Interviews for People & Paintings Gallery (III) / Meet the Artist: Krisztina Lőrincz and Her Painted World

 Krisztina Lőrincz is an artist from Budapest, Hungary, with a background in both music and painting. At the center of her work lies the female figure — the girl, the woman — a recurring motif she will share more about. Her paintings are infused with strong, saturated colors, echoing the intensity of the emotions they convey. Let’s take a closer look and get to know her better.

Cosmina: Hi Krisztina, thank you so much for agreeing to answer my questions. Let’s start with a few words about yourself...

Krisztina: I was born in 1972 in Budapest, the capital of a small country in the middle of Europe, where I live and work. Hungary is my home, the cradle of many world-famous scientists and artists. After studying music, I studied theology and mental health. I have had several successes with my drawings, but after my children were grown up, I really started to paint.

The theological and mental health studies deepened in me the desire for a constant development in self-knowledge and the discovery and admiration of man, life and the universe. In my painting I portray feelings experienced or imagined in my thoughts and in my environment.

There is no subject that has not been painted before, but what inspires me to create again and again is the knowledge that each person is unique and special.

We'd love to hear about the early days of your artistic evolution. Where did it all start?

Krisztina: My parents were musicians, so it was a given that I was learning music from the age of four. I studied on many instruments and graduated from a music conservatory (Béla Bartók Conservatory in Budapest), so I owe a lot to music. We moved around a lot, I went to a lot of schools, but the one thing that was a sure thing in my life was drawing. Even as a child it was a kind of therapy in my life. I drew a world for myself that I didn't have.

What is your definition of art?

Krisztina: For me, art is on one hand a work of art that awakens emotions, feelings and thoughts in the viewer, and on the other hand the work of art that contains the artist's own life and soul, and it is therefore completely unique, even if it resembles others... And one more thing; I feel it is my mission to draw attention to eternal values through my art. To the Beautiful, the Good and the True - what is beautiful, good and true? ...

Please share how you would describe your artistic aesthetics and the topics or ideas you most often engage with.

Krisztina: In my painting I like to use a realistic, figurative style with an abstract background. I really like to depict human feelings and emotions in stories. In particular, the depiction of WOMEN is close to me - perhaps because I have six daughters... Although I have experienced many traumas in my childhood and later, I try to look for the good in everything and focus on the good. This always gives me strength, and I want to somehow reflect this in my paintings.

Where do you most often draw inspiration from? Are there artists from art history you feel particularly connected to?

Krisztina: Nature is very important to me because I can recharge my batteries there. But the real inspiration for me is faith and the human soul...

I loved copying the works of famous old masters. Leonardo Da Vinci was my favourite as a child. I drew almost constantly. My life took a turn when I went to a painting school about ten years ago, where I fell in love with oil painting. Kálmán Gasztonyi, a great painter and teacher, played a big part in this. I have been training ever since. I feel like painting is my life, it's what I've always wanted to do...

Looking back, what were the defining experiences or turning points in your creative path?

Krisztina: I would definitely like to mention the names of two of my masters; I learned a lot from the painter Kálmán Gasztonyi, and later the painter Marianna Bottyán also played an important role in my art. I am a member of several associations in Hungary and I have participated in many group exhibitions. Over the years I have achieved more and more success both at home and abroad.

My paintings have been successfully exhibited in Hungary, England, Spain, France, Austria, Turkey and America. It was a great pleasure for me when I was selected as a guest artist at People & Paintings Gallery. Several times my paintings have been successfully shown in this gallery.

What is next in your artistic practice? What would you like to explore next?

Krisztina: I want more people to get to know and love my work. I would like to go to many more places and show my art. I am grateful to be able to do what I love! I would like to touch people's souls, I would like my paintings to be able to show people beyond the suffering and the horrors of this troubled time in history, to give us a sense of hope that there is good, there is beauty, there is hope, and there is meaning in life and in art...!

It was a great pleasure to listen to a small part of your beautiful artistic story. Thank you very much!

Curious to see more? Click the link to read a bit more about Krisztina and dive into her colorful universe. 

 

An interview by Cosmina-Marcela Oltean,

PPG media moderator & art writer

Interviews for People & Paintings Gallery (II) / Meet the Artist: Nina Litvin - From Design Back to Painting

 Nina is a Ukrainian artist based in Israel and one of the House Artists at People & Paintings Gallery. Her colorful art exudes movement, energy, and a deeply personal touch. I had the joy of learning from her about how she sees and feels art, and about the journey that has brought her to where she is today.

