Adrian Panaitisor

Mixed Media

SDED-Cloud, 2023
Acrylic on canvas and canvas rolls on plywood
28 x 24 x 1 inch (71 x 61 x 2.5 cm)
My 2023 creations would not be accurately represented without this December 2023 last minute piece.
SDED-Cloud is trying to bring out the canvas from its natural 2D (flat) state into the 3D universe. Rolls of canvas are building a three dimensional shape that is way too important to just stay within the confined perimeter of a 24 by 24 inch space. The smooth visual transition tools from flat to 3D are, optical illusion, real 3D objects, and a controlled color relationship. The 2.5 dimension work is always a fun task to suggest it exists.
[With all due respect to the great architect Adrian D. Smith who designed the world’s tallest building, this art piece wasn’t inspired by his work, and was never meant to represent one specific structure, but rather all the great structures of the planet.]

Mixed Media

SDED - Three circles, one broken, 2023
Acrylic on canvas over plywood, and shaped canvas, 40 x 24 x 3 in (102 x 61 x 8 cm)
The exercise of comparing circles, redefined by the surfaces they are on, is met by an unspoken guilt directed at the overall choice of green, which, in truth, defines the contrast with the dividing red middle gap.
Reaching the elusive 2.5 dimension is still on, and strips of canvas bridge the upper and lower areas running over a vivid red gap in the middle. The three circles depicted here were born from covering a shaped canvas, a regular flat area, as well as a crumpled canvas later to be flattened, showing the broken circle. All elements enhanced by the inevitable use of optical illusion.

Mixed Media

SDED-201114, 2023
Acrylic on twenty 11 x 14 inch canvas panels connected by 5 inch wide primed canvas strips.
57 x 58 x 3/4 in (145 x 147 x 2 cm)
SDED-201114 started in April of 2020, with the idea of using 11 x 14 inch canvas panels to create a larger piece. (As suggested by the title) there were 20 panels used, all connected with 4.75 inch wide strips of primed canvas, weaved through cuts made in the panels [an early picture of the piece is shown here, at the end]. Although the project required many additional steps, the COVID-19 pandemic just started a month earlier (in March 2020), and the extra work element appeared at the time to be of no consequence. The weaving continues on top of the panels as well, true to the overall concept where the primed canvas strips are shown in two shades of magenta rectangles.
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The search for the elusive (theoretical) 2.5 dimension continues, and the 2-D to 3-D transitions use the same required techniques:
— optical illusion (for depth and overlapping),
— real objects, and
— well controlled chromatic contrasts.

Mixed Media

SDED-CC, 2022
Acrylic on canvas giclee print over plywood, and 27 x 5/8 x 5/8 inch wood
24 x 27 x 1/4 in (61 x 69 x 0.6 cm)
SDED-CC was conceived years ago but (like all good things) only today delivered to your viewing pleasure. Since my main interest is merging 2-D and 3-D through an intellectual 2.5 dimension, this piece is one of my finest that uses the fontalumi gesture to help the transition. The red rectangular prism is physically protruding through the surface as if coming out from the space Lucio Fontana believed needed to be freed from behind the canvas.
Serving the 2D to 3D illusion, a blue band is overlapping the (red) 3-D element redefining the forward-backward dynamic. For the mirage of depth a Culture Hustle Stuart Semple black 3.0 paint was used helping the bright red popping out even more.

