GALO: You lived under communism until 1989. What impressions have these formative years in Romania left on you?

CI: Here, it’s freedom of expression. There, you don’t have too much. Like in a camp, you can paint like an abstract artist in your studio, but you’re not promoted. Even though some people say the CIA invented abstract to be a weapon against communism, I don’t think so. This doesn’t have any involvement in Jackson Pollock or [Willem] de Kooning. That’s poor speculation.

GALO: Money and fame can be ends in themselves. Is it possible to reach a high level of achievement in art with no consideration other than financial success?

CI: You can achieve like [Vincent] Van Gogh achieved, but there is no artist on earth [who] wants to take his paintings with him in the grave. All artists paint to gain fame and recognition, to establish a little history in time and the space which our earth passed through. Otherwise, just to paint for you, it doesn’t make sense. You have to have something to…

GALO: You need an audience.

CI: Yes, correct.

GALO: Imagine you’re in a room filled with art students. How would you inspire them without references to celebrity status or wealth?

CI: Paint with passion, with your heart, and with your soul. [Constantin] Brancusi once said, “[Create like a god, command like a king, work like a slave].” And then, in one day, [you] will be successful.

GALO: Chicago has a thriving art scene. In what manner have you influenced, or even resisted, the regional trends?

CI: Chicago — it’s one of the most beautiful cities. I consider, too, the architecture — I think [its] the most beautiful in America. But for art — [it] lacks a lot. It’s under 12th place, and it’s a pity, because it should be [in] first place, before New York. Or let’s say, at least, after New York.

GALO: Cities like New York and Santa Fe and Miami, they’re known for a distinctive view of the art world, just like California refuses to acknowledge that any one artistic metropolis exists. How does the Chicago viewpoint compare to other places in the United States?

CI: They are better than Chicago, and it’s true. If you want to be famous, even the Germans say, go to New York. It’s today the mecca for all the artists. Without New York, there won’t be any fame for any artist, even [Pablo] Picasso or [Henri] Matisse. Without New York, they would be nothing.

GALO: You’re a gallery owner as well as an artist. To what extent does the day-to-day, financial business interfere with the creative drive?

CI: It breaks the moment that you create, and it’s very hard to meet business with creativity. And sometimes, of course, like a dealer, you have to sell.

GALO: You’ve featured the work of other Chicago artists on your walls. Considering the knowledge that you’ve acquired over the past decade, what can you contribute from the standpoint of an art dealer?

CI: I’m not that good a dealer.

GALO: But you have done that… technically.

CI: I work seven days [a week] in the gallery and paint. I start early in the morning, and I finish here [at] 10:30 p.m. Other artists don’t want to do that. I have success, but behind success, there are a lot of tears and a lot of pain, which other artists don’t see. They see you on Michigan Avenue and say, “Oh, look, how great they are, how successful.” But they don’t know what’s behind this success, it’s very hard and complex.

GALO: Your signature style is patented. From a business perspective, what advantages might you have that an artist without an innovative technique would not?

CI: I patented this just to protect me, not to make it like a Gucci, or something to be famous. There are artists [who] might come here and copy and might [get] famous based on what you created. It’s happened in fashion. It’s happened everywhere.

GALO: Cynics say that everything has been done before, which means nothing is truly original, while optimists see a beginning everywhere they look. How do you define new?

CI: The universe, it’s infinite, and God has infinite gifts. Like in my paintings, the dimensional, [and] cylindrical — it’s new.

GALO: Your application technique is new.

CI: Yes. So [that] another [artist] can find [a] new application, like Jackson Pollack [had with his] dripping [technique or Vincent] Van Gogh with the long, strong brushstroke…

GALO: Emulation is supposed to be the ultimate flattery, even though it may result in cheap imitation or intellectual theft. What single artist in history has elicited the good and the bad in succeeding generations, more than any other?

CI: I heard about Salvador Dali after he became famous. He hired his students to paint for him, and he just signed. I see with [Dale] Chihuly, he creates, but behind him [he] has 20 people and says, “Do this. Do this.” It’s his idea, but it’s not anymore, [not] like on a canvas.

GALO: Because he’s not creating it personally.

CI: Exactly.

GALO: The earth is filled with potential inspiration. What is your greatest source of imaginative stimulation in the studio?

CI: From the universe — astronomy, religion, philosophy, poetry, daily life, history, music. There are tremendous, infinite subjects to create or to get inspired.

GALO: In a time-intensive work such as Horse in Meadows, not only is your signature style evident, so is your technical skill. How long did it take you to complete this painting, and what do you believe makes it outstanding?

CI: I think it took me three months. Once you create something, it’s easy to do it. It might take you two weeks or three weeks to finish, but the longest is to come [up] with a prototype. Once you have a product, like you have a tree, which God created, it’s there — you can copy. That’s my horse. I created it. And then to do a reproduction and make one, it’s easy to go there and to do it.

GALO: In Freedom you appear to have exercised a more relaxed technique, but the work may contain a social or a political message. There’s a perching bird behind vertical bars looking out.

CI: It’s freedom coming from the communist, like a nightingale in a cage. And that bird, it’s over there in the cage, and she screams for freedom. She sings for freedom.

GALO: Consider the pathways your art could take within the next five years. In what respect will your direction change?

CI: What I used to paint at the beginning, and now, it’s so much different. What you learn in four years of art school… there is no comparison in what you learn painting for almost 30 years, adding and working with a color and diluting a color. You become a master, like a tailor.

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