WIN Gallery: What was the spark that made you want to start buying art?

Aida Ivan: I think art has always been [n.r.: present] in my life, because I like to dance, and I did choreography, I did ballet when I was little. Somehow, I was always surrounded by music, painting, sculpture. My colleagues were from the other disciplines and we were all there, putting on performances together. It was a time [...] that I remember with the greatest fondness, especially this part of choreography.

WIN Gallery: What were your first encounters with art and at what age?

Aida Ivan: When I was little. Very little. At home there was always music, although my parents are not professionals. But I married a musician, and I have a son who is a musician! So, for us, art has been [present], I believe, since I was born, and it continued this way throughout life.

WIN Gallery: And what advice would you give to those who want to buy their first artwork?

Aida Ivan: I don’t know if what I’m about to say is politically correct, regarding how I bought and how it resonated [with me]. You need to get goosebumps! I don’t know how else to say it... You need to feel that work! There are some artworks you look at and you can say: look, it’s very beautiful, like the piece I’m looking at right now (Marijana Bițulescu - Infanta with Dog). As soon as I walked in, I sat down, and my eyes were drawn to that work surrounded by the other beauties. They’re all beautiful, but one or another must simply awaken something inside you. It has to stir emotion. If art doesn’t stir anything, it’s [just] business. And then I buy that piece, because I know I can sell it. [That’s what I meant when] I said I don’t know if it’s politically correct, because today the mercantile value of everything matters more than the emotional or spiritual value, I suppose...
If you look at a stack of money versus [...] a painting, the stack of money might [prompt you] to start thinking, to make a list of things to buy, but you don’t get inspiration from pieces of paper. When you look at a painting, it simply delights your soul, raises your energetic vibration. At least, that’s how I understand art.

WIN Gallery: Is there a particular style that attracts you more? Figurative, maybe, or abstract?

Aida Ivan: Not necessarily. I don’t have extensive education [in the field], I’m not like you who know all the details. For me, it has to awaken something in my soul. If it awakens a positive emotion – because it can awaken the opposite as well – but if it awakens a positive emotion, for me that is [the most important], just like it was when I saw the painting I bought. There were several from the same series. I looked at those too. They were all beautiful, but there was something about this one. [...]. If I ask myself rationally, I don’t know why it reminded me, probably, of the red roses I used to care for with my grandmother, who had this passion for tending roses. But I don’t even think that matters. I like every morning, when I wake up at five, five-thirty, to sit in front of it, where I have my study armchair, where I read and meditate. [...]. And that’s all that matters to me.

WIN Gallery: And does this painting help you in meditation as well? Does it have an impact?

Aida Ivan: Look, I hadn’t thought about it, that’s a good question. I don’t know if it helps me meditate, because I used to meditate even before I had it in that place, but it certainly changes my state, meaning I start my day with a smile on my face.

WIN Gallery: Do you have a favorite Romanian artist?

Aida Ivan: Piliuță was a family friend of my godparents. And when my godmother died, [...] she left me everything, including her Piliuță collection, which I later gave to his wife, a few years ago. I liked Piliuță, all his paintings had something... And then there was a woman painter I can’t identify, a painter from Brașov, Emilie, I know she was a political dissident, but I don’t recall her surname. I also bought, at the Aro Hotel where she used to exhibit, an entire exhibition. I still have her paintings at home. They’re very beautiful and, again, they give me a pleasant feeling. [...]. I really like antique shops, for example, and I have all kinds of icons I bought from there, with which I resonated. Or some painting, maybe no name, by someone who is not a celebrity, but if it spoke to me, that was enough. Meaning if the soul spoke, that was enough.

WIN Gallery: And internationally, is there something that attracts you? An artist, a movement, or a gallery?

Aida Ivan: I can say what doesn’t attract me. I’m not drawn to trickery [because] I go with my heart towards the classics, somehow, because it’s clear that I like movements from the classical area. And I’m not very drawn to abstract works.

WIN Gallery: In an artwork we can find message, emotion, technique, and many other elements. Is there an order of priorities when you look at an artwork?

Aida Ivan: Symbols. I like to look for symbols just like I like to look for them in language when I talk to someone in psychotherapy or in dreams. Symbols, that’s what I look for. You noticed this too when you asked me what I see when I came [to the gallery]. That’s where my eye goes. Of course, it may also be professional bias.

WIN Gallery: What moment has stayed with you most from your experience with art?

