The Surrealism Website
Raceanu Mihai (Ishyndar) (1976-)


Raceanu Mihai Adrian was born in 1976, in a town called Constanta, Romania. In 1996 he moved with his parents to a smaller town called Navodari, also by the sea.
He began painting at the age of fourteen, starting with landscapes and religious icons, then paintings inspired by H.R. Giger and finally Salvador Dali. He is a self-taught painter and created his individual surreal style. He used the name 'Ishyndar' when he initially presented his works to the world on the Deviantart website. He has created over 350 paintings, many of which are now in private collections in U.S.A., Canada, Austria, Italy, Germany, France, Belgium, Macau-China and Romania.
He has also created paintings for three churches: St. Constantin si Elena in Constanta, the Church of the Marine Institute in Constanta and a series of 13 icons for the Catholic Church in Navodari. His paintings are inspired by everything that is around him: the name of a song or a movie, an image, a dream. Often before he falls asleep, he closes his eyes and the image of a painting starts to come to life. Next day, he puts himself in front of a canvas and starts painting what he saw.
He works exclusively in oil paint on canvas.