About Ion Vincent Danu

I’m a Canadian visual artist. Born in Sibiu, Romania, about 58 years ago .

I’ve started my visual artist “career” as an art high school student, in Sibiu (the most happy 4 years of my life!) . I also studied photography for one year with one of Romania’s best art photographer, Gheorghe Lazaroiu, EFIAP. Unfortunately, I couldn’t be among the 5-6 students admitted every year at one of the 3 Art Universities in communist Romania… I studied, instead, History (and some Art History, of course) and English at the Sibiu University. Nobody could force me to stop sketching during the most boring classes and I did a few paintings too… usually presents for my mother’s anniversary (her being the one who always encouraged me the most to follow my artistic vocation). The usual followed: family, work (teaching for 8-9 years in different village schools), etc.

After the 1989 revolution (I took part in it as a photo-reporter) I ‘ve started a new career as a journalist and photo journalist.

Children grew up and, for them as well as for myself, we decided to immigrate to Canada. Almost 17 years ago. Here, in Québec, since it was hard for me to find a job, I’ve started – well, you can say, I’ve RE-STARTED – my visual artist career. In fact, that was my secret wish, the most intense one and everything in my life, until then, was ment ( I really believe that!) to bring me there – well, HERE.  I’ve studied painting, drawing, etching and photography at  Bishop’s University (no degree, too expensive and too old for that…) and completed a Certificate in Visual Arts, at the Sherbrooke University, working  in a factory to support myself. It was hard but I did it.

Since April 2002 I’m a full time visual artist. I’ve earned my living teaching “artistic expression” in a private institution and I draw, I paint… I do some writing too, but that’s a “secret” for now… My portfolio has more than 3000 images now (reproductions of my drawings and paintings) and my intention is – health and time permitting – to post the best of them here, more or less, in chronological order…  Since I’m not a native English speaker, please, be indulgent with my many mistakes…

Since november 2013 (which was really a very bad year for me: I’ve lost my mother, my jobs, my credit and my car…still have my passion for art) I’ve got my diagnostic: a rare form of appendiceal cancer, I’ve developped while taking care of my father, 85, after my mother’s demise, in Romania. The stress of all those events was the trigger. But now I’m back in Quebec, with my family (my father is also my family but…) and I’ve started again to draw and to paint. I don’t need the cancer anymore. With this art ‘treatment’, with a vegetarian (semi, for now) diet, meditation, prayer and exercise, I do hope to survive some more  years, to finish my work as a painter and to help, as much as I can, my family, to see my grandsons growing up…So far, so good… (I do heal my cancer with “life style” treatment; if I would have accepted the HIPEC major surgery they offered me, and continued with the one tour of chemo, I would be probably dead by now…or dying…or totally disabled…)

Of course, as the title of my blog suggest, my mentor is Vincent Van Gogh and, in a way, everything I write here is also about him. Because he was – still is! – in many way, the quintessence of what an artist mean. We can define ourselves (and I try to do just that) either in contrast or in harmony with him…

Here is how I looked (this photo of me and Polly is from May, 2010)

Danu and Murphy

The place is Le Marche de la Gare, in Sherbrooke, where I’ve drawn caricatures/portraits of the people who were brave enough to pose for me…and I had less difficulties in finding models than Vincent…

*Note: All text, images, etc. on this blog is copyright protected (copyright © Ion Vincent Danu/Dan Iordache) and cannot be used or  reproduced without the expressed consent of the artist (this phrase I shamelessly copied! from carolking – it seems a good idea to mention…)