Arta Lucescu-Boutcher
“I feel that an artist must dedicate herself an entire life to her art in order to discover the inner beauty of its creative process along with the joy that rises the artist above the ordinary. My purpose in life is to enjoy being alive through painting and thus contribute to the beauty of this world. We need to aim for something larger than ourselves.”
Arta Lucescu-Boutcher was born in Romania where her art work was first noted and exhibited at the College of Bele Arte; she received third prize for a national art contest in Romania at the age of thirteen.
Her artwork reflects some of the folkloric motifs and vivid colors of her heritage while the originality of her paintings stems from the unique way of representing the human figure.
Being born in a family of artists and musicians, Arta’s greatest desire was and still is to find fulfilment in developing her own artistic style. She has studied with the noted Parisian painter of Romanian origin, Victor Cupsa, and with Joseph Stapleton, Larry Poons, Bruce Dorfman, Ronnie Landfield at the Students’ Art League in Manhattan and Margery Theroux at the Old Church Cultural Center in Demarest, New Jersey.
Arta received her PhD in French literature ( 19th and 20th century poetry and diaspora) in 1998 from the Graduate School of the City University of New York; three of her paintings are included in the permanent collection of their Gallery. She finds French and Francophone literature to be a constant source of inspiration for the topics of her paintings. Her book, Rediscovering Benjamin Fondane, was published by Peter Lang in 2003. And her memoir, LOSS, VOYAGE, AND REBIRTH, will soon be available on Amazon.
One Woman Shows include the following: “The State University of Montclair Gallery,” The Graduate School of the City University of New York,” “Albu Art Gallery” in Teaneck, “The Strand Gallery” in Summit, New Jersey, “The Central Unitarian Church” in Paramus, New Jersey, the “Montclair Unitarian Universalist Gallery” in Montclair, and the “Apple Restaurant” in Soho, New York.
Group Shows
As a member of “Salute to Women in the Arts,” and the “Ceres Gallery” in New York she participated in many local group-shows in New Jersey and New York at the Art Center of Northern New Jersey, The Old Church Cultural Center, in Demarest, The Teaneck Library, in Teaneck, “Madeleine’s Petit Paris” restaurant in Northvale, The Nabisco Gallery in East Hanover, and the “Arts Upstairs Gallery “near Woodstock, New York, “Ceres Gallery” in Chelsea, New York, and the Students’ Art League in Manhattan.