Mixed Media

SDED-XXXVI (Mi-Re-La)
Acrylic on canvas over plywood, and five 1.13mm silver plated acoustic guitar strings,
31.25 x 20 x .75 in (79 x 51 x 2 cm)
Well, spending time among musicians and their instruments awakens a certain challenge that is hard to ignore: can I make a painting be a musical instrument or a musical instrument a painting? I understand there are boundaries that are impossible to cross but, if anything, the artist is the right person to try crossing... the impossible!
The entire piece was built around a well thought out system that will keep in place five guitar strings mounted on the canvas to be the visual armature that hold together the entire painting. Two windows are moving the strings and their canvas support in and out the main plain, landing a minimalist right color balance hard to discount. In true musical fashion, three yellow dots in the upper plain (suggesting musical notes) should read (in solfège): "Mi-Re-La." I am not sure how much of a string instrument this piece is (considering that it was never meant to be one!) but it certainly makes a delicious, happy painting that it only promises to produce sounds (if cornered!). A perfect new (sound) dimension added to the 2-D, 3-D piece.
This SDED-XXXVI piece uses the same indispensable elements to make a 2-D to 3-D transition believable: optical illusions, real objects, relevant chromatic contrasts.

Mixed Media

SDED-I Never, 2022
Acrylic on shaped canvas and plywood letters over plywood box
60 x 48 x 1.5 in (153 x 122 x 4 cm)
Right off the bat I have to confess that the piece was supposed to look exactly like the message says: sloppy, unfinished, unimaginative, and a failure. For once in my artistic life I wanted to create a painting of frustration I deeply felt a few years back when I started this painting but (again!) I missed to produce the sloppy-unfinished-unimaginative-failure of an artwork I was aiming for! Therefore, the entire exercise of showing bitterness and irritation failed as well! I understand that perhaps the logic here is lacking clarity but I assure you that, if the piece finds a positive audience, it's only because I failed to make the bad piece I was looking to make in the first place!
The painting is yet another homage to the great American artist, Mel Bochner, who I tried to emulate by putting on view a message that I found to encapsulate my true feeling about everything I did in my life: displaying a "big nothing" skill!
Two elements are making this piece quasi-distinctive. One is an outline of my own profile, to double down on the personal nature of the piece (along with the canvas traveling up above the plain to end in a rolled canvas as if peeled from the entire surface). And the second element is all the “I” letters were covered in mirror suggesting, perhaps, that the message could easily belong to anyone looking at it. In a true SDED (2-D, 3-D) fashion letters go above and below the painting flat surface.
A special shout out to Atelier Cue who suggested that I continue painting, regardless of the original unfinished look intent.

Mixed Media

SDED-Why, 2022
Acrylic on shaped canvas and basswood strips and letters over plywood
24 x 20 x 1 in (61 x 51 x 2.5 cm)
It all started with another fontalumi gesture in search for the elusive (theoretical) 2.5 dimension (and a little experiment writing with a custom-made clear leveling gel pen). The image almost chose itself for being such a powerful symbol of both human ingenuity and destruction. Working with such a cogent image triggered the rest of the puzzle tiles to fall comfortably in place, awakening thoughts common to people beyond the RAM cycle of a normal, being-alive day.
When exposed to symbols in our lives feelings start pouring, moving us in different directions according to an unwritten rule, known only to the mysterious universe onward since the Big Bang. Not before long, proving Van Gogh's belief that “paintings have a life of their own...” all the elements to construct SDED-Why piece were mixing in the pot, ready to make the soup. A Stuart Semple black 3.0 on black, and a recurring red-magenta duo appear to take over yet another painting making my head spin from the question: where is all this coming from? Maybe, if I go under hypnosis the answer will show its invisible truth...

Mixed Media

SDED - Two Ropes, 2022
Acrylic on canvas over plywood and ø1 cm natural fiber rope, 24 x 24 x 3/8 in (61 x 61 x 1 cm)
The field of possibilities for a flat surface to wheel over objects is utterly infinite. Here, the 2-D element reshapes the exterior of the rope to a minimalist bump (viewing speed bump? ;)
The search for the elusive 2.5 dimension continues, and slices of canvas and circles are enhanced by the inevitable use of optical illusion.