[A Ukrainian version of our conversation is available below.]

Cosmina / PPG: Hi Nina! We’re grateful for the chance to hear your perspective—thank you for joining this conversation. To begin, could you tell us a bit more about yourself?

Nina: I am a professional artist, originally from Ukraine, now living in Israel. I graduated from Lviv Academy of Arts and worked as a designer for many years before returning to painting full-time in 2013. Art has always been a language for me, through which I express my deepest thoughts, feelings and intuition. I often say that I paint not with my hands, but with my inner world.

How did your artistic story begin?

Nina: My story began in childhood, when I found inspiration and solace in drawing. I received an art education, but life took me to the world of fashion and design. Later I returned to painting with a new sense of meaning. Since then, I have been exploring themes that reflect both my personal journey and universal human experiences.

What is your definition of art?

Nina: For me, art is a form of silent dialogue between the soul and the world. It is not just a way to convey beauty or emotions - it is a way to listen, to ask questions and to remember. True art touches something eternal in us. It is the light we find in the darkness, the answer we did not expect, but have been looking for a long time.

How would you describe your style and the themes that excite you most?

Nina: My style is expressive and intuitive - a combination of figurative and abstract elements. I often work in oil or acrylic, using color and form as a way of layered expression. My main themes are the inner world of man, transformation, silence, identity, connection with nature and finding light in the shadows. I try to capture what cannot be said in words.

Where do you find your inspiration? Is there an artist in art history that you particularly identify with?

Nina: I find inspiration in music, light, nature and human emotions. Sometimes a fragment of a dream, a fleeting moment or a glance becomes a spark. I admire many artists, but I am especially drawn to the emotional depth of Egon Schiele, the color palette of Klimt, and the poetry of Marc Chagall's works.

What were the key moments of your artistic history?

Nina: Returning to painting after a long break was a turning point. Participation in international exhibitions and the opportunity to present my works in New York became an important recognition and support for me. It confirmed that my voice as an artist matters and can be heard beyond borders.

What's next in your artistic practice? What do you dream of or want to explore?

Nina: I feel like I'm entering a quieter, more contemplative phase of my creative journey. I want to explore themes of silence, inner light, and those invisible threads that connect people to each other and to nature. I dream of creating a series of works that are like breathing - subtle, intimate, but filled with meaning.

Most of all, I want my paintings to give a sense of presence, to slow down time and remind us of something important and almost forgotten. At the same time, I dream of exhibiting more widely and being more recognized as an artist - not for fame, but because I want people to feel a real connection with my work. I hope that my paintings bring joy, depth and recognition of something common, something human.

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We invite you to visit Nina’s profile on our Gallery website to discover her art.


An interview by Cosmina-Marcela Oltean,

PPG media moderator & art writer

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Расскажите немного о себе...

Меня зовут Нина Литвин. Я профессиональный художник, родом из Украины, сейчас живу в Израиле. Я окончила Львовскую академию искусств и много лет проработала дизайнером, прежде чем в 2013 году полностью вернуться к живописи. Искусство всегда было для меня языком, через который я выражаю свои самые глубокие размышления, чувства и интуицию. Я часто говорю, что рисую не руками, а своим внутренним миром.

Как началась ваша художественная история?

Моя история началась в детстве, когда я находила вдохновение и утешение в рисовании. Я получила художественное образование, но жизнь увела меня в мир моды и дизайна. Лишь позже я вернулась к живописи с новым ощущением смысла. С тех пор я исследую темы, которые отражают как мой личный путь, так и универсальные человеческие переживания.

Каково ваше определение искусства?

Для меня искусство — это форма безмолвного диалога между душой и миром. Это не просто способ передать красоту или эмоции — это способ слушать, задавать вопросы и помнить. Истинное искусство затрагивает в нас что-то вечное. Это свет, который мы находим во тьме, это ответ, которого мы не ждали, но давно искали.

Как бы вы описали свой стиль и темы, которые вас волнуют больше всего?

Мой стиль выразительный и интуитивный — сочетание фигуративных и абстрактных элементов. Я часто работаю маслом или акрилом, используя цвет и форму как способ многослойного выражения. Мои основные темы — это внутренний мир человека, трансформация, тишина, идентичность, связь с природой и поиск света в тени. Я стараюсь уловить то, что нельзя сказать словами.

Где вы чаще всего находите вдохновение? Есть ли художник в истории искусства, с которым вы особенно себя ассоциируете?

