Andrei-Bogdan Stoenescu is a Romanian photographer who collects and seeks moments the way a treasure hunter searches for jewels.
Catching sincere fragments of individual life is a fundamental theme of Stoenescu’s art. In his own words: “I believe that photography, the best kind, doesn’t want to be photography. It wants and it struggles to (…) become a real part of human nature—representing (…) moments that will never be again.”
He captures the essence of contemplative solitude, as well as tender company. The balance drawn from this duality of human experience is woven through Steoenescu’s photography. This way, he can show the immense and unquestionable value of both.
Some find escape in the warm embrace of another person, some in the vast emptiness of nature. Both kinds of moments are beautifully captured in his photographs. An internal, almost obsessive drive to funnel meaning into each shot makes the photographer reflect on his own life as if it were a slideshow.
Stoenescu has a keen eye for the wanderlust, identifying actively as it happens, and successfully trapping it in rich, storytelling snapshots. An amalgam of intimacy, warmth, and desire to connect are some of the ideas that come alive in almost each of his artworks.
The general sense the artist has is that photography can, above all things, be used as an instrument to capture time. “[Photography] reaches out to people when viewed and holds its breath,” he says, “as we do sometimes to stop time when something wonderful has touched us.”
Read our “Focus” issue in full
Our August issue features 17 visual artists, photographers, and poets whose work taught us about relentlessness, resilience, and clarity. “Focus” became the chosen theme for this last month of summer.
We’re a team of writers using our craft to spotlight art in its most honest form. RAWGUE. started as a bi-monthly editorial experiment where each issue’s theme is dictated by the submitted work, thus removing editorial bias from the equation and preserving a more raw approach. We focus on all forms of poetry: written, photographed, painted, drawn, and filmed.
