Mihai Nistor – Manifesto
I spent 25 years making art for everyone.
For those who wanted a beautiful portrait.
For those who wanted something colorful above the couch.
For those who wanted to give a memorable gift.
I was available, flexible, grateful.
There’s nothing shameful in that. I learned enormously. I met extraordinary people. I paid bills.
But somewhere in those 25 years, I started painting a straw hat.
And I saw how light passes through the weave and redraws the face of the person underneath.
The same face. A different face.
Visible and invisible at the same time.
I didn’t know then that this would become my series.
I didn’t know it would become my obsession.
I didn’t know there was no other artist who had gone this deep into the same subject.
Now I know.
So I shed.
In the coming months, I’m letting go of the works that were “Mihai Nistor at everyone’s disposal.”
I’m not throwing them away — I’m offering them, through auction, to the people who want to carry them forward.
The starting price for every work in this campaign is 10 lei.
Not because they aren’t worth more.
But because I want the first criterion of selection to be desire, not budget.
And one single question for whoever wins: where will these works live?
What remains after the shedding is called TEMPERA-MENTAL.
And the series is called in(visible).
And I’m only just beginning.
Bio
Tempera – Mental
I was born on a summer day in 1983, in Târgoviște — where I took my first steps toward drawing, the language that would later become my way of life. In 2000, I entered the studio of painter Mihai Șerbanescu for the first time, attending his modern art courses.
There, among brushes, light, and conversations about form and color, I found my courage. We also exhibited together several times — small signs that my artistic path was beginning to take shape.
In 2002, I was admitted to UNArte Bucharest. There, in the vast halls filled with the scent of freshly printed paper, I studied easel graphics and digital graphics under the guidance of Professor Nicolae Alexi. Four years of intense exploration, until 2006, planted solid roots in both my technique and vision.
Between 2000 and 2010, I drew over 10,000 street portraits and caricatures — each with its own story, with gazes that shaped me as both an artist and a human being — hence the name “The Artist with a Thousand Faces.”
Exhibitions:
2001 – Mihai Șerbănescu and Guests – “Mass Media Impact on Art”, Collage Exhibition, UAP Târgoviște|
2002 – “Nistor’s World” – Caricatures and Illustrations, UAP Târgoviște
2002 – Modern Art Class Group Exhibition, Octav Enigarescu School, Pucioasa Culture House
2002, 2003, 2004 – Mihai Șerbănescu and Guests, UAP Târgoviște & SEVER Târgoviște
2005 – Illustrations Exhibition, with Ioana Pioaru, SEVER Târgoviște
2005 – Mihai Șerbănescu and Guests – “We Have Time” Exhibition, SEVER Târgoviște
2005 – Illustrations Exhibition, HIDALGO Art Gallery, Focșani
2005 – Petrașcu Biennale
2006 – National Art School Competition “Vespasian Lungu”, Brăila – First Prize
2006 – Mihai Șerbănescu and Guests, BASIL Art Gallery, Bucharest
2006 – Bachelor’s Degree Exhibition, Hunedoara
2006 – National Art School Competition, Pitești
2007 – 1…2…Tlè…EVOLUTION
2009 – Mihai Șerbănescu and Guests, ARTE Gallery, Cluj-Napoca
2010 – “Harbours of the World”, “La Port” Tea House, Cluj-Napoca
2012 – “Comedy Icons”, Palabre Coffee House, Cluj-Napoca – Permanent Exhibition
2013 – One Year of “Na Haz!”, L’Atelier Coffee Bar, Cluj-Napoca, with Sergiu Grapa
2013 – 1…2…Tlè, Bardolino, Italy
2014 – 1…2…Tlè, Bardolino, Italy
2014 – Petrașcu Biennale
2016 – Cluj Tattoo Convention; Tattoo Expo Transilvania, Sibiu; Bucharest Tattoo Expo
2017 – Tattoo Expo Cluj-Napoca; Tattoo Expo Transilvania; Timișoara Tattoo Expo
2018 – Tattoo Expo Cluj-Napoca
2020 – Opens ONE ON ONE Art Gallery, Târgoviște
