RAMONA RAUS The Child and the Holy Sun. A story of deep longing

Ramona Raus (b. 1972, Cluj-Napoca) is a painter, university lecturer, and cultural diplomat, a presence that naturally combines intellectual rigor with visual sensitivity. Trained at the “Ioan Andreescu” Academy of Visual Arts in Cluj-Napoca and holding a Magna cum Laude PhD (dedicated to the Italian Renaissance) from the University of Art and Design in Cluj-Napoca, she approaches art not merely as an aesthetic territory, but as a space of light, memory, and knowledge.

Through this new personal exhibition, Ramona Raus will transport viewers to their roots, emphasizing the existence and authentic life of Romanian peasants, this time from the Someșul Mare valley. She acknowledges that her creative power, inspiration, and authenticity come from the "history" of moments lived in Zagra (Bistrița-Năsăud County), the place of her childhood, where the memory of cherry and apple trees in bloom, the infinitely blue gaze of her grandfather Grigore, and the warm voice of her grandmother Gafta are always alive and become pictorial elements in works that take us back in time and allow us to (re)discover the beauty, authenticity, and sacredness of rural life.

The exhibition entitled "The Child and the Holy Sun. A story of deep longing" represents a true return to oneself, to one's own soul connected to the harmonious waves of this nation, whose ancestors left a strong mark on Ramona Raus' personality and creation.

Her painting, built through transparencies, layers, and inner rhythms, emerges from a dialogue between the contemplative and the reflective. Whether exploring poetic geometries, fragments of mythology, or the vibrations of light in interior landscapes, Ramona Raus’ works consistently preserve a delicacy of vision, a sensitivity to what is subtle, unseen, and still in the process of becoming. Exhibitions in Romania, Italy, Germany, Austria, and Egypt have documented a continuous evolution in which the visual medium becomes the way the artist translates the world into a language of nuances.

In the academic realm, Ramona Raus teaches students not only the techniques of painting, but also how to experience art as a process in which ideas become light and emotions are tempered on the pictorial surface. Within her workshops, creativity is not merely an exercise, but a form of healing and understanding. At the University of Art and Design in Cluj-Napoca, where she has worked for over two decades, she has developed programs, creativity workshops, and transdisciplinary projects connecting art with fields such as anthropology and philosophy.

Her international career includes university collaborations, notably as a visiting professor at the University of Ferrara and as a recurring guest assistant at the Kolbermoor Free Academy in Germany, working alongside the renowned expressionist painter Markus Lüpertz. Her profile is further enriched by extensive work in cultural diplomacy. As Second Secretary at the Romanian Embassy in Rome, responsible for cultural policies in Italy, Malta, and San Marino, she fostered collaborations between institutions, artists, and communities, transforming cultural events into spaces of encounter and identity.

Ramona Raus has always positioned herself at the intersection of art and communication. Over twenty years of television work, as a producer and presenter on Romania’s national channels, TVR, complement the portrait of an individual capable of shaping not only images but also words and ideas. At the center of all these pursuits remains painting: a space where time pauses, color becomes alchemy, and, with carefully constructed stillness, Ramona Raus recovers from the world what can still be preserved through beauty