Mixed Media

SDED-SP, 2022, Acrylic on canvas over plywood
31 x 20 x 1 in (79 x 51 x 2.5 cm)
An older transition approach from flat to 3D (and the most logical) reemerges here to describe a very simple shape inspired by the work of one of my favorite artists, Marcel Duchamp (1957, Self Portrait in Profile).
SDED-SP was created in an attempt to enrich a minimalist viewpoint of a self portrait that makes use of orange, commonly known as the brightest and happiest color of all (and my favorite!); I guess, one can say that its creator is going through a (continuous) orange period that has a minimal use of orange!... The silhouette travels two canvases to supplement the 2D/3D transition to only be interrupted by a super flat Stuart Semple’s Black 3.0 acrylic divider.
Unlike Mel Bochner's approach to self portraits, this one equates an image to only one word (orange), in the most simplified way possible, and in true minimalist fashion. Of course, in truth there are never enough words to describe a person therefore, any number of words—including one—are as good as any.

Mixed Media

SDED-Sword, 2022
Acrylic on two overlapping canvases, and steel sword
36 x 36 x 5 in (92 x 92 x 13 cm)
My happy and energetic canvas purposefully jumps over objects and obstacles to create the illusion of a 2D to 3D transition that, at times, ceases to be just an illusion. The middle plane, where a portion of the sword is actually painted on canvas, has the precise role to help the specter of the dimension swapping. The colors were chosen to soften the thought of a sharp made-of-steel real sword tip. (Funny Story: while resting after too many hours dedicated to making the piece work visually from various angles, I see my 14 year old son touching the sword’s edge. When I asked what he was doing, he candidly replied, "I wanted to see if it's real or painted." Right there I knew that my piece was done, and I had to stop trying to "improve" it!)

Mixed Media

SDED-BlackStar, 2021
Canvas on cardboard, and plastic cone, 5.25 inch side octagon,
12.5 x 12.5 x 4 inch (32 x 32 x 5 cm)
It happened, it finally happened! I have gathered enough energy since April of last year to post an image of another art piece. I love sharing my artistic creations with the world, but I lost my ardor to strive for acceptance from the art community, therefore there were only a few posts on my IG accounts and a lot of breaks.
Once again, the middle road between Fontana and Bonalumi appears to be the right call to escape the two dimensional plane. Bonalumi got it right and sculpted the 2-D surface that would eventually redefine the notion of color (-field) bas-relief (3-D). On the other hand, Fontana cleverly ripped the two dimensional space in order to allow another (virtual) dimension to be born. The beauty is that combining the two surface approaches enables a more realistic step between the two and three dimensions making the impossible (2.5-D) look, at least on an intellectual level, more realistic.
My (black) SDED-Octagon has a Bonalumi-like element that was passed through a Fontana-like space. I was always intrigued by compositions holding the same color, white on white, black on black, etc., and my octagon is exploring this never easy, simple yet rich monochrome combination.

Mixed Media

SDED-Aigu, 2021
Acrylic on shaped canvas and basswood strips over plywood
24 x 24 x 3 in (61 x 61 x 7.5 cm)
I believe that the intention is by now obvious: I want my canvas to travel up and down the 2-D surface, flirting with the third dimension, as well as mimicking the conventional bas-relief by being raised above the background plane. The subjects are mostly dictated by the mechanics that arise from shaping the canvas, that, at times, they purposely change to fit a narrative. The bold red and pink (magenta) colors mirror the subtle (almost invisible) transition from 2 to 3-D, keeping a good hold on the balance of the composition.

Mixed Media

SDED-XXXI, 2021
Shaped canvas and acrylic on plywood
48 x 40 in (122 x 101.6 cm)
Since the COVID pandemic came in our lives, it felt right to deepen the introspection into my artistic philosophy: some works considered done, were revisited to ensure that they accurately address the creative vision and slightly "improved," while others were, for lack of better words, just right.
SDED-XXXI is primarily a fresh exercise that revisits the flat surface notion from a different angle: elements were re-defined, re-calibrated, and re-assembled. When Lucio Fontana wanted to open up space, to reach the third dimension and make the unseen visible, he slashed the canvas, meanwhile, this piece explores the possibility of painting between canvases (opposed to, on canvas), as well as a painting under canvas! The shaped canvas was laid on the plywood's hard surface, after which the painting began, carefully, so the canvas was not to be touched by paint. Now the canvas, the traditional support for paint, takes a step back and becomes a prop, a vertical mark from where the paint should go... At least in theory, since the canvas isn't used to paint on, a gentle dimension appears as a subtle addition to the piece.
I think Fontana would have been pleased!

