Bogdan Nueleanu - ”Touched by Light”

``Touched by the Light``

The work ``Touched by the Light``, signed by sculptor Bogdan Nueleanu, proposes a deeply emotional and symbolic interpretation of an emblematic episode from the New Testament: the healing of the man blind from birth by Jesus Christ. The biblical moment is reimagined in a modern plastic key, with a chaotic but extremely expressive sculptural language, which captures the profound astonishment of man confronted, for the first time, with light but also with the divine presence. In this three-dimensional composition, "Light" is not only a physical reality, but becomes the symbol of divine revelation. The central portrait of the character perfectly reflects this overwhelming encounter with the Light of the World - as the Savior is often called. The wide-open