Aida Ivan: It’s complicated. Many come to mind, like this... But look, I would say when I received Piliuță’s collection as a gift. Among all of them, there was a painting – it was called “The Old Woman”, apparently it was his mother. That painting stayed in my bedroom for over 20 years. That painting, I remember, when I first saw it and when I put it on the wall, [a very special connection formed]... And when I gave it away, it was the only one I parted with with difficulty. With hardship. A much deeper connection than with the others from Piliuță’s collection. My mother wanted to keep it for herself and she gave it to me because she saw I was so attached to it. And when I gave it away, yes, I regretted it. Still, I gave it away with love, because I thought that’s how it should be [...] I would love to get that painting back because [the woman in the frame] looks like my grandmother. At that time, my grandmother was doing very well, and now she is gone – and I think that’s also a reason.

WIN Gallery: Are you more attracted to openings where you can interact with other art lovers, or private visits to a gallery?

Aida Ivan: Private visits. [...] Maybe because my mind is probably quite tired of people and of talking, and then I enjoy the quiet. And I like to go to a gallery, for example outside [visiting] hours. When no one is there, when it’s just me and one person – look, with you – and I like it that way, to go from work to work and have my own time. I don’t want anyone else [unknown] next to me.

WIN Gallery: Do you visit galleries often?

Aida Ivan: Not as often as I would like. Abroad, when I get there, many times I have more time, usually. But here, besides WIN Gallery, which is already a favorite place,[...] I like to go to memorial houses, because I really like to get to know the life of the person. To see their work, but somehow connected to their life. Also, I like to see their piano or, look, that lamp. I don’t know why, [maybe because] it was theirs. It seems to me that it’s full of the person’s energy. That’s why I really like memorial houses. I grew up in Câmpina, where we had Grigorescu, Hașdeu, so I spent my childhood in those courtyards and places. Especially since my uncle was a Romanian language teacher and also somewhat of a local literature expert, and he used to go with groups, presenting... like a guide. And regarding houses, you really get to know [the people who lived there] personally, because you realize how the objects were arranged, what kind of objects they liked. In addition, my imagination always runs wild and I imagine that person in their own house. That’s also my problem with houses. I have an attraction I can’t control for abandoned and beautiful houses. But not necessarily beautiful as in big mansions, [I mean] any house that has a personality and that I see abandoned. I stand there and see it alive, I imagine who the owners were, how they arranged their things, if they had children or not. So, an entire world unfolds only in my head, of course.

WIN Gallery: Have you ever bought art abroad? Is the process different from galleries in Romania?

Aida Ivan: Yes. No, it’s similar.

WIN Gallery: We had the pleasure of having you as a guest at several of the gallery’s events. How is the experience in a gallery different from buying art online?

Aida Ivan: No, I can’t [buy] online. Because I don’t feel it. Look, I got goosebumps when you asked me.

WIN Gallery: And what are the arguments that convince you to buy an artwork?

Aida Ivan: Emotion. If it doesn’t stir anything in me...

WIN Gallery: For you, is art primarily a financial investment or rather an emotional one?

Aida Ivan: Emotional, 100%, not financial at all.

WIN Gallery: And then how do you see the difference between price and value in art?

Aida Ivan: You know, I’ll give you a very simple answer, in every way. If I like something, then it has a price set by someone, which I can afford maybe, or not. That’s it. For me that number doesn’t represent value, because I may like something that costs 2 lei, but for me it has value because it simply transports me into a certain state or helps me feel in a certain way.

WIN Gallery: How do you imagine your collection in 10 years?

Aida Ivan: I haven’t thought about it, but now I do. I have a small house, but I would first like to have time to arrange them nicely, because they are scattered. They’re scattered in the clinic, they’re everywhere, even unmounted on walls. So I would like it to be bigger, first of all, and... I’m still thinking about that apple, you know? (Relu Bițulescu - Fruit of Knowledge) I keep thinking about it.
 So I’d like it to be better arranged and for me to be able to enjoy it [and also the apple].

WIN Gallery: And what role does art play in your everyday life?

Aida Ivan: It delights my soul. I don’t know how else to put it, because I don’t think one can live without it. For me, all art is [important]: opera, theater... the entire field of art is very, very important to me. I mean, I don’t know [how to exist] without it. I don’t think I can without... I think if you took away everything cultural and artistic from me, if you took away dance too, I think I would die. So, if I really think about it, [without them] I would die. I would simply die without art. I believe that people who don’t have art in their lives can’t live long and beautifully, I don’t think they can. They are missing an extremely important part.

WIN Gallery: You were instantly drawn to a painting by Marinela Măntescu-Isac, which you bought the same day. What attracted you most to this painting when you saw it?

