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Corina Cravcenco: Art inspired by the soul of van Gogh – in Palm Springs

She’s busy painting in the back studio portion of her modest gallery in the Backstreet Art District when I walk in. It’s a brutally hot summer afternoon, nothing like Zundert in the Netherlands, where Vincent Van Gogh was born in 1853, where summer temperatures average in the mid-sixty degree range.

But somehow, Van Gogh’s spirit has found its way to Palm Springs and the 117 degree heat that would have scorched his wheat fields and wilted his sunflowers. His work and life has inspired a contemporary European artist, Corina Cravcenco, who now calls Palm Springs home. Corina is as friendly and open as she is talented. She’s well educated from her studies and multiple degrees from Romania and College of the Desert. In 2013, she moved here from Bucharest to study English, economics, and, of course, art. It’s been a long journey for her, not just in miles, but in experiences as well.

“My first art exhibition was when I was just about eight years old,” she tells me. But it wasn’t until an accident while studying for her PhD in Bucharest when she broke her ankle and was forced to stay home, that she dedicated herself to her painting.

Her gallery in Palm Springs’ Backstreet Art District, hosts not only her paintings, but the work of 10 other desert artists, including Jim Ross, Nora Helmer, Ken Fisher, Thomas Csapo, and Tom Ortiz. And the gallery bears a special name of its own.

“My gallery and studio is named ‘Andrew Wondrousness,’ in honor of my beloved father Andrew, who passed away in 1998,” Cravcenco explains. She has a deep love of family and art, and though being an artist and running her own gallery poses its own challenges for her, she enjoys her work.

“I love art and also to make people happy, she says. “The best reword for me is when I see the happiness in the eyes of my art collectors. I wish all my art collectors and community to enjoy my art and to bring joy, happiness, hope and all the best.”

There’s one other thing Cravcenco loves.

“People say that my art reminds them of Vincent van Gogh, and he is one of my favorite artists,” she tells me. She certainly has an adept eye for color and light, and the strong brush strokes she uses in her work seem to bear a similarity to his. But Cravcenco is her own artist, on her own path.

“For me the job as an art gallery and studio owner, and artist, is very challenging and hard, but because of my great love for art, artists, and collectors, I am doing my best,” Cravcenco says. “I am very grateful to God, my beloved father, my professors, my friends, and all the community for all their support and love.”

You can meet Corina Cravcenco at Art Gallery Andrew Wondrousness, 2600 S. Cherokee Way, in the Backstreet Art District. Catch their monthly First Wednesday Art Walk, every month from 5 to 8 p.m. or call 424-653-7449.

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