Liz Kennedy - All Aboard the Big Red Bus
the Newsletter: 28th October 2004

You don't get many of Avram Dumitrescu's vehicles to the tonne.

The 28 year-old Belfast-based artist is currently showing his take on transport at Tullycarnet library in Dundonald. Avram's Belfast-born mother Anne and Romanian father Costello met after his father fled from Ceausescu's Romanian regime.

They met in the Channel Islands, where Avram was born. As a baby of only a few months old he was brought back to Belfast, where he grew up.

Big and bold is best for artist Avram, who spent six or seven summers working at American summer camps. For his Tullycarnet show, as part of Belfast Festival at Queen's, Avram spent three summer months in Austin, Texas capturing machines that are much larger and aggressive-looking than those in Northern Ireland.

He painted fire engines, enormous trucks, and classic American cars, all fascinating to him for their size and grandness. The exhibition continues Avram's visual exploration of vehicles to create dynamic, intensely coloured images. His paintings concentrate on details and exaggerate perspective to give a sense of speed and power, conveying the movement of the vehicles he illustrates.

He currently commutes between Ulster and the US, where his American girlfriend lives, but Avram's determined to keep his local links. He is especially keen that young people go to see the exhibition, even if they've never been to a show before:

"I spent so many happy hours in libraries as a child. I would love other young people to go and see my work. It's right next door in their neighbourhood."
Transportation is being shown at Tullycarnet Library until November 13.

Kennedy Liz, "All Aboard The Big Red Bus"; Newsletter, 28th October 2004