Maurice Mircea Novac

Maurice Mircea Novac is born on the 11th of April 1954 at Butoiesti, Romania. In 1973, after graduating the Art High-school from Craiova, Romania – he is admitted at the Nicolae Grigorescu Institute of Fine Arts from Bucharest, at the Painting Dept. – Prof. Simona Chintila’s master class.

After getting his academic degree, the painter settles in Craiova and arranges his studio in a former hunting pavilion surrounded by a natural park.

In September 1983 Maurice Mircea Novac opens his first solo exhibition at the Art Museum of Craiova, where he displays 20 paintings.

Together with critic and friend Catalin Davidescu he organizes the “Contemporary Images” – an exhibition gathering the oeuvres of the most representative Romanian fine artists of the 80s. The event took place at the Art Museum of Craiova in two editions, 1983 and 1984.

The effervescent atmosphere, entirely against the gain as far as the cultural restrictions of Romania’s 9th decade is concerned, stimulates the artist’s creativity.

In 1987 the painter’s second solo exhibition is opened at the ‘Arta Gallery’ in Craiova.

In 1988 he marries Gabriela and their only child, Ioana Daria is born that same year.

In 1989 he settles in Bucharest and prepares his first solo exhibition in the Capital City and the last before the fall of the communist regime. The works displayed at the ‘Orizont Gallery’ are not at all in tune with the official ideology, a fact which causes the premature close of the exhibition. The collapse of totalitarianism offers him the possibility to express his artistic creed both in Romania and abroad.

The violence of political incidents taking place in Romania in 1990, and the artist’s desire to come into contact with Western artistic milieu, pushes Maurice Mircea Novac to leave Romania. After a short tour of Western Europe, especially in Germany and France, he settles, together with his family, at Maastricht, in the Netherlands.

The painter soon discovers that this brand ‘new world’ is more or less the way he imagined it. He quickly changes his artistic vision : giving up the oil-on-canvas technique and starting painting on large wooden panels in tempera grasso – his purely realistic technique and style suggesting a return to the sources.

He is soon discovered by the Artrade Gallery in Heerlen, Netherlands and starts a collaboration for many years to come. In the autumn of 1991, the gallery sends 18 of his wooden-panel paintings to the ‘International Art Market’, in Ghent, Belgium.

In 1992 MMN varnishes his solo exhibition at the ‘Espacio Fenix Gallery’ in Caracas, Venezuela and that same year participating in the ‘International Art Market’ from Bogota, Colombia. That same year ‘Villa d’Arte Gallery’ from Barranquilla, Colombia, publishes some of his works in the magazine ‘Art in America’ and the following year, in ‘Art Nexus’ (No.7). The Dutch periodical ‘Tableau’ dedicates the artist a page in the November 1992 issue and in the following years.

In January 1993 the artist participates in the ‘Miami Beach Convention Center’, U.S.A.

In 1994 he represents ‘Villa d’Arte Gallery’ at the International ‘Art Market’ of Buenos Aires, Argentina and at the ‘Miami Beach Convention’, U.S.A.

Until 2000 he participates in the group exhibitions organized by ‘Artrade Gallery’, Netherland. That same year he is present at the ‘International Art Market’ in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

From 2000 to 2004 he exhibits his works at the ‘Halcyon Gallery’, London, U.K.

MMN works in his studio in Bucharest on 5 Doamna Str. In the spring of 2007, after more than 20 years since his debut, the artist opens an ample solo exhibition at the Art Museum of Craiova. There he displays large-size works, and the first pieces from the “Breakwater at Eforie” Cycle.

The year 2009 starts with the solo exhibition organized at the Cotroceni National Museum of Bucharest, where he presents painting from different cycles, such as “Ioana”, “Pomegranate” and “Breakwater at Eforie”. On the varnishing day the painter meets Dr.George Foundoulis who invites him to his house, in the Greek island of Ikaria which inspired his Cycle “Ikariotika”.

During his daughter’s studies in Paris, France, due to his many trips to the French capital, inspired the artist for “Ioana and the City”, Cycle, displayed in his solo exhibition in November 2011 at the ‘Cultural Romanian Institute’, in Bucharest.

At the beginning of 2012, ‘Klartext Publishing House of Bochum, Germany, issues the 2nd volume of the series “7:Romanian Contemporay Art” dedicated to seven visual artists born and trained in Romania, who have acquired a good reputation abroad. The album attributes a 30 page selection of works.

In March 2012 the artist is invited to exhibit at the ‘Chrom Galley’ in Bochum, Germany, along with artists such as Ioan Iacob, Matei Negreanu, Mircea Roman.

The artist’s latest series such as “Ioana’s steps”, “Ikariotika Deepness”, “Early Erotic” and the “Escape from Pompeii” could be seen during the annual romanian art fair ‘Art Safari’.