Lavinia Oniciuc
Lavinia Oniciuc, 'Self Portrait with Zinnia Flowers', 2026, oil on panel, 25 x 30cm
The thread of Lavinia Oniciuc’s creations is inspired by simple, everyday moments, as well as childhood memories; thus, her paintings oscillate between light and darkness, clarity and diffusion. Summer evenings are the main source from which she draws her inspiration. Plants, people, objects, and experiences acquire an aura of mystery, tranquility, and transcendence that she feels and bestows upon the subjects she approaches, regardless of the theme. She likes to represent both the inner world of people and the mysterious life of plants, linking them through the common concept of fragility. She uses the oil technique on canvas or panel, and sometimes gouache, because it gives her the freedom to express, through color and brushstrokes, her feelings regarding the ideas of memory, time, vulnerability, and eternity.
Oniciuc Lavinia-Maria was born in Romania and attended the University of Art and Design in Cluj-Napoca where she graduated with a bachelor's degree (2019) and a master's degree (2021) in painting, specializing in portraiture in oil techniques The end of 2022 represented the beginning of a new artistic endeavor for Lavinia, as the artist started to create a series of new works, distinct from everything she had done until then – scenes from nature at dusk, paintings that would define her style and make her known in the art world. Over the years, she has continued to create portraits, nocturnes, rural scenes, flowers paintings depicted at different times of the day or night which have been exhibited in important spaces in Romania, Italy, France and Austria. Using her favorite technique – oil on canvas – and working with a restricted, sometimes sober chromatic palette, often limited to brown, blue and green, the artist aims to convey a state of interiorization, contemplation, tranquility, even a little nostalgia.