Born in Gătaia in 1962 and now a resident of the city of Brașov in Romania, Gyuri Lohmuller is a self-taught artist who has, as of now, in addition to his own country, exhibited his work in Austria, Germany, France and Hungary. He is very much willing “to share his inner world” with one and all. His surrealistic paintings, he says, reflect his deepest emotions.

“It was very difficult for me,” he says. “I’d never seen anybody painting. It came to me by trying and testing. Moreover, the full-blown communism of Romania was very forbidding for an artist. Survival was hard. I could not even afford a good camera to capture my works. Despite these problems, I quit my job. Believing in art, I took the risk.”

Gyuri Lohmuller’s body of work is a glorious assemblage of chessboards and pianos, sea shores and deserts, globes and timepieces. They are powerful meditations on growth and loss, exile and regret, ambition and failure.

A few statements from the artist:

If I ever make a good painting, I will be excused for being a painter. | It sounds absurd, but it is more important to search for happiness than to find it. | Painting is the only field of activity where you can afford a step forward with the freedom of destroying. | Absolute freedom is harmful to art. | Art – a beautiful park with winding alleys that has no shortcuts.

More on Mr. Lohmuller’s website (sites.google.com/site/surrealpaintings/), Facebook page (www.facebook.com/PictorulGyuriLohmuller), Saatchi Art profile (www.saatchiart.com/gyurka) and Fine Art America profile (fineartamerica.com/profiles/gyuri-lohmuller.html).

All images below used with permission.