Gallery

"My goal as an artist is to be free", he says. "I want to be free to develop new techniques and investigate new subjects"

Victor Colesnicenco grew up in Chisinau, the capital city of Moldova. This Eastern European nation is known for its rich artistic heritage. Nemo, as he is known to his friends, remembers being fascinated by the carvings and other craftworks that surrounded him. In particular he loved paintings and from an early age he was determined to become an artist.  Nemo began intense inquiry into the style and techniques of famous painters, in particular the works of Ivan Shishkin and Salvador Dali. He enrolled in art school but did not enjoy the strict academic style of the Russian based academy. Knowing that a standard education was not for him, Nemo abandoned it to pursue training on his own. His talent quickly flourished and soon he was organizing large outdoor art fairs to show his work and that of other young artists. At this point in his life Nemo enlisted in the Soviet Army where he served for two years. After completing his tour, his motivation to become a professional artist was rediscovered. Together with a good friend he started a business restoring works of art and painting murals in churches. The reemergence of religious freedom in the post-Soviet era offered many opportunities for their business to flourish. Moving from city to towns throughout the countryside inspired a desire for further travel and Nemo took an opportunity to immigrate to Canada. His family decided to settle just north of Toronto Ontario. To Nemo Canada is a gateway to the world. From his new home he is able to freely explore places all over the globe.  The prevalent theme in Nemo's work is travel and the discovery of the beauty and excitement of new places. He sometimes paints natural depictions of scenic locales or he fuses varying cities to create his own unique cityscapes. His fused or "constructed cities" seem to offer the viewer the opportunity to visit many places at once. Multi-media and mixed media are terms that have to be used when examining Nemo's art. He can and often does work in a very traditional style. Using both oils and acrylics he creates paintings with a plein-air feel. He is able to capture the light and feel of a place and impart that to the viewer.  Nemo is also constantly investigating and developing new techniques. His international cityscape series is an innovative style combining photography, printing and painting. Through printing and subsequent pasting of his photographs; he then paints with acrylics and glazes to construct a fused and somewhat surreal vision of different cities. The charm and mood of famous cities are combined to create a dreamlike memory of time and space.