Any art lover who looks at the works of Romanian painter George Sabin will immediately notice a resemblance to the paintings of Austrian artist Egon Schiele (1890–1918). We find here raw faces made up of strange mixtures of white and black and other pale shades. What stands out always is the background, loud and bright yellow, green, pink, red and blue. The striking contrast ends up giving the portraits psychological depth and emotional texture.

“My overall approach is minimalistic,” writes the artist, “the subject is generally presented on a monochromatic background which becomes the focus of attention and electrifies the composition. The clear contours place the works in the sphere of the figurative but the drawing is the only landmark of reality.

“All the works share my passion for colour. The catalyst of the artistic process is the alchemy of colour realised by the addition of pigments as well as by the technique of setting, mixing and overlapping of the pictorial paste. The work, in part, is the result of research rather than the application of a more or less established formula. A comfortable level of moderation ensures unity and balance for all compositions.”

George hails from the city of Sibiu. He studied chemistry and has a PhD in the engineering field. He started collecting local (Romanian, Hungarian, German) paintings, old furniture, and books, initially to decorate his house. This turned into “an urge to own a certain piece or an certain painter”.

“I was wasting time and money. Whatever the effort, I was never completely satisfied,” he says. “After almost ten years of collecting and little space left on my house walls, I realised that what was really missing was myself doing the work. I painted every piece for my own pleasure, so yes, I am selfish. I have never done commissions, and never left behind something that I would not buy to add to my collection. I search, study and work hard to develop my technique further, so that I can be much pleased by the final result.”

George Sabin’s paintings can be found all year round at the following galleries: Colorida in Lisbon, Portugal and Ora0 in Brasov, Romania. With the help of Getty Tatomir, a young artist from Ora0 Gallery, George is planning a project titled “Self Alchemy”.

inks: Instagram (www.instagram.com/art_painting_center) | Saatchi Art (www.saatchiart.com/gsabin) | Tumblr (gsabalb.tumblr.com)

Images used with permission.