Romanian artist was tramp on the streets of Bucharest

Ion Barladeanu is on his way to becoming an important contemporary artist, but in May 2008 he was still an anonymus tramp on the streets of Bucharest. PR PIC Photograph: PR handout His collages are being hailed as politically brave and culturally irreverent Photograph: PR handout Photograph: guardian.co.uk He created many of his collages from scraps of discarded magazines during and after the Communist regime of Nicolae Ceausescu Photograph: PR handout Photograph: guardian.co.uk Barledeanu describes himself as a 'director' of his own films and considers each collage to be a movie in itself Photograph: PR handout Photograph: guardian.co.uk While many are light-hearted, others are darker, infused with black humour Photograph: PR handout Photograph: guardian.co.uk 'Now I feel like a prince, says Barladeanu. A pauper can become a prince. But he can go back to being a pauper too.' Photograph: PR handout Photograph: guardian.co.uk