Ionel Talpazan was born in Petrekioaia, Romania, in 1955. He was raised by
foster
parents in a rural village of Miineasca. When he was eight years of age,
playing in the woods near his village, he was surrounded by a beam of blue
energy from a gigantic flying saucer.
He escaped to the West in 1987 by swimming the Danube River during the night. For a time he stayed in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. He was recognized as a political refugee and allowed to emigrate to the United States.
He came to New York City and worked as a street vendor. He now lives in an
apartment on the upper west side of the city. His walls are covered
floor to ceiling with images he has drawn of flying saucers.
Since that childhood experience Talpazan has drawn lots of UFO's. Many
of his drawings are cut-away diagrams of flying saucers, with elaborate
details of their insides, and particular attention to the propulsion
systems. Energy flow patterns, power plants, and discharge points are all
carefully laid out in beautiful colors.
Other works of Talpazan's include paintings of outer space scenes.
Some have a single UFO taking off from a planet's surface, others
detail many saucers apparently involved in a war or flying into
some sort of worm hole in space. Some paintings depict many planets
and galaxies.
His paintings and drawings often have writing describing the details of
the picture. All of his works are signed and dated, including the actual
day, month and year, as well as where they were created. His flat works
often have a unique scene depicting the Statue of
Liberty with flying saucers printed on the back or a
hand print in earlier
works to insure their authenticity.
Talpazan is currently working on a huge plaster saucer. It takes up a
significant part of his livingroom/studio. He has also made flying saucer
sculptures, some about fifteen inches in diameter, and six inches tall,
and smaller ones with twelve inch tall pedestals about six inches in
diameter. The plaster is relief carved with lines and other details, and
then painted. Some of the small saucers are decorated with costume
jewels.
The first public attention brought to Talpazan was when Jay Tobler
discovered him
selling work along the sidewalk by Central Park. Tobler wrote an article
titled, "Ionel Talpazan: Traveler in Space", which
was published by Folk
Messenger Magazine in the Spring 1990 issue. Since
that time
Talpazan has been written up in many publications, including the New York
Times, Wired Magazine, and been on television several times.