Aida Ivan: I cried when I looked at it. That’s it. And it depicts [just] a bouquet of flowers... You wouldn’t even say there’s something hidden, some hidden symbolism. It’s simply [a way of perceiving] colors. And I like several of her paintings. I mean, I already knew them, because I had been before at WIN Gallery and had seen several of her works, and I remember I liked an entire series. I was already sensitized, let’s put it that way.

WIN Gallery: What feelings do Marinela Măntescu-Isac’s works stir in you?

Aida Ivan: I felt like saying love, that’s what came to me. I usually go with what comes into my soul, because that’s where the truth lies. I don’t analyze them rationally, regarding hemispheres, I don’t analyze them even for a second. Look, I’m looking at that painting, for example, and I don’t understand anything. It doesn’t stir... anything. Unlike, for instance, that tapestry over there, the lady with the dog. (Marijana Bițulescu - Infanta with Dog)

WIN Gallery: What role does the work you bought play in your space? Is it a central piece, a decorative accent, a personal memory?

Aida Ivan: It’s the central piece in the living room. So it’s the most viewed work. At first, I wanted to put it in the bedroom, but I said: “Come on, Aida, don’t be selfish!” In the bedroom, only I would see it. [...] And then I realized I don’t even spend enough time in the bedroom. I go, I sleep, and that’s it. And these feelings battled inside me, you know... I said: “Should I put it in the bedroom, that’s what I want, to put it in front of the bed so I can see it.” And, in the end, I said: “Better in the living room, leave it there, so others can see it too.”

WIN Gallery: At WIN Gallery you have the opportunity to meet many of the artists, including Marinela Măntescu-Isac. Have you had the chance to talk to her personally, or would you like to?

Aida Ivan: I would like to. I met her personally, but we didn’t talk. That’s why I don’t like gatherings, as I was saying. Because there were 100 people. And when there are too many – but maybe this is a flaw of mine, professional or even innate, because I am an extrovert – I orient myself towards people. I tend to put all my focus on people, and I can’t shut myself off and look only at the [works]. It’s impossible for me.

WIN Gallery: Would you recommend other collectors to buy a painting by Marinela Măntescu-Isac?

Aida Ivan: Yes, absolutely, so they can enjoy her works. I think she has a very beautiful soul, to be able to paint like that. I don’t know her, I repeat, [everything I know about her, I only know from you], but you must have a beautiful soul to paint and transmit like that.

WIN Gallery: How do you see the connection between the experience of contemplating an artwork and the mental states you observe through neurofeedback?

Aida Ivan: I don’t know if you know, but in neurofeedback we work with visual and auditory feedback. The auditory feedback usually comes in the form of symphonic music. And the visual – except in cases when, for children, we use cartoons because we have no other choice [...] – the system’s original videos are, in fact, artworks. Because they are specifically chosen to induce certain states. We usually aim for calm and tranquility. In general, our brains are over-excited. Hyper-arousal, that’s the term, they are over-excited. And so, in a first phase, what we want through neurofeedback is to calm the activity. Then we begin to regulate, meaning to raise where it needs to be raised and to calm where it needs calming. But yes, contemplating an artwork, especially one that awakens a positive emotion, certainly has a calming effect on the brain and therefore on the mental state.

WIN Gallery: Do you consider that neurofeedback practices can influence the way we perceive colors or the composition of a work?

Aida Ivan: The way we perceive them, no. But they can influence creativity. We’ve had people who never thought of painting in their lives, and who started painting after doing neurofeedback. Because we stimulated their right hemisphere a bit, which was unstimulated. They were super-rational, hyper-rational people, from IT, CEOs, this field. Being very stimulated on the left side, the right hemisphere was in deficit. And so, by stimulating the right hemisphere – helping it a little – they began to [expand into the creative area]. Some started music, others painting. They won’t become great artists, but the important thing is they can express themselves. What is art, after all? The expression of emotions. It’s a form of expression. They began to write, to create, to paint. If you told an IT person to keep a journal, he would say: “You mean I have to write? Yes. Oh, on the computer. No, no, no. With... A pen. A pen. You know? On paper.”

It seemed very strange to them. And yet they started doing it.

WIN Gallery: Have you noticed a change in your attention or relaxation when looking at a painting, compared to other types of visual stimuli?

Aida Ivan: Yes. I enter a kind of trance when I look at a painting I like. I don’t know if this happens to everyone, but I enter that state, a low alpha towards theta, which is actually the meditative state. That’s what happens to me.

This interview was made by Andrei Fășie.