EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW Cristian Buca: Gay is a strong and defining word

Cristian Buca is a young Romanian artist, only 23 years old, creator of a lot of masterpieces, amazing transformations in which the freedom of his spirit is present in every single small piece of it. Cristian plays with an open attitude and a child like curiosity, a child that discovers the world with sensitivity, and from all this play, beautiful things are born.

He is modest, he prefers to stay behind his works, let them talk about his talent. But he is very careful with everything that surrounds him.

All started by playing, passionate and curious, and if at the beginning he described himself as a nail stylist, in time, he became make-up artist, model, and recently, fashion designer.

His latest creation made a lot of controversies in Romanian media, the national costume gown designed and worn by Miss Universe Romania.

So, a free spirit, a bohemian, Cristian Buca accepted to talk exclusively with StiriGay.ro about him, about his career and a bit about his private life. We were attracted to what he worked, we are proud of him as we want to be proud with other Romanian gay values, that are a lot.

At what age did you discovered your passion and what made you develop it into art?

Since I was a little boy I loved colors and strange mixes that I made with them. Later, I discovered lines and shapes so I loved painting. As any child, I was a fan of painting and coloring. My parents, some open minded people, had the initiative and worked hard to develop my artistic skills to the max. At 11, 11 and a half, I started experimenting some new colors, the cosmetic ones that I discovered in my mother's closet. When they saw it was a serious thing, my parents said that it's ok to start a very basic make-up training, something that was fit to my understanding at that age. So, like that, from painting to make-up was just a step.

But what steps did you have to make in order to become what you are now? How about sacrifices?

I worked a lot. I was and I am still very conscious, consistent and persevering, and all of that because I wanted and I want still to offer the highest quality standards. As for sacrifices, I don't know if I could name it like that, but the countless number of hours of study that left me with less or sometimes without time to live my childhood.

What do you recommend to a young man who wants to become a stylist?

I don't think there is a secret recipe or some steps to follow. It only needs to desire that, to work and study, and a lot of practice, anytime you have the opportunity. Practice, in my case, meant to make-up every single day. I was looking in the magazines , I saw a new technique or a new trick and after I tried to did them on my own. Through exercise you create and develop your own style and your artistic personality. In the end, only these two make us unique whether we are make-up artists, designers , hair dressers, etc.

What do you prefer the most: working in TV or creating in the fashion industry?

I love them both so much, although they are so different. In fashion you are free to create and put into practice any dumb and fool thing possible, you can do the strangest mixes of shapes and colors. In TV, everything is so severe and exact. You can play only between some limited and very well shaped lines.

What do you like most in your work?

There are more things that I love when it comes to my work. First of all, I feel the freest person on the planet. That moment, when I do make-up is a special one, filled with love, freedom and purity. I feel like I am one person with the color, with the pigment that I use... It's my moment of absolute freedom.

What do you think about Romanian teens? Do they know how to value their youth?

Teens, generally, not only in Romania, have the tendency to take things to the extreme. They care about their look as we all are trying, through different ways and techniques. As for make-up, I think that they are exaggerating a bit. Too many times I see girls trying to be seen by using strong, violent, tasteless make-up. On day to day basis I believe that natural look is a "must have".

Where do you like to work? Some place you dream to, anywhere on this planet?

I want to believe that my place is between the stars and when I say that I refer to Hollywood, USA. That's the place I hardly wish to work. In the mean time, I am pretty sure that I could do a great job in a circus such as Cirque du Soleil. It's a great challenge for any make-up artist to work with so many and various theme make-ups as in the circus world. There you can use and exploit to the max your imagination and creativity because of the variety of shows and characters.

Can you tell us the most interesting or funny moment that you lived while doing make-up for a star?

I have a most strange place to do a make-up, a gas station near the sea. I was on vacation and I was pretty sure that I will not doing make-up during that time. Totally wrong! On a Saturday evening, a star friend of mine called and asked me so nicely to help her with a make-up because she had an event that evening and hadn't time to prepare herself before leaving Bucharest. So I took all the make-up products I had with me just in case (it were just a few) and I left the resort where I was staying, going to Constanta where her event was scheduled. One hour later I was doing a make-up at a table, in open air, in a gas station, at night, at cold neon lamp light. People who saw us were shocked but it was a crisis situation so we had to act quickly and efficiently.

Tell us something about your much media focused experience at Miss Universe, Romanian selection.

Let me tell you how I started working for Miss Universe. For two years, I am working as a make-up artist at the National Television, where I met Valentina Ionescu (Producer and Host at Miss Universe Romanian Selection). Later, we become friends and I was her personal make-up artist.

She also has a show on National Television - International Channel and I was doing her a make-up for that show when she told me about Miss Universe project and asked me if I would be interested to work for it. I had no hesitation and I said yes right away. I knew that in Romania, Miss Universe was canceled since 1998 so I thought that a new beginning will be a new experience for me, full of positive energy. That's it.

In my first year there, 2009, I did only make-up but at this year's edition, Valentina who knew my passion for painting asked me if I want to design the 30 gowns for the national costume parade. Miss Universe is like a vice, in a positive manner, so when you started, you'll never stop.

So, when she asked me, I thought that was the biggest challenge I faced by then so it worth trying. More than three months passed since I started doing research till I finished all 30 sketches, from November 2009 till February 2010.

After the approval of the sketches made by the Artistic Director of the show, Liliana Iordanescu and Valentina, Producer and Host, we started searching people to do the gowns physically. It was more complicated than we thought because everyone who saw the sketches said that the gowns are impossible to be made. Only one person tried to made them, Anca Maxim, designer at Maximum Chic Fashion House. I can say that this beautiful costume is the result of our perfect partnership.

Now, let's talk a bit about you. How do you perceive gay life in Romania?

No matter how much we, the Romanians, pretend that we accept diversity, we don't have or we don't want to access more information about sexual diversity. I think that everyone of us is free to make his own choices as long as it doesn't offend the persons around him. People are afraid of the unknown and instead of being curious or doing research, they choose to denial, to hate and to be brutal. We have more to learn about this subject but I am positive that very soon all this fake beliefs about homosexuality will disappear.

Does your sexual orientation jeopardized your career?

I think I couldn't do this work if I weren't gay. It's a domain where you need the sharp but sensitive eye of a gay person.

Are you living alone or are you involved in a relationship?

For the moment, I am alone, I have no relationship.

A few words for our readers, in the end?

Gay is a strong and defining word. Try to be natural and let people see you for who you really are because only having this attitude we will manage to change something in the mind of the persons that are so afraid of the unknown.

Even if you are not famous, even if you didn't made something special, you are one of us. We are waiting for an e-mail in which you'll tell us something about you, about how's to be gay in Romania. Your story will be published in our section, Be gay in Romania. Read more here.