iustina Banu’s art pieces together a poetic collage of her Romanian roots brushing against a western aesthetic backdrop. Autobiographical in nature, yet with an abstracted finish, Banu’s work is decorated with folkloric visions of her cultural heritage. Her figures transition elusively between the sensual and the soulful. Beneath this moving surface there lies evidence that she expects her art to offer an honest look beyond the veil of inauthenticity and into the realms of raw human emotion, universality, and the seen yet unspoken. Her art strips away all reference to the impermanence of politics and momentary preoccupations to give a naked glimpse of what it is to be human.
Using oil panting with elements of embroidery, printmaking, drawing, and a performative aspect, Iustina Banu’s art pieces together a poetic collage of her Romanian roots brushing against a western aesthetic backdrop. Autobiographical in nature, yet with an abstracted finish, Banu’s work is decorated with folkloric visions of her cultural heritage. Her figures transition elusively between the sensual and the soulful. Beneath this moving surface there lies evidence that she expects her art to offer an honest look beyond the veil of inauthenticity and into the realms of raw human emotion, universality, and the seen yet unspoken. Her art strips away all reference to the impermanence of politics and momentary preoccupations to give a naked glimpse of what it is to be human.
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Née à Bucarest en Roumanie, Iustina Banu demeure présentement à Montréal, au Canada. Elle détient un baccalauréat en Arts visuels de l'Université Concordia à Montréal. Durant ses études, elle a passé un an en échange international à l'Université de Hertfordshire en Angleterre.
© Iustina Banu 2019