First published: Summer 2021
The self-taught visionary artist Ionel Talpazan (1955–2015) is recognised internationally for his fascination with the mysteries of the cosmos and his depictions of spaceships and otherworldly technology. Talpazan’s all-consuming obsession with extraterrestrial engineering and alien life was triggered by a transformative experience he had as a child in rural Romania.
UFOs–Dedicat for Peace, 1999, poster paint, marker, pencil and ink on paper, 28 x 22 in. / 71 x 56 cm, photo: James Wojcik, private collection
When he was eight years old, he escaped a beating by his abusive foster mother by running away and sleeping in a ditch in a field. He maintained that, at some point during the night, he was engulfed by a swirling “blue light of energy” that he later came to believe was from a flying saucer. Talpazan said that his life’s purpose, his visions and his art were determined by that encounter, and that he was compelled to “sacrifice his life to the UFO”.
by Daniel Wojcik
This is an article extract; read the full article in Raw Vision #108