Вдохновение я нахожу в музыке, свете, природе и человеческих чувствах. Иногда искрой становится фрагмент сна, мимолётный момент или взгляд. Я восхищаюсь многими художниками, но особенно близка мне эмоциональная глубина Эгона Шиле, цветовая палитра Климта и поэзия работ Марка Шагала.

Какие моменты стали ключевыми в вашей художественной истории?

Возвращение к живописи после долгого перерыва стало поворотным моментом. Участие в международных выставках и возможность представить свои работы в Нью-Йорке стало для меня важным признанием и поддержкой. Это подтвердило, что мой голос как художника имеет значение и может звучать за пределами границ.

Что дальше в вашей художественной практике? О чём вы мечтаете или что хотите исследовать?

Я чувствую, что вхожу в более тихую, созерцательную фазу своего творческого пути. Мне хочется исследовать темы тишины, внутреннего света и тех невидимых нитей, которые соединяют людей друг с другом и с природой. Я мечтаю создать серию работ, похожую на дыхание — тонкую, интимную, но наполненную смыслом.
Больше всего мне хочется, чтобы мои картины дарили ощущение присутствия, замедляли время и напоминали о чём-то важном и почти забытом.

В то же время я мечтаю шире выставляться и быть более узнаваемой как художник — не ради славы, а потому что хочу, чтобы люди чувствовали настоящую связь с моими работами. Я надеюсь, что мои картины приносят радость, глубину и узнавание чего-то общего, человеческого.

Interviews for People & Paintings Gallery (I) / Meet the Artist: Zaplaflora (Jesús Torres Alfonso)

Born in Cuba in 1960, Jesús Torres Alfonso draws inspiration from the vibrant beauty of Caribbean nature. His work bursts with bold colors and radiates a distinctive, vibrant energy. 

Cosmina / PPG: Through this interview, we hope to learn more about you — the person behind the art — and how your artistic journey has unfolded. 

How did your artistic story begin?

Jesús: My artistic story started when I was a child, time in which my artistic sensitivity was awakened by being in contact with the natural beauties of Cuba, my birth country.

Being a teenager, I first felt the need to create art, and I began to passionately develop my artistic creativity using the most varied materials, such as ceramics, metal, wood, leather and fabric, always inspired by my natural environment.

It was then when I felt the need to support my family financially, and I began to sell my works in public squares in Havana. This allowed me to raise sufficient resources to pay for my trip to the United States in 1997, the date on which I emigrated and settled in Miami, where I have lived and worked since then.

I started again in Miami, selling my Art in public plazas, and participating in several physical exhibitions. But it was not until 2022 when I began to explore virtual art platforms, also developing my presence on social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Pinterest. This allowed me to expand my visibility, with my participation in countless virtual exhibitions sponsored by prestigious international art groups.

I currently have my works exhibited in the virtual international gallery Artmajeur. And I am represented by People and Paintings Gallery based in New York.

How would you describe your style and the themes that concern you the most?

Jesús: I feel that my style is surreal. When I create Art, I establish a mystical and spiritual connection with my environmental context, and I give free rein to my most frenetic imagination, to create the most unsuspected places by the human mind, as well as magical characters loaded with great mysticism and spirituality.

In this way I create worlds not conquered by man, inhabited by beings that merge with flora and fauna to be reborn in a new world where flora, fauna and man create together a new habitat, following patterns of Surrealist and Abstract art, and sometimes Psychedelic art.

My main source of inspiration is Nature, with its infinite generosity and great beauties. It is the main artist in my works. My imagination and my inspiration are nourished by Nature every day. From It I take knowledge and wisdom, experience and praxis.

One of my themes of excellence is the indispensable preservation of Nature; the construction of a world where resilience, empathy, the closest collaboration between species, and human action dedicated to the conservation of the environment prevail. The search for an ecological balance between flora, fauna and man, as well as the search for a psychological and emotional equilibrium in man's life on Earth, is expressed in my art as its "leitmotif".

Where do you find inspiration more often? Is there an artist in art history that you feel you identify with?

Jesús: I am 64 years old, but I am still a dreamy, imaginative, very spiritual artist full of creative energies, always motivated to take on new challenges and innovative experiences. My paintings allow me to confirm many theoretical and practical knowledge acquired throughout my life, and reinforce my conviction that we both, artist and works, are part of the same identity, of the same essence; that we belong to each other.

