About Dan Nistor
Saint Thomas Aquinas defined Beauty as "that which being perceived, pleases", and this traditional wisdom grounds Dan's work.
Dan Nistor trained as a painter in his home country of Romania, where he graduated with a Masters of Fine Arts from Bucharest National University of Arts. In 1996 he moved to New York City where he continued his practice and does so today as a member of the Roosevelt Island Visual Arts Association (RIVAA).
Dan taught in Romania and has taught drawing, imaging, fashion design, and fashion illustration at Parsons The New School for Design, the Art Institute of New York City, and Gibbs College. He enjoys spending time with his daughter Anoukia, teaching, listening to music, debating, reading, and telling jokes.
Artist Statement
I see paintings as an expression of a moment. For this reason, the best way for me to paint is quickly and with intensity in order to authentically capture the moment, which is not interesting as such but is as a unified emotional state… So when I don’t manage to finish a work in one session, the work becomes a quasi-impossible effort to preserve the initial state of mind. My painting is related more to my experience in the studio – the quality of the light, the music that I listen to, etc. I choose subjects according to the whim of a moment – costume models today, cloudy landscapes tomorrow. My interest lies primarily in the process and what happens after the first draft, since the first draft can lead to any result, and this is what is exciting. So actually the subject can be a remembrance of something that happens to be next to you. Only the processing of that raw idea matters. And I think this is of value to everyone else, knowingly or unknowingly. But for some reason it’s more interesting for the public to make it anecdotal to describe it with interesting words, which I try to avoid. I value a certain lack of grandiosity in the work.
Each painting is addressed to somebody still unknown who would be the ideal viewer – someone who will enjoy the work in a permanent way, so they are very personal in a way. At the same time, I try to operate with objective criteria during the painting process. I judge my painting with a detached eye and some degree of severity.
Press
