About

THE ARTIST:

Irina Horsia was born in 1964. After graduating with distinctions from the Bucharest National University of Arts in 1987, she left her home country to live and work all around the globe; from Italy to India, the US to Switzerland, Singapore and, lastly, Qatar. Since the start of her travels she set out to be exposed to a variety of cultures and different places, enjoying enriching artistic encounters along the way.

She found herself in a psychological and artistic crisis due to being out of her habitual surroundings and comfort zone.  Being born and educated in Romania, the Romanian spirituality is embedded in her core.

“I bring with me, from my homeland, all the memories, testimonies, fears and ghosts. For me, my work represents a means to seize reality, and to express my own state of mind. Now, in this precise moment of discomfort, I have found a balance while rediscovering the matrix of an essential culture of which we are among the descendants: the Indo-Europeans.”

The mask appears as a leitmotiv of her creation. The natural shadows realised with a three-dimensional treatment, impersonal faces belonging to the mythical ancestors, rouse resonances of other elements applied on canvas that completes them.

“Acrylic, oil, pastel, collage, photographs, plaster, rice papers…. on canvas – mixed techniques used to try to obtain on a limited surface (the canvas) the relation between the space, such as it exists, confined between the walls of a temple, a church or a stupa (the name has no importance) and the man.  The memories that we carry along, the stories, all our heredity, everything that is written in our A.D.N. and that we might not know… all is always present.”

She spent 5 years living in Singapore, where she further experimented with different elements. Upon relocating to Doha, Qatar, the artist begins a new chapter once again. Exploring the history of the place, the behaviour of its people, as well as new techniques. New experiences invade her stream of consciousness; she is in the process of finding new points of departure and cultural markers for her art.

MY CV: