Nora Neagoe is a RomaniaN artist. She graduated with a Bachelor’s in painting and printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University, in the United States. Her work has been shown in multiple group shows in Romania, Shanghai, the United States, and London. Her first solo show was in 2019, in Richmond, Virginia, United States. She was part of the digital group show of the graduating year of 2020 of Virginia Commonwealth’s University School of Art. One of her paintings was featured in the exhibition “Colour Boom” at Boomer Gallery in London in 2020. She also took part in the group show “Coping in Colour” at RuptureXIBIT, in London in 2021. Nora is currently completing her Master's at the Royal College of Art in painting.
Nora's practice revolves around the idea of beauty in social media. The concept started with an interest in surveillance, and how this impacts our world now, which automatically led her to social media. She focuses on beauty standards in women, as they are the most affected by surveillance, control and invasion of privacy. Nora started this representation by thinking of fish eye views and peepholes. In the paintings, the heads are shown as bigger in the foreground and the bodies smaller in the background. Bringing discomfort to the viewer, the figures look innocent but also wanting the attention of the viewer, through warm and pastel colors, that represent the purity of the bodies. The figures look as if they will step out of the canvas, invading the privacy of others.
In her latest work, she is focusing more on the high heels and legs of women, as they are seen as the etiquette of femininity. The bodies look distorted, mimicking the effect of filters on social media, where we see different versions of people. Nora uses suede and leather pieces on her paintings, sewing them onto the canvas, challenging herself to work with mixed media. Thinking of desire and innocence, she uses mostly pastel colors, but also more striking colors such as green, magenta and cobalt blue.