Nemo

Born in 1968 in Chisinau, Moldova, Nemo grew up in a nearby village with his grandfather, a barrel maker. Surrounded by church carvings, major art museums, and Stalinist architecture, he developed an early appreciation for art.

As a teenager, he worked in a refrigerator factory while studying at the Moscow Peoples University of Art (now the Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts). Feeling constrained by the academic structure, he left after his third year to travel across Moldova and refine his painting skills.

Nemo held his first exhibition in 1987, earning strong reviews and a Best in Show award at the Moscow International Exhibition. The next year, he served two mandatory years in the Soviet Army, after which he worked in icon restoration for churches in Moldova and Romania.

In 1999, Nemo immigrated to Canada with his wife and son, settling in the Niagara region. He later travelled extensively across North America, the U.K., and France, exhibiting his work internationally.

Nemo employs a variety of mediums when he produces a work of art, which is given the underwhelming label of “Mixed Media” while in actuality he makes use of photographs, drawings, acrylic, fabric, paper, acrylic gel, liquid gel, and in some cases epoxy.