Graduate student brings love of art from Romania

Kyle Marshall
dm entertainment editor

From Romania to Oxford and biology to art, Ruxandra Olariu has done plenty of moving. Currently she is finishing up a master's degree in fine arts and her thesis show is on display in the Bryant Hall Gallery.

Olariu was born in Sibiu, Romania and obtained a master's degree in biology from the University of Babes Bolai in Romania in 1984. In 1988, she fled the "hopeless, really impossible" dictatorship which governed Romania and spent two years in Greece trying to figure out where she could go next.

"My first choice was France because I spoke better French than English in the '90s," Olariu said.

But Olariu said that France was not accepting political refugees from Eastern Europe at the time. So she instead moved to New Orleans where she found work using her biology degree. Although her work was scientific, Olariu had been interested in art for a long time. In an excerpt from her thesis which is available at the gallery, Olariu writes of the beginnings of this interest.

"Since early childhood, I have been profoundly impressed by works of art," Olariu writes. "I would have preferred to stare endlessly into a painting or photograph rather than talk to people or play with other children."

So it wasn't too suprising that something in New Orleans beyond biology caught her eye.

"I got mesmerized by the art scene in New Orleans," Olariu said. She began an undergraduate art degree in 1995 at the University of New Orleans which she finished at Ole Miss. In 1998 she began her master's degree and is now displaying the work for the show which is part of her thesis.

The show consists of large paintings and smaller, computer-generated images. Most of the paintings are actually made up of two or more canvasses. One, "Homage," is a triptych measuring in total 5 feet 9 inches by 9 feet 9 inches. The picture at left is the two left-side canvasses of the six which make up "Garden of My Soul part II."

Olariu said that she was glad that the gallery was remodeled last summer, but still found it dificult to fill.

"It's a tricky space," Olariu said. "There are so many things that a person could do with it: paintings, sculpture, or an installation."

After graduation, Olariu said she will keep on working.

"I will continue with painting, but I would also like to work some in 3D," Olariu said. She expressed an interest in passing on some of her knowledge of art.

"I hope I will teach art sometime, somewhere, even though it's a very hard market," Olariu said.

Olariu's show is on display until Friday and is available for viewing from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will be a closing reception open to the public, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday.