Romanian Artist to Feature New Exhibition at CV Art & Frame June 21-30

Photography Provided

For Romanian artist Alexandra Nechita, the inspiration for her newest exhibition came from an age of transition and learning to accept moments of tenderness. After having her first exhibition at 8 years old, her newest collection, “Alexandra Nechita: Reimagined,” will have its United States debut at CV Art & Frame in Zionsville, June 21 through June 30.

Petite Picasso

Nechita says her journey into the art world was a “crazy whirlwind of a story,” and one that is truly unique.

Her story began when she immigrated from Romania to California at age 2, the same year she began working with a pen and ink. Nechita’s parents would often bring her home extra computer paper and highlighters from their respective office jobs.

“I was encouraged at school and at home,” Nechita says about her early artwork. “In that perspective, I don’t think I stood out too much, to be quite honest. I think what kept me distinct was this insane passion I had for it.”

From an early age, all she wanted to do was color and paint. Soon, her parents realized that her passion for art wasn’t just some hobby. When she was five, she started using watercolors. By seven, she’d transitioned to a more advanced medium — oil and canvases.

She soon accumulated a large body of work, monopolizing her family’s townhouse along the way. After her third-grade teacher saw her sizeable collection of work, she suggested that Nechita display her canvases at a local library in Los Angeles. If anything, her teacher believed her hard work merited some applause and attention.

“My parents didn’t know what it meant,” Nechita says. “To me, it translated into a party.”

Her first solo exhibition, at age 8, consisted of about 70 canvases snaking through the entire library. She started having art shows at various local coffee houses, and a year later, she became the youngest person to sign with International Art Publishers.

Soon, she became known as the “Petite Picasso” in the media and art community. By 19, she had paintings in the private collections of Calvin Klein and Ellen DeGeneres.

“I couldn’t tell you a sequence of how things happened,” Nechita says. “Things just began connecting with each other.”

An Age of Transition

Since her early success, Nechita says she’s never really taken a break from art. Rather, she just stopped traveling after welcoming her daughter four years ago. This exhibition will be her first since becoming a mom.

She says that the pieces in her new collection were largely inspired by her daughter, adding that the pieces came from a transformative period of her life. She’s found a newfound femininity in her work, introducing iridescent and pearly colors to her pieces.

“I’ve never been the pink-loving, bow-loving, kinda person,” she says. “I grew up playing sports, wearing Levi’s and a white T-shirt my whole life. Through my daughter, I’ve found a tenderness and this gentleness that I never really allowed myself to experience.”

After having her daughter, Nechita started making a lot of her artwork at home. Her dining room table became her new studio, providing her a place to work that was also close to her newborn. Initially, it was difficult for her to not have her studio to retreat to when she wanted to get ideas out, describing herself as a “big canvas kinda girl” and “someone who liked to be monumental.”

“I wanted to be in the studio, splashing paint all over the place,” Nechita says. “It taught me a sense of intimacy and control that I didn’t know I had. I’d never really exercised that.”

Nevertheless, she was open to welcoming new mediums as she transitioned into a new period of life.

She began keeping a notebook, where she’d draw and jot down ideas when she’d get up for a feeding or if she couldn’t sleep. This was new for her, considering she’d never really worked on paper.

Her newest exhibition features a lot of mixed media, such as combinations of digital elements, collage work, drawings and paintings. She says this collection is about the recognition of transitions she’s gone through. A lot of her pieces in the past were stronger or more forceful, making use of darker edges and angles.

“These pieces have an underlying feeling of softness,” Nechita says. “This body of work is very clearly more tender. It doesn’t belong to the fact that I’m a parent. It belongs to the transition of age for a lot of people in our generation.”

“Alexandra Nechita: Reimagined” will be on exhibition and available for acquisition June 21 through June 30. RSVPs are requested for all of the in-gallery events at 317-873-2976 or gallery@cvartandframe.com.

For more information about the exhibition, visit cvartandframe.com. CV Art & Frame is located at 110 S Main St in Zionsville.

Comments 1

  1. Anonymous says:

    5

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Send me your media kit!

hbspt.forms.create({ portalId: "6486003", formId: "5ee2abaf-81d9-48a9-a10d-de06becaa6db" });