Stef Andrei, luscious portraits from Romania

I am a Romanian artist currently living and working in Cluj-Napoca, a regional centre in the heart of Transylvania. My art education is rather unsystematic. I studied painting for a year at the local university, but I was always more inspired by the great art of the Renaissance than by the abstract or expressionist styles taught in the art schools today. This has led me to study the methods and techniques of the old masters by myself and by my own means.

I now use a very similar painting technique, which involves four to five successive layers of paint, each with its own function and characteristics. It is an elaborate process; it can take up to two months to finish a medium-sized portrait. My work is currently oriented on representing the human figure, as this seems to me an endlessly fascinating subject, but I plan to explore other genres as well in the future.
Stef Andrei
Jan 7, 2015