Working with nature to create stunning art: this is David Popa’s commitment. “I am always surprised by the way nature ends up working its own magic into the piece and how a merely cool idea begins to form into a much deeper expression that I could have never anticipated.” The artist’s latest challenge: creating charcoal portraits on ice floes in Finland’s freezing ocean. Despite having to swim over a hundred feet out to sea, carrying his equipment in watertight bags, and despite the time limitation, David Popa fully enjoys the adrenaline that accompanies working with such an imposing medium as nature, and “the idea of creating a work on a moving canvas that could change at any moment.” Popa is clearly passionate about incorporating the natural world into his art. After having previously worked with massive rock formations to create incredible “Earth murals” he found that ice makes for the perfect painting surface. The title of his latest collection, “Fractured,” symbolizes more than just his medium: “The portraits are cracked and fractured yet still hold beauty — much like our lived reality,” the New York native said.

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