(gentle music) - Recently, I started a series of paintings called "Thalassophobia," comes from Greek, translate into fear of water, fear of abyss, fear of the unknown of what's underneath.

(gentle music) (materials scrapping) I wanted to get deeper into that moment when the person walks towards the murky water surrounded by a lush vegetation, which converts and transforms into some kind of almost impending doom, monstrous leaves.

I wanted to describe the fear, tension, it's an anguish.

And I found that moment as very interesting to represent.

(gentle music) You cannot deny your roots.

Roots I feel like they're still belonging to my native land of Transylvania, Romania.

Very important for me was that I move with my family.

We continue our life here, and I gladly can call America, United States, like, home right now.

I'm happy here.

If I would be to give advice to younger artists, 'cause I'm already old enough to do that.

(laughs) First of all I would say, "Trust me, this niche, art is going to be very rewarding for all of you.

At some point, it might be a world of solitude from now and then, but sooner or later, art is going to reward you and give you back."

The thing is, art is going to give back only as much as you (chuckling) put in.

So, I'm talking about passion, love for it, dedication.

I think we all experience, at some level, the need for art.

It's surrounding us.

It's all over.

It's in our clothes, cell phones, furniture, everywhere.

So we can't deny it.

We have... (chuckling) We have to live with it.

(laughs) - [Narrator] This "NPT Arts Break" is made possible by the generous support of The Martha Rivers Ingram Advised Fund of the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee and a grant from the Tennessee Arts Commission.