10 Questions with Dalia Raduca
Dalia Raduca, born in 2000 in Romania, is a contemporary abstract artist based in Barcelona. She completed her studies in Romania, culminating in her university degree, before moving to Barcelona to pursue a master’s program. During this period, she stepped away from painting, feeling uninspired and disconnected from her artistic self.
However, arriving in Barcelona marked a turning point: Dalia rediscovered her creative voice, and her artistic side was fully awakened. She resumed her practice with renewed passion, embracing art not merely as a pursuit, but as the language through which she interprets and experiences the world.
Since childhood, Dalia has been drawn to the expressive power of visual art, even when it was dismissed as a hobby rather than a serious pursuit. Her work is rooted in transforming emotion and lived experience into immersive abstract canvases that invite you to feel rather than simply observe.
Her recent projects have grown organically from moments of deep introspection: “I didn’t plan to create a collection. I just kept painting whenever I felt something I couldn’t put into words. Over time, the pieces started to come together and reflect something deeper.”
Today, her work is gaining recognition for its ability to bridge the personal and the universal, evoking timeless human emotions through abstract form.
Dalia Raduca - Portrait
ARTIST STATEMENT
Dalia Raduca has always been drawn to the artistic side of the world; the details, the textures, the beauty in things. She channels that energy into her art, aiming to transmit feeling rather than perfection or explanation. She wants people to connect with the raw, instinctive energy behind each piece. To feel something, even if they can’t name it. Her work isn’t about understanding, it’s about sensing. About being moved by colour, contrast,
light, and silence. If there’s one thing she hopes to share with the others, it’s that emotion has form. That vulnerability can be powerful. And that beauty exists in the things we don’t control.
PHAEDRA, Acrylic On Canvas and GoldFoil, 81x116 cm, 2024 © Dalia Raduca
La Collection Dorée
I didn’t plan to create a collection. I just kept painting whenever I felt something I couldn’t put into words. Over time, the pieces started to come together and reflect something deeper. That’s how this project started to take shape. The gold collection reveals my bold, elegant side with raw emotion layered with softness and strength
INTERVIEW
You grew up in Romania and later moved to Barcelona. How have these different places shaped your artistic journey?
Growing up in Romania, I was shaped by a culture still influenced a bit by the communist period: structured, disciplined, and somehow reserved. This environment gave me resilience and strength, but it also meant that self-expression wasn’t encouraged in the first place. I learned the value of reflection, patience, and building strong foundations for my artwork, which became a core part of my artistic approach.
Barcelona, in contrast, introduced me to freedom and spontaneity. The city’s openness, energy, and creativity inspired me to let go of strict rules and experiment without fear. Living here as a local showed me how to combine the discipline I inherited from Romania with emotional expression and the freedom of creativity that I discovered here.
During your studies, you stepped away from painting for a while. What helped you reconnect with your creative voice in Barcelona?
At some point, I stopped painting as I wanted to focus more on my studies and also because I couldn’t find my inspiration.
When I finally moved to Barcelona, it wasn’t just by chance; every time I visited the city with my family, I felt an inexplicable connection, as if the city was calling me. By experiencing Barcelona as a local rather than a tourist, I discovered the incredible sense of freedom the city gave me: people were open, expressive, and spontaneous. My family also played a big role in shaping me; growing up with their love of travel opened me to new perspectives and ways of seeing the world.
When I started painting again, I didn’t even think of focusing on a project; I painted whenever emotions became too strong to put into words. Slowly, the pieces started to connect, and it felt like the city itself was guiding me back to my own voice.
NUIT D’OR, Acrylic On Canvas and Gold Foil, 97 x 130 cm, 2024 © Dalia Raduca
What drew you to abstract painting as your chosen medium of expression?
Since childhood, I explored different types of painting, but I was always most drawn to the abstract one. It gave me a sense of freedom I didn’t feel in other styles, such as the ability to express my emotions and my ideas that words can’t capture. Abstract painting lets me focus on feeling, movement, and colour, and just see where it takes me.