My style is a very personal and unique one. I have reached a stage in my artistic career of more than 50 years in which a personalized and exclusive style can be identified. Any spectator in the presence of one of my works could easily identify me as its author. However, some art specialists could still "feel" the legacy of Masters such as Wifredo Lam, Manuel Mendive and René Magritte in my paintings.

Jesús: What were the key moments of your artistic story?

The key moments of my artistic story are the following:

-          At the very beginning, when I was a teenager, and I decided to start selling my artworks in public plazas in Havana.

-          In 1984 when I graduated as an Engineer in Havana University. My knowledge as an Engineer has been important and useful in my artistic creativity.

-          When I emigrated to the United States in 1997 and I established in Miami.

            In 2022 when my painting “Pollination in the Garden of Love”, was selected to be exposed in the 2022 Florida Biennial in Hollywood, Florida, hosted by the Hollywood Art and Culture Center in the United States. It was selected after a curatorial selection process, amongst more than 1000 submitted paintings by more than 300 artists from all the state of Florida.

-          In 2022 when I decided to strengthen and develop my presence in social media platforms, and I openned an acount in Artmajeur International Virtual Gallery, to expose more than 20 original paintings I had available at that moment to be exposed and sold.

-          In 2022 I also started working with New York People and Paintings Gallery, until the present when I got the representation by this important Gallery and I am recognized as a House Artist.  

What is next in your artistic practice? What do you dream of or want to explore next?

Jesús: A central objective in my artistic career is to continue enhancing the visibility of my work internationally, with participation in physical and virtual exhibitions all around the world. Of great interest to me would be to create a retrospective solo exhibition, covering a large part of my artistic works. 

Thank you so much! We were delighted to have you share your art and life story with us.

Zaplaflora revealed more about himself in the Gallery page linked here, where you can also discover a series of his artworks.

 

An interview by Cosmina-Marcela Oltean,

PPG media moderator & art writer

Between Myth and Memory: "Where the Sky Burns" – A Solo Show by Diana Serghiuță

The Brașov Art Museum is currently hosting Where the Sky Burns, a solo exhibition by visual artist Diana Serghiuță, under the curatorial vision of Mihai Zgondoiu.

Featuring Diana Serghiuță’s latest body of work, the exhibition marks a meaningful return to her native Brașov. For the first time, the local audience is invited to experience her art in a dedicated solo presentation. Currently living and working in Arad, the artist brings with her a rich, symbolic visual language shaped by personal mythology and introspective exploration.

Running through August 18, 2025, the exhibition leads viewers into an evocative world where timeless symbols—such as the serpent, fire, and the tear—are reimagined through a distinctly contemporary artistic vocabulary. "The artist transforms these archaic symbols into a personal alphabet, rich in ambiguity and meaning. Each work becomes both a philosophical inquiry and a meditative space, where the act of looking turns into a rite of passage," explains Alexandra Ilnițchi-Ardelean, responsible for Communication and PR at the Brașov Art Museum.

"Beyond the dense, gestural painting and the ethereal, almost sacred sensuality of her drawing, the exhibition invokes cultural memory, recovering forgotten meanings in a world increasingly consumed by material reality," she adds.

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Born in 1985 in Brașov, Diana Serghiuță is a visual artist whose work delves into the intricate and vulnerable dimensions of the human psyche. A graduate of the Faculty of Fine Arts and Design in Timișoara, with a focus on Painting, she completed her Master’s studies in 2010, followed by a PhD in Visual Arts at UVT in 2016.

Her artistic approach gives shape to emotional and psychological states that reside at the threshold between reality and imagination. Serghiuță’s compositions open up intimate, symbolic spaces—laden with personal references and veiled narratives—where memory and identity intersect. Her visual language is infused with a contemporary, feminine sensibility, reinterpreting fragments of her own life into poetic, often enigmatic forms. She currently lives and works in Arad, Romania.

Mihai Zgondoiu (born 1982, Mediaș) is a multidisciplinary visual artist, independent curator, and gallerist, with a PhD in Visual Arts from the National University of Arts in Bucharest (UNArte). He currently teaches as a Lecturer at the Faculty of Arts and Design, West University of Timișoara (UVT).

Zgondoiu is the founder of Atelier 030202, a contemporary art space in Bucharest dedicated to experimental practices, and co-founder of the visual culture magazine PROPAGARTA. Actively engaged in both the academic and independent art scenes, he lives and works between Bucharest and Timișoara.

Photos by Brașov Art Museum