Making his Penn State debut, Mihail Tomescu brings his large-scale paintings, titled Ruminating a Mythology Now, to the Zoller Gallery for the Masters of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition.

Tomescu first arrived at Penn State from Transylvania, Romania, in January 2004. In the past three years, he has balanced his duties as a teacher while creating his thesis project.

Tomescu said his work incorporates his interest in mythology into large oil canvas paintings. His exhibition also includes smaller drawings, which he created when he first came to the university and lacked the money for professional art supplies.

He added that he wanted to merge the theme of mythology into his own story while incorporating his background and culture. All of his paintings are related to his daily experiences.

"I put myself in the story," Tomescu said. "Now is the best time to express myself because of Penn State's resources."

Art professor Robert Yarber worked for two years as Tomescu's adviser, supervising his work along with six other master of fine arts (MFA) students.

"Technically, he is incredibly skilled," Yarber said. "He has a great sense of composition and a great story to tell."

MFA students are required to complete a thesis project to graduate. Zoller Gallery coordinator Michelle Tillander said the project is an intense process. She said the Zoller Gallery is a "learning laboratory."

"It is not considered a space with four walls," Tillander said. "The learning is all about successes as well as failures."

Students normally pair up to display their work though Tomescu is doing a solo exhibition due to the amount of space his work occupies in the gallery itself.

Designing the presentation of the pieces is also a requirement for MFA students.

Tomescu arranged the gallery walls in a maze-like formation to take the audience on a journey as they pass though the exhibit.

Despite the limitations of a two-dimensional painting, Tomescu said he wants to express the element of time while creating depth and space in his work, like chapters in a book.

"I hope everyone can discover a story in my art," Tomescu said.

Tomescu said he worked as an apprentice art teacher in Romania, an experience that inspired him to come to Penn State and strike out on his own. He has taught undergraduate classes every semester since he's been here.

After completing his thesis, he visited a number of undergraduate art classes to field questions from students and talk about the process behind his work.

Courtney Noonan (junior-art) had the opportunity to interact with Tomescu when he visited her class. She commented on the his use of organic shapes in contrast with sharp, energetic lines.

"His art has shimmering quality and an amazing color palette," Noonan said.

In some of Tomescu's pieces, he subtly adds the image of his own face to identify with his feeling of living between two different worlds. He said it is difficult to find his own roots in this industrialized country.

"You can't change your identity," Tomescu said.