Can you describe your creative process? How do you move from emotion to canvas?
Sometimes it’s difficult to find inspiration. I need to feel something before I can start painting. I don’t just wake up and decide, “Let’s paint.” That’s what makes it art; it comes from feeling, not routine. Once I have that spark, I let the emotion guide me. I never start with a plan. Whenever I begin a painting, I need to be alone; it’s the only way I can truly connect with the canvas and let my emotions flow.
Your work emphasises feeling over explanation. What role do emotion and instinct play in your practice?
Emotion and instinct are essential. Artists are often misunderstood; people see abstract art and think, “Oh, it looks so simple, I could do that too.” But it’s not like that. First and foremost, we artists are guided by emotion, and that’s how my artworks take shape. That’s also why, whenever I finish a painting, I let the viewer interpret it however they want. It’s purely art: it’s a reflection of feeling, not an explanation.
BLEU INFINI, Acrylic On Canvas and Gold Foil, 89 x 116 cm, 2023 © Dalia Raduca
ISIS, Acrylic On Canvas and Gold Foil, 97x130 cm, 2025 © Dalia Raduca
La Collection Dorée grew organically rather than being planned. What does this body of work mean to you personally?
La Collection Dorée is the collection I feel most connected to. I started it when I moved to Barcelona, painting by painting, without thinking I would end up creating a full collection. It truly embodies my soul and the way I am: soft, intuitive, and deeply reflective. It reconnected me with my passion for painting and reminded me why I create. Every piece expresses a part of me, my emotions, and my inner world. Creating it felt like coming home to myself as an artist.
The use of gold in this collection reflects both elegance and strength. How did you choose this palette, and what does it symbolise for you?
Gold has always fascinated me as it feels timeless, elegant, and at the same time, powerful. For La Collection Dorée, I used it because it reflects the emotions I wanted to capture: elegance, energy, and a quiet kind of strength. Gold lets me bring light into my artworks and gives them presence. It’s a feeling, a way to express confidence, resilience, and the richness of emotion behind my work.
You often speak about beauty in vulnerability. How do you translate that idea into your paintings?
For me, vulnerability is where true emotion lives, and that’s what I try to capture in my work. I let myself feel the fragile, raw, and sometimes messy parts of being human, and I let those emotions guide my brush. It’s not about perfection; it’s about honesty. Through my artworks, I try to show that there is beauty in openness, in being real, and in embracing our emotions without hiding them.
BLOOM, Acrylic On Canvas and Gold Foil, 89x116 cm, 2024 © Dalia Raduca
When viewers encounter your work, what kind of experience or connection do you hope they take away?
I hope that when people see my work, they feel something, even if they can’t put it into words. I want them to connect with the emotions behind each piece, to feel the energy and the vulnerability that guided it. I love showing people my artworks and hearing their opinions; why they connect with a particular piece and how it makes them feel. I like leaving space for personal interpretation because each viewer brings their own experiences, and that is what makes the connection unique. For me, the most important thing is that my work evokes feelings and invites people to reflect or even see a part of themselves in it.
Lastly, looking ahead, what projects or artistic directions are you most excited to explore in the future?
What excites me most is the unknown. I don’t want to force my art into a fixed path; I just want to see where it takes me.Recently, I started another collection, a colourful one without gold, and it’s completely different from La Collection Dorée, but I’m still working on it, giving it direction and shape, seeing where it wants to go. I also want to experiment with new techniques and materials, to push my practice and see how far intuition and feeling can take me. Last, I want to keep growing as an artist and create work that feels honest, alive, and full of emotion.
Artist’s Talk
Al-Tiba9 Interviews is a promotional platform for artists to articulate their vision and engage them with our diverse readership through a published art dialogue. The artists are interviewed by Mohamed Benhadj, the founder & curator of Al-Tiba9, to highlight their artistic careers and introduce them to the international contemporary art scene across our vast network of museums, galleries, art professionals, art dealers, collectors, and art lovers across the globe.