Mixed Media

Orange Red Dot, 2020
Acrylic on plywood on canvas on plywood
29 x 24 1/2 x 1/4 in (74 x 62 x 0.6 cm)
Orange Red Dot is one of those paintings that at the time when it was considered ready (August 22, 2020) the entire strong concept had to be adjusted to fit a miniscule property called, portability... The initial piece was envisioned to reside on several surfaces: (1) canvas, (2) plywood, and the additional surface of (3) the wall where half of the circle was initially supposed to be painted on. But the portability element had to be considered, and the levels became: (1) canvas, (2) plywood, (3) canvas, (4) plywood where simple elements reside in harmony within the given space as shapes and colors. True to the 2-D, 3-D philosophy, surface elements are manipulated to become three dimensional with an additional philosophical dimension: the title has the word "orange" crossed out, suggesting a drastic change as well as the residue of a previous thought, making the red-orange dynamic a dimension not to be ignored. The viewer will undoubtedly consider replacing red with orange in his mind trying to match the piece's title.

Mixed Media

Cens, 2020
Acrylic on wood on canvas on plywood, 36 x 25 1/4 in (91 x 64 cm)
There is always a trigger, a reason (or it should be) why an art piece comes about. Sometimes it's a heart reason, sometimes it's a brain reason, but once in a while it's something bigger than the heart and brain put together and it can't be ignored (...which it's never that horrible until it happens to you...)
In a spur of a moment I decided to promote on Instagram my recently finished piece titled "SDED-XXX." To promote an image actually translates to, being willing to pay a few bucks to Instagram to show the picture worldwide (instead of just locally and to followers). To my surprise, the image is CENSURED, and the promotion is denied [because—and this is the good part, "It promotes adult paraphernelia and sex toys!"] Minutes later, after I gave them a piece of my mind, the promotion was approved but the disbelief, anger, and surprise were still there, so I took all that energy and created this Cens – 08122020 piece. More than anything, I wanted to be a reminder that the big brother is watching (even if it's just a stupid bot for now!) and the artistic freedom we enjoy is only seconds away from being denied to all of us...
The piece was inspired by many of my favorite artists like Mel Bochner, John S. Fawcett, Agostino Bonalumi among many others. The work lives at many levels and dimensions, and just the surface of the canvas is not enough to express complex feelings in the 21st century. The letters jump above and below the canvas' plane drawing an explosion of bright colors that are meant to warn us of the dangers to come... even if at the present time they look innocent and benign.

Mixed Media

Homage to Mel Bochner, 2020
Collage and acrylic on canvas panel, 14 x 11 in (35.5 x 28 cm)
Personally, I discovered Mel Bochner's art fairly late... or perhaps it was discovered at the right time when I was artistically mature enough to understand it. What I found wildly attractive to Bochner’s work was his unique approach to the visual, after all everything we are, thoughts, feelings, experiences, become an image in our brain from which Bochner takes it out and translates and distills it into words worth looking at again and again.
My piece, Homage to Mel Bochner, takes his famous (yet distinctive personal) 1966, Self Portrait and combines it with a classical photograph of his head, where, of course, a lot is lost in translation, but it ties the two portraits into one conventional representation of the artist, along with his delicious bright colors, lights, and shadows. In Bochner's tradition, Homage to Mel Bochner writes his name in relief mimicking both the permanence of an image, and the ephemeral existence of a thought.