George Panturu

As part of its mission of promoting Gibraltar’s talent, Sacarello’s has a real treat for you this month with a solo exhibition by renowned painter, frescoer and restorer George Panturu.
A member of the Maison des Artistes in France, where he lived for eight years after emigrating from his native Rumania, George has found a fresh afflatus for his inspiration in what he describes as ‘the light between Europe and Africa’ or a trinket box which contains everything a landscapist may be challenged to paint: mountain and sea, wilderness and skyscrapers, woodlands and barren rock formations – all within reach of a short bus drive from home!
In fact, this middle-aged gentleman with a penchant for traditional portraiture loves to set up his easel in the open air and paint at leisure, enjoying the bright colours of a southern sunny day, which he reproduces on canvas with a generous palette of acrylics and oils, to bring out the Mediterranean joie de vivre.
A man of few words, although he speaks fluent French, he claims he converses with his canvas while he is at work – and of course his canvases speak out volumes for him.
He says he paints through his heart, to capture the beauty of the universe, and definitely his work transmits a romantic sense of serenity at first sight, but there is more than what meets the eye in the rendition of every little detail, so that each section of his big canvases can become a painting in their own right.
Nobody can fail to notice his grandest opus on display, a complex bird’s-eye view of La Plaza del Reloj, Casemates and the town centre with the Strait in the background, where every trick of the light, passer-by, car, leaf, window, and crack in the walls seem to come to life and come together to mesmerise the onlooker.
Your eyes will instead keep on fluttering from one brushstroke to the next because, like the tiles of a mosaic or the instruments of an orchestra, they mesh together effortlessly to create the proverbial bigger picture, as long as you step back and breathe in its full scale.
Panturu started off his career as an architect: no wonder then he is fascinated by buildings of all styles, and how they fit in the natural environment. A sterling example is the depiction of the Mosque at Europa Point, subtly and harmoniously combining realism and expressionism in the colour layering and swirls of the brush.
The Rock itself, in its massif entirety or focusing on its boulders, from any angle and in any light, is the absolute protagonist of this collection, yet some poetic licence is taken, especially in the view from La Linea’s Playa del Levante, where a herd of pastel-coloured feral horses gallops in the waves’ spray, Camargue style.
“I added them to the seascape, because horses mean freedom to me.” George explains.
On the other hand, if you’re a ‘sucker’ for picturesque cityscapes, you’ll love the view of Main Street in the grey light of a wet day. You’ll be forgiven for assuming it was a scene from Nineteenth Century Paris from the way the pavement in the fore is rendered, and the busy human figures are sketched as if blurred by rain, giving the whole composition the feeling of downtown morning rush. Once you pay attention to the detail of shop signs, you’ll be instantly catapulted back home, but that impressionist déjà-vu will stay with you.
George’s originality lies in caricature and religious art. Although he won’t put on show samples of the first because of their personal nature, you’ll be able to admire some of the second, a subject which for various reasons is not explored enough as an art form per se, outside the dedicated space of church exhibitions.
Religious art must respect the parameters, guidelines and restrictions dictated by the genre, but the individual artist can always add his or her imprint to tradition.
George was a champion of iconic representation in Romania, where he restored several churches and frescoed others, starting from a blank wall. This taught him to work fast, before the stucco dried up, and large, to cover adequate surfaces.
Murals really allow him to exercise his artistic leaps of faith, although the Orthodox one requires him to stick to the millennium-old Byzantine commandment of static frontal figures on gilded background, which George sometimes actualises in solar yellow.
When in the mid-Seventies he sat his exams in the School of Fine Arts and Music, he was just a lad from a remote hamlet competing with hundreds of other hopefuls from all over the country, for a limited number of scholarships in Rumania’s most prestigious college.
His father couldn’t afford him art lessons to prepare him, but indeed he accompanied young George, who, once there, realised he hadn’t brought with him any art supplies.
So they just went for the ones offering best value for money since, as his father reassured him, if he was really good he didn’t need fancy tools to produce a masterpiece.
His scepticism turned into incredulity when he checked the passes and fails table, where names were listed from best to worst grade. He browsed for his name from the bottom of the list, because didn’t honestly expected having passed.
Imagine his bewilderment when he read his name in the top ten!
Yet, his surname was misspelt and only a meeting with the board of admission dispelled his lack of self-confidence.
He’s come a long way since then, and not just geographically, but also because he’s made a name for himself and his art wherever he’s been.
Hence he needs no introduction to the savvy art collector perhaps, yet it is his debut on the Rock, this ‘pierre magnifique’ as he calls it. Furthermore, unveiling his latest Rock-themed work. These thirty paintings, big and small, are just little teaser while you sip your coffee, a preview of his forthcoming comprehensive collection designed for the ampler space of the Casemates Fine Arts Gallery vaults. Thus he will be fully inducted in the Olympus of Gibraltarian artistry.

Article by Elena Scialtiel

George Panturu est né en Roumanie, dans la belle région de Vrancea, dans un village entouré de vignobles. Sa passion pour la peinture s’est dévoilée depuis son enfance. Passionné par la nature, ses paysages et ses portraits nous transmettent sa forte sensibilité et son amour pour les gens.

Il quitte sa région natale à 15 ans, pour étudier au prestigieux Lycée de Beaux Arts ¨Octav Bancila¨ à Iasi. Ensuite en 1980, il est admis à l’Institut d’Architecture ¨Ion Mincu¨ à Bucarest, où il obtient sa licence en architecture quatre ans après. En 1984, il est architecte-designer à l’Institut UPA-Carpati où il dessine quelques unes des magnifiques candélabres de La Maison du Peuple de Bucarest, édifice visité aujourd’hui par des milliers de touristes.

A partir de 1987, il décide de se retourner à sa première passion -la peinture- et s’intéresse à la peinture murale d’églises en apprenant pendant quatre ans les différentes techniques (fresque, huile) auprès des grands maitres du domaine et obtient le diplôme ¨Peintre églises et icônes¨, ainsi que l’autorisation de La Patriarchie Roumaine pour l’exécution des restaurations des églises du patrimoine roumain.

Il est reconnu comme expert de niveau 2 dans la technique fresque, après avoir réalisé la peinture intérieure, extérieure et les icônes sur bois et toile de plus de 12 églises.
Depuis 2000, il est Membre de l’Union des Artistes plastiques de Roumanie, Bucarest – Section Peinture.

En 2002, il est appelé en France pour la restauration de l’église carolingienne ¨Saint Martin le Seul¨ de Bondaroy, dans le Loiret.

Devient membre de La Maison des Artistes à partir de 2003.

En 2005, il retourne en Roumanie à la proposition de la Patriarchie Roumaine pour réaliser les fresques de l’église Frasin, au nord du pays.

Il expose ses œuvres dans des galeries d’art en Roumanie, aux Pays-Bas (2006), au Kenya (2008), et en France (Ile de France, Lyon et Nice).