Devis Grebu

Typically, I will have an encounter. Call it a revelation. I accumulate new feelings, new sensations. And one day, they explode without premeditation. I have had such encounters. Some encounters were like miracles, the disclosure of new sensations and feelings: with the works of Bonnard, Matisse, the British painter Francis Bacon, and the American artist Alice Neel. And I have been moved by phenomena as diverse as the Egyptian papyrus at the British Museum in London - which is remarkable for its formal composition and decorative manner - and the fantastic imaginary stone palace designed and built single-handedly by Facteur Cheval - a true genius who worked as a mailman in rural southern France towards the end of the nineteenth century. Also, I remember seeing a Saul Steinberg retrospective. I left overwhelmed, doubtful of my own talent. Sometimes you are compelled by admiration to review and question your own work. Romanian folklore has provided me, like my exceptional compatriot Brâncusi, with an invaluably rich background, as has Romanian popular music, which is unique in its strangeness, its refined primitivism. What provokes my emotion and admiration of cultures or artists is the same: spontaneity, authenticity, a spirit of sincerity and unexpected harmonies. These are essential qualities to me. In Israel, the colors of the landscape (and the psychological atmosphere of the country) probably influenced my choice of subtle tones and muted colors and my use of violent metaphors. In Paris, and France in general, I was able to enrich myself in all areas of philosophy and literature and to refine my taste. As for New York, it is intoxicating - a twentieth century metropolis of fervent energies.