Born in Romania in 1968, Gheorghe Virtosu is of the generation that came of age as the calcified Eastern Bloc was slouching towards its final collapse in 1989. Suddenly — literally — a world of possibilities opened up to young people from Eastern Europe. With unimaginable options now open to him, Virtosu left the Republic of Moldova after his compulsory military service and three-year stint in the state security services was complete. He travelled the world, soaking up its rich and varied textures, and eventually settled in London and became a British citizen.

Alternating between living in freedom and suffering in confinement has been a fact of Virtosu’s life, both as a young man and in adulthood. This theme — the struggle to find meaning and beauty amidst the harsh reality of life — is a powerful narrative force in his painting.

While living through a period of incarceration — during which Virtosu struggled with the loneliness that is inherent when one is separated from the outside world — he took up writing as a form of self-therapy.

Gheorghe Virtosu also took up the painter’s brush in earnest — he is a self-taught artist — and began to create abstract, thematic paintings that feature bold colors in pursuit of a mystical ascension above the ugliness of the world. With titles that reference the “real world” — such as Iranian Spirit, Blairism, and Gaddafi Sentence — the paintings approach varied themes from the multicultural world we share.