White Space Gallery to Host International Multimedia Artist

New Haven - White Space Gallery, 1020 Chapel St . New Haven , CT presents the mixed media art of International artist and Connecticut resident Florin Ion Firimita from April 7 through 30.

The show will open with an Artist’s reception on Thursday, April 7 th from 5 to 7p.m. and culminate on Saturday, April 30 th, with the screening of the award winning film “The Art of Leaving” by Brian Kamerzel from 10:30 till noon . This film documents the fascinating life of Romanian born artist Florin Firimita. The film has been selected to be shown at the 2005 Cannes , and Montreal Film festivals.

Florin Ion Firimita was born in Romania , where he started painting at the age of five under the influence of his mother, a fashion designer and a decorative arts teacher, and his father, an amateur photographer. He worked for many years as an apprentice to renowned artist Constantin Ciocarlie, then studying studio, and mural painting, and art history. After fleeing the troubles of his homeland of Romania in 1990 via Italy and Yugoslavia , he arrived in the Connecticut / New York state area and began again. Florin struggled through his early years in America working several less than glamorous jobs and learning English at night to become a successful teacher, painter, photographer, essayist and art critic.

His artwork has become widely collected and requested in numerous exhibits throughout the US , Europe and Australia . Firimita has also been honored for his literary talents. He is the recipient of the New York University National Prize for Literature. His writing has appeared in House Beautiful, The Hartford Courant and the Literary Review.

Of his artwork, Firimita explains, "My paintings are about time, about hope and loss, speed and slowness, about ever-present absences, about the benefits of solitude. Through the use of shape and color, old family photos, pages from my journals, fragments of letters from my parents, I am trying to recreate an intricate puzzle. On this level, these paintings function as complex conversations between me and my freedom, meditations about ideas that I find meaningful, glimpses of colored light at the end of a long dark tunnel.”

Florin Ion Firimita is presently represented by the new and exciting “White Space Gallery” in downtown New Haven .

For more info and photographs contact: Marie Accrino