Growth (2024) Painting by Mirela Leu

I am a painter based in Bucharest, Romania. My story began when I was a child, and it was pure curiosity. I just wanted to see If I could draw, so I chose some roses as references. The drawing was pretty good, so my parents were impressed and came up with the idea to study art. I studied Architecture and Design which involved the study of drawing and painting, too, in High School, in my home city, and very much from that time, I knew I wanted to be a painter. I was not encouraged, so after finishing my art studies, I went to University to study Ethnology. Back in 2015, I decided to return to my first passion, I started to produce a series of acrylic paintings.


My art is about my feelings, my vision, my world. I chose to paint women's faces because it's easier for me to transmit the feelings through a woman portrait, I think that those portraits are my reflection. I often see, almost clear images, when I lay in bed and close my eyes, and in those images, are women's faces. I decided to paint what I see in my imagination because I know there is no fantasy, is my world and my reality, each one of those images is deeply connected to my present and future periods of my life.
Those faces I paint, are my human versions, there is a mixture of my past, present, and future. I paint because is my best way to communicate, to express what I feel, what I was, what I am, and what I want to be. There is hope in my paintings, there is pain and suffering, but there is healing too. There is growth and strength. My work is my mirror.

• Nationality: ROMANIA
• Date of birth : 1989
• Artistic domains:
• Groups: Romanian Contemporary Artists