Blanche Serban

Blanche Serban is a Romanian-born American painter who combines elements of abstract expressionism with impressionism. Born in  Bucharest, Romania, she studied painting at the School of Arts in Bucharest with Nicolae Iorga. After getting a B.A. and a License in psychotherapy from the University of Bucharest in 1996, she completed a M.A. in psychology at Syracuse University.  Serban lives and paints in Storrs, Connecticut, and often summers in the south of France. Her works are in collections in the United States, Romania, France, Germany, U.K., and South Korea, and she has shown often in one-person and group exhibitions in the United States and abroad. She is represented by Chabot Gallery, Rhode Island.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

I paint bright landscapes made of  fields of color and light. While local landscape offer inspiration, the images are invented, and their color is a continuing experiment with the space of the canvas. Without being limited by a narrative, the images are a reference to something that transcends the immediate experience and understanding, and intends to trigger emotional responses from the viewer. Typically, several bands of color bend on the canvas, with the viewer at the center of curvature. The colors have jewel-tones and vibrate in contact with each other. Although many elements of Realism are present, I employ devices that go against the traditional composition: the subject is placed off center, sometimes cut off by the canvas edge; bands of pure color slash through the landscape; there are no absolutely straight line, the space is curved. The titles, like Red Purple or Emerald Green, distance the paintings from any particular place and encourage the viewer to find an equivalent in its own experience. I am interested in the problem of personal perception, personal space and time, and timelessness, using familiar subjects to trigger emotional and cognitive responses to fields of color.