NEW YORK, NEW YORK: URBAN RHAPSODIES at RCI's Brâncuși Gallery
- RCI USA
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
A solo exhibition by Radu Șerban
About the Event
This summer, RCI’s Brâncuși Gallery invites you to experience the vibrant pulse of the most charismatic city in the world through the eyes of Romanian-American architect and painter Radu Șerban. His collection of oil paintings, New York, New York: Urban Rhapsodies, offers a deeply personal exploration of the metropolis and its surroundings, from the colossal cityscapes of Manhattan to the bucolic vistas of the Hudson River Valley.
In love with New York since his youth, Șerban captures the city’s inextinguishable energy with bold strokes and a rich palette, creating a seductive iconography of the unique metropolis and engaging in a lyrical dialogue between place and memory. Painted in the artist's Hudson Valley studio and brought to life through post-impressionist realism, his works are both homage and exploration, demonstrating an evolving relationship with his surroundings and his commitment to pushing the boundaries of traditional painting.
Artist`s Statement
I have spent more than half of my life in New York, soon approaching nearly half a century. Long enough to feel a deep nostalgia for a city that is constantly changing, yet one that remains, historically and mentally, a commanding presence. New York is a metropolis in perpetual reinvention, refusing to be a static artifact of the past. Through its opulence of images, endless perspectives, architectural daring, and dynamic energy, it stands as the ultimate city of our time.
Life in New York carries a unique vitality, an intensity shaped by its art, culture, commerce, and industries, all merging into a powerful force that has become an admired model worldwide. This is a city with both a storied past and an ever-evolving future. As an artist, I feel an obligation to honor its memory.
Yet, capturing New York is no simple task. It is a rough, untamed force, difficult to distill into the delicate nuances of an artwork. It takes love, patience, and a deep connection to uncover its most genuine and significant moments. Sometimes, it shatters expectations; other times, it reveals an inherent poetry that often goes unnoticed. For me, painting New York is a duty, an act of preserving its essence.
My paintings, both contemporary and touched with a “retro” sensibility, are an attempt to freeze moments in time, snapshots of a city that deserves to live on in our memories. Painted in a realistic manner, they are expressions of my impressions, brought to life with oil on canvas and a palette knife. Each work is a fragment of my love for this extraordinary city, a tribute to the unforgettable places I have been fortunate to experience in my too-brief time within its ever-changing embrace.
Artist`s Bio
Radu Șerban is a Romanian-American painter and architect whose work captures the spirit of two worlds: the layered histories of Europe and the vibrant dynamism of the United States. Born in Bucharest into a family of artists, he was educated at the prestigious “Ion Mincu” School of Architecture and furthered his studies in Italian art and architecture in Perugia, Italy. Though trained as an architect, painting remained his lifelong passion, a practice he cultivated across continents.
After professional and creative chapters in Algeria and Paris, Șerban fulfilled a long-held dream by moving to New York in 1982. Here, he found the perfect counterbalance between the city's electric energy and the serene beauty of the Hudson River Valley. Today, he splits his time between Manhattan and his studio in Tappan, where urban and natural landscapes continue to inspire his work.
Working primarily in oil with a palette knife, Șerban's post-impressionist style is marked by rich textures, bold gestures, and a vibrant yet nuanced color palette. His subjects range from iconic New York Cityscapes to the pastoral beauty of the Hudson Valley, as well as architectural scenes from his travels through Europe. A realist at heart, Șerban’s work evokes memory, movement, and emotional connection to place.
His paintings have been exhibited in New York (including SoHo and Roosevelt Island), Washington D.C., London, Bucharest, and throughout the Hudson Valley. He is an emeritus member of the American Institute of Architects and a recipient of multiple awards in both architecture and painting.
Radu Șerban invites viewers to rediscover familiar places through a poetic and deeply personal lens — one shaped by a lifetime of artistic exploration across cultures.
Explore his work at www.raduserban.com.
