We recently connected with Gabriel Marian and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Gabriel, thanks for joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

Since I was a kid, around 5 years old, I liked drawing and watching my mum draw cartoon characters for me. But one of the most encouraging moments at that age was when I got a national award in a kid’s painting competition organized by UNICEF. During my teenage years, I started preparing for the admission exam at an Art School, but my family’s pressure to choose a college that would get me a “reasonable” job determined me to start with literary studies, to become a teacher, maybe. A few years later, while in Paris with a two-year scholarship, I resumed some art classes, and had my first personal and group exhibitions in a student context. Gradually, while finishing my first PhD in France (literary theory), I became more and more aware that art is what really interests me. So, after coming back to Romania, I got admitted to the Cluj University of Art and Design – UAD, and pursued my studies, which led to a second PhD, in visual arts.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am more interested in images than words, and I feel that I express myself better through the visual medium (although my literary studies allow me to feel comfortable with the language too). And, after several years of focusing on literary studies and, more specifically, literary theory, I gradually discovered that the experience of another field enriched my perspective on art. And this allows me to explore different and novel directions, to have new and original ideas, to not face blank canvas anxiety. There are several turning points and works in my career that I’m particularly satisfied with, even after years of self-critical outlook, but in a broader view I know that what I bring to art is a more complex and multi-layered visual narrative, and in recent years a painting technique that fuses shapes and colors with layers of text.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist—apart from the occasional chance to have a solo show or participate in a group exhibition, along with the public and media attention I receive on such occasions—are the moments of creation themselves. It’s always such a satisfying sensation to work on a new artwork, both on a mental-symbolic level, and on a physical one. Mentally, this brings me a sense of purpose, focus and inner peace that is rewarding in itself and complex. Physically, this is precisely what I lacked in the literary field and what brought me back to the arts: the feeling that I create something with my own hands, that I bring in existence an object that is beautiful and meaningful.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

After starting my art studies I noticed that the most important lessons I learned there were not about the technical skills and visual insights, but the crucial importance of two behaviors that really make an artist today: the self-assertiveness and the ability to develop and participate in a complex networking with other artists, curators, gallery owners, art critics etc.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.gabrielmarian.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/gabriel.marian www.instagram.com/gabriel.marian.photo
• Other: https://www.saatchiart.com/en-ro/agriel

Image Credits

© IAGA Contemporary Art