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Paula Craioveanu
Passion #2 - Red Nude painting oil/canvas original Paula Craioveanu

2024

About the Item

"Passion #2". Composition with two female nudes, oil on canvas, 35.5x19.5in / 90x50cm Part of "Wings of Gods", solo show. Shipped as it is, stretched. Free shipping with 1stDibs code FREESHIP. See the other 2 paintings from the same series, Passion #1 and Passion #3. Passion #1, Passion #2, Passion #3 - a thought-provoking series, with a unique blend of expressive movement, emotional intensity, and layered meaning. Together, these three works create a multi-layered narrative of passion, where each piece examines a different emotional and physical relationship to intensity, desire, and tension: Passion #1 - Surrender & Vulnerability– Passion as something that overtakes the body. Passion #2 - Merging & Sensuality– Passion as connection, fluidity, and transformation. Passion #3 - Struggle & Strength– Passion as control, resistance, and endurance. By alternating between male and female figures, the series suggests that passion is not bound by gender—it is a universal human experience that manifests in different ways. The use of red as the dominant color amplifies the emotions running through all three works, from desire and heat to tension and release. This painting depicts two overlapping female nudes rendered in transparency, continuing the layered and surreal approach of the series. In the foreground, a woman kneels with her arms raised high above her head, her body elongated and expressive. Her gesture suggests surrender, yearning, or an intimate stretch. In the background, a second woman is faintly visible, lying horizontally, her form relaxed and passive. The two figures are connected through their shared space and fluid linework, creating a sense of dialogue or duality. The foreground figure is nude, her anatomy accentuated by fluid black outlines. Her raised arms and stretched posture emphasize elegance and grace, contrasting with the subdued, grounded position of the second figure. The background woman is softly drawn and less defined, her form blending into the red expanse, which adds a dreamlike, ephemeral quality to her presence. Together, the two figures evoke femininity and fluidity, with their poses reflecting contrasting emotional states—one active and reaching, the other restful and grounded. The vivid red background is consistent with the series, creating an abstract, emotionally charged space devoid of physical setting. The red serves as a canvas for the figures, amplifying the tension and interplay between them. The overlapping, transparent depiction of the women suggests a surreal, layered reality, akin to a memory, a duality, or a symbolic exploration of inner and outer states. The texture is consistent with the other paintings in the series, characterized by gestural, expressive brushstrokes. The loose, unpolished lines imbue the painting with immediacy and motion. The transparency of the figures adds depth, making the image feel like a multi-layered narrative or a fragment of a fleeting vision. The monochromatic red dominates, symbolizing themes of passion, intensity, or emotional fervor. Black lines define the figures, providing contrast and structure. The restrained use of colors reinforces the emotional focus of the painting, allowing the viewer to interpret the scene on a psychological and symbolic level. Lighting and shadows are implied rather than realistic. Depth is achieved through overlapping and transparency, emphasizing the surreal and symbolic over the tangible. The figures are illuminated by the bold red backdrop, which appears to emanate its own emotional energy. The raised arms of the foreground figure can symbolize surrender, transcendence, or yearning. Her posture contrasts with the lying figure in the background, who represents stillness, rest, or perhaps passivity. The layering of the two figures invites an interpretation of duality—action versus inaction, strength versus vulnerability, or two facets of the same person. The transparency creates a temporal or psychological link between the figures, adding complexity to their relationship. . Where the first two paintings explored masculinity, tension, and control (with ropes and dynamic pulling), this piece transitions to femininity, grace, and surrender. The hands tied in the earlier works are mirrored here by the hands raised voluntarily, perhaps shifting the focus from restraint and struggle to release or transcendence. Similarly, the lying figure in the background parallels the subdued, passive figures in the male nudes, suggesting a shared theme of duality and internal conflict, now filtered through a female lens. The gender shift introduces new layers of interpretation, emphasizing contrasts in physicality, emotional expression, and symbolic meaning between the masculine and feminine. The unified red background and surreal transparency tie the series together, making the painting both a standalone exploration of femininity and a complementary piece to the broader narrative of the series. This juxtaposition invites viewers to reflect on universal themes of power, vulnerability, duality, and the human condition across gender boundaries. Artist Statement "I started by painting interiors, being interested in space and perspective through my studies. These scenes evolved, when I added the human figure. I focused more on the human figure and its relation to the background. The human figure is more present than ever in my paintings now. As a woman artist I’ve been preoccupied with the female form and its imagery. One of my goals was to capture the solitary moments and the nude’s relation to the surrounding space. My interest turned from depicting the space to rendering the atmosphere and the scene as a whole, the feeling a woman adds to the environment: warmth, desire, joy, a feeling of power and control, or the opposite – sadness, despair. Here is a collection of figurative paintings, exploring the nudes in interior spaces, seeing the nudes from my perspective, as a woman artist, considering the physical and spiritual realities of a woman’s body, in a new level of intimacy. My paintings are the opposite of objectifying a woman’s or a man’s anatomy. Painted works, featuring female nudes and a also men nudes, in a reversal of the male-artist/female-muse pattern, validate the feminine experience, defining myself through it. I was interested in how one experiences the body in a sensual form, and later focused on my own body, as I experience it myself, looking into the mirror and reconnecting. My work challenges the tradition of the nude by capturing my point of view, the gaze of a female painter, by using photography, drawings, sketches, and painting on canvas, for, both physical and psychological exploration. My art tries to create a visual language for emotion, beauty, feelings of intimacy and in the same time autonomy, captured with paint and vivid colors. My intense interest in colour and the gestures of the brush strokes are the means I see and convey the subjects in space, as living, passionate beings." Paula Craioveanu Biography: Paula Craioveanu is a Romanian artist, born in 1976. She grew up surrounded by art and inspiration, in a family of artists. Trained in Bucharest and New York as an architect and painter. Holds a degree in Architecture and a PhD in Visual Arts. Presently working as a full-time artist. At the age of 16, Paula Craioveanu moved to New York, where she came in contact with New York’s vibrant art scene, she graduated from high school and then studied at Parsons School of Design. Then she moved back to Romania where she studied for the next 6 years at the Architecture University in Bucharest and graduated with a degree in Architecture in 2000. In 2013 she earned a Ph.D in Visual Arts at the University of Arts in Bucharest with the theme “Geometry of Space in 17th century Dutch painting”. After this, she dedicated her full time to art, and showed her talent to the art world. Paula Craioveanu works in acrylic and oil paints, but also pen and ink or tempera works on paper. She regularly participates in shows and exhibitions in galleries along the East and West Coast of the United States, like bG Gallery Santa Monica, Dacia Gallery and Perseus Gallery in New York. Paula Craioveanu’s work is featured on the two most exclusive online art marketplaces, 1stDibs and Artsy. Over the course of 20 years, Paula Craioveanu has created several painting series: “Abstract”, “Interiors”, “Nude in Interior”, “NeoMythology”. Paula Craioveanu’s work has been placed in private collection around the world, both in Europe and in the United States. Today, Paula Craioveanu has set up studios and works in Bucharest and New York. Find original Paula Craioveanu paintings, works on paper and other art on 1stDibs. Next: Works on display - December 2024, Context Art Miami.
  • Creator:
    Paula Craioveanu (1976, Romanian)
  • Creation Year:
    2024
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 35.5 in (90.17 cm)Width: 19.5 in (49.53 cm)Depth: 1 in (2.54 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Forest Hills, NY
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: Romanian-American artist. PhD in Visual Arts.1stDibs: LU2240215178752

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