One week ago, RIVAA artist Ioan Popoiu welcomed art lovers to Next Stop: Venus?, a solo exhibit featuring the paintings of an artist thriving in his prime. If you missed the opening, be sure you see it before closing on November 26th. And if you did see it, see it again. Next Stop Venus is special, a rare event that can’t be repeated.
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
Two centuries ago, Felix Mendelssohn composed a collection, Songs Without Words, pure musical expressions outside the confines of verbs, nouns and adjectives. Ioan Popoiu has always done something like that.
His impressionistic canvases connect with viewers at a visceral level, profound and too complex for words – moving, original and brilliant.
The value of his pictures lies in the fact that, regardless of what he paints, you will absorb it inside a private domain where only you really understand.
In the above, I see passion obstructed by darker forces, maybe fear, maybe repression, maybe sorrow.
What do you see?
And here…? Billowing expressions of joy.
But the point is that each image is even more unique than a fingerprint. Crafted through years of experience, Popoiu’s brushstrokes sing solos harmonizing across the canvas – to be heard, absorbed and made distinctly personal within you.
Next Stop: Venus?
An artist with a purpose, Ioan Popoiu made his way to America only after a 45-day hunger strike forced the hand of a dictator behind the Iron Curtain in Romania.
His maturing visions should never be missed.
Next Stop: Venus? fills the walls at Gallery RIVAA, 527 Main Street, Roosevelt Island, until November 26th.
Don’t miss it.
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