Baring her soul on the canvas: Meet Abstract Expressionist Maria Adriana Sicobeanu

By Al Gord

Artist Maria Adriana Sicobeanu, goes by the nickname Adi. Originally born in Romania, she immigrated to Calgary, Canada at the age of seven. Growing up in Calgary, Adi always loved the arts, however; she trained as an advanced surgical hair technician, a career that keeps her quite busy.

During this time, she met her husband and moved to Italy; his place of birth. It was in Italy where Adi, a mother of three, focussed on raising her family, as well as furthering her training in her chosen field. Ten years later, having missed her family and friends, Adi moved home. Now back in Calgary, Adi has added abstract expressionist artist to her busy life as a mother and a professional, finding time to pursue her new passion.

Appreciating the arts is nothing new for Adi. She has always been very creative and has loved art in all its forms. Adi has connected with theatre, television acting, and makeup artistry, in addition to filling countless sketchbooks with pencil drawings. While she valued art and the joy that it brought her, she never considered it as anything more than a hobby. That is, not until three years ago.

Near the end of 2018, life challenged Adi. Where words were not always easy to find, she immediately turned to painting, something very new to her. It was through paint and canvas, that she was able to express, what she could not otherwise say aloud. It was as if the moment she picked up the paintbrush Adi found that she was able to release her inner emotions, to empty her soul, her fears – her confessions. Creating “her truth” on canvas through abstract gave Adi an incredible amount of peace. So much so, that she has not let go or been able to stop creating since.

While her challenges still sit in the back of her mind, Adi sees life through a different lens. She sees painting as an amazing opportunity, an expressive tool to create, which she truly loves. Her personal connection is with acrylics, enriched layers of paint and a love of building on textured surfaces. Adi creates with palette knives, brushes, and scrapers, but most importantly, she integrates depth and colour into her work with her hands. The feeling of paint on her bare skin while touching the canvas provides Adi that personal connection to her work. That is something that she cherishes with each of her paintings.

Her art is inspired by her love of life, the connection she has with nature and with people. Viewers may also see geometrical shaped art within her collection, which symbolizes the interruptions in life that all people experience. For Adi, the appeal of abstract art is not having boundaries nor any guidelines. She just paints by instinct; essentially, she creates by where she is “taken in the moment”.

Aqua Vitae

Adi has found a sense of freedom through art. She is still in the experimental stages of her journey but she is enjoying the ongoing learning process and the thrill of experiencing where her love of painting takes her. Adi is enjoying the fact that she is able to share “the ride of her life with the world”. That ride now includes Adi’s first art exhibit. The show, which takes place in Italy, is a perfect showcase for Adi’s work. Based on the concept of sharing one’s deepest feelings, looking beyond the surface and the obvious, and examining other perspectives, Adi is excited for this opportunity to share her work and let others make their own meaning from her art.

Adi’s work is on Instagram – where her art journey and her emotion filled canvases can be seen.