Nicolae Maniu

Nicolae Maniu

"I began to imitate nature.
A Greek, passing through my heart, said to me:
‘The only thing that is mysterious is that which exists
And the only thing that is logical is that which does not.’"

Nichita Stanescu

"Nicolae Maniu, born in April 1944 in Turda, Rumania, first attended sculpture classes at the art school in Cluj. He continued to study sculpture at the Art Academy in the same city; a fact which finds expression in his mastery of human anatomy, plasticity and spatial conception of his painted human bodies. In 1983, Maniu settled in Germany. From here, as well as in neighbouring European countries, he found new ideas, interest as well as recognition.

Nicolae Maniu paints realistically. He belongs to the small circle of painters of the Trompe l'Oeil school - a particular form of pictorial presentation which enables such artists to demonstrate their extraordinary technical virtuosity. They are able to portray an object in such a way that an observer, at first glance, may be uncertain as to whether he is looking at the real thing or merely his painted image.

The technique, oil colour on canvas, in combination with a style oriented towards realism plus his precise working procedures; his unique light-capturing and imaging composition, invest Maniu's work with explicitness, completeness and, despite their occasionally dramatic contents, a calm equanimity. The feeling of strength that emanates from Maniu's paintings is considerable.

Maniu's conception of art embraces two aspects: on one hand, the elaboration of a three dimensional composition in a Trompe l'Oeil effect, and on the other, the pushing back of boundaries. He uses a hyper-realist technique to show some surrealist images where the real is mixed with the irrational, the logic with the absurd. The spectator is then astonished by this confusing combination, and enchanted by this mastery in creating such unknown territories. Thus the delight of anyone looking at Maniu's painting will be complete. "