Literary Revelations Presents: The Exceptional Art of Vasile Trif

Literary Revelations is thrilled to bring you the art of Vasile Trif. I hope you enjoy his wonderful work.

BIO

Vasile Trif is a water-colorist and mixed media artist. He hails from Baia Mare, a Romanian town in northern Transylvania, an urban center that occupies an important place in the history of Romanian art. He came into contact with the world of colors and canvases in the studio of his father, a painter, sculptor and art collector

Vasile emigrated to Montreal in 2006. He was initiated to linocut and collography techniques at the Valuard Ancient Arts Atelier. In his artistic approach, Vasile Trif tries to make “the Invisible visible through word, line and color.”

He holds three bachelor’s degrees, in theology, philosophy and social work (Montreal). He is an ordained minister in the Romanian Orthodox Church. In this context, he is active as priest of the Saint-Eustache parish in Canada.

In 2003 and 2004, he helped his father paint the interior of a wooden church in the Maramures region of Romania.

Since 2010, Trif has been a member of Valuarda – Vladimir Midvichi, Montreal’s ancient arts workshop. He takes part in the annual group exhibitions organized by this workshop, presenting icons painted on glass.

2015 and 2019: participation in group exhibitions at the Musée des métiers d’art du Québec (MUMAQ). Montreal Museum of Crafts.

November 2019: solo exhibition entitled Immersion – Galerie Queens of Art, Montreal: watercolors, mixed media, linocuts and collagraphs.

In August 2022, Trif took part in the fourth edition of the Rassemblement des Arts de Montréal: mixed media, linocuts and collagraphs.

December 2022: participation in the group show : Grands Artistes d’aujourd’hui – Galerie BOA, Montreal. Curator: André Seleanu.

July 2023: participation in group show: ART – EXPO – Centre de créativité Gésu, Montreal.(Creativity Center) Curator: Norman Cornett;

July 2023 : solo exhibition – Centre de créativité Gésu, Montreal.

Curator: Norman Cornett;

In August 2023-2024: participation in group show: Maël Galerie- Brigitte Tétreault, Montreal;

Also a poet, Trif published Fiul in risipire (The prodigal son) in 2002.

His second poetry book, bilingual poetry book (Romanian –French) : Pescuirea minunata/ La pêche miraculeuse (The miraculous Draugt oh Fishees) will be published in the fall of 2024.

In 2023: He took part in the anthology Hidden în Childhood: A Poetry Anthology, a collective work edited by Gabriela Marie Milton – Literary Revelations.

In 2024: He is also published in Petals of Haiku: An Anthology edited by Gabriela Marie Milton – Literary Revelations.

Praise on Vasile Trif’s work:

André Seleanu – art critic:

“Vasile Trif’s art has an astonishing internal diversity, I’d say an unusual complexity. The shadowy zones that join the darkness of all dangers open onto the light. Intense colors – brick reds, ultramarine blues, eye-catching yellows – are balanced by unexpectedly articulated white spaces. There’s something palimpsestic about this work of the image inscribed in the image.

Interferences: the titles of some of the works already suggest an abstract domain. But there are also bird shapes and fragments of figurative scenes: our expectations are rather thwarted as the work unfolds. Calligraphy and decorative motifs abound. Surprise: there’s a sensuality of color and a diversity of sources of inspiration, not least the icon on glass with its specific atmosphere, which Trif has mastered. I also note the interplay of articulations and boundaries between open and partitioned space. In short, an abstract work that often brandishes the smiling exterior of figuration.

In his vision, the artist builds a bridge between the visible and invisible worlds. Ochres, earth tones blues allude to the world and atmosphere of Transylvanian ceramic culture (pots and jugs). Thematically, he draws on his poems and his imagination, imbued with mythical signs and motifs.

The Agora becomes a place of inner centering, a space of identity. For The Agora to fulfill its purpose, it must always be clean, free of uselessness, ready to receive. Trif believes that such is the work of art: An Agora. The artist explains: “In my artistic work, I have adopted signs and symbolic elements from Byzantine painting and glass images, and I have transposed and reinterpreted them on paper as support in an abstract expressionism with figurative elements.”

Sheila Horne Mason – journalist :

Vasile Trif, Jr. is a multi-faceted, modern-day Renaissance man who was born in Transylvania, and is now based in Canada. Trif grew up in his artist father’s studio, and he was very influenced by his father’s work. Vasile has degrees in theology, philosophy, and social work, and he is an ordained minister in the Romanian Orthodox Church. Vasile is a mixed-media artist who works in watercolors and lithographs on paper and canvas. He sometimes takes puzzle pieces of his own art and reassembles them into entirely new collages. Trif has a strong spiritual element in his art. He said his personal challenge as an artist is to draw on the rich tradition of symbols and icons of orthodoxy, while reinterpreting them to create a contemporary twist. He aims for a synthesis between divine and human knowledge, and through a symphony of colors, he endeavors to represent the invisibility of the spiritual realm. Vasile noted that one of the great figures of modern art, Wassily Kandinsky, was much inspired by music, and he is as well. In his studio, Reverend Trif listens to music, including jazz and Byzantine choral music as inspiration for his art pieces.

When asked how he knows when a piece is finished, he said. “I have a feeling…If you put more and more, you can destroy the creation. So, I’m trusting my feeling. I know when I’m painting…’ You got it, it’s complete.” In addition to all his other endeavors, Vasile is a poet, and his poetry also encourages him in his creation of his outstanding art.

Sheila Horne Mason, “2023 Montreal, Beyond the Festival”, Jazz Police, November 2, 2023

Art Work: