ION BARBU was born on July 6, 1953, in Petroșani. He is a visual artist, member of the Union of Visual Artists in Romania. He has participated as an artist in over 400 national and international exhibitions, at which he has won over 50 awards. He is decorated with the National Order “Star of Romania” in the Degree of Knight “for outstanding artistic achievements and for the promotion of Romanian culture”. He initially distinguished himself as a caricaturist, being considered the most important contemporary Romanian author in this field. Out of his many awards, more than half (over 25) have been awarded in international countries, such as Italy, France, Belgium, Turkey, Serbia, Switzerland, Brazil, Japan and Korea. Dozens of international exhibitions featuring his works have also been organized in Great Britain, USA, Italy, Macedonia, Turkey, Luxembourg, Bulgaria and so on.

His cartoons were featured in dailies such as Adevărul, România liberă (1993-1995), Evenimentul zilei, Ziua (since 1995), as well as in weekly publications such as Academia Cațavencu (since 1994), Suplementul de Cultura (since 2004) and Dilema Veche (since 1998). His cartoons and drawings have also been published in numerous newspapers and magazines abroad, including: La Repubblica (Italy), Szpilky (Poland), Ludas Maty (Hungary), Witty World (USA), Stîrșel, Apropos (Bulgaria), Hurriet, Mylliet, Cumhurriet (Turkey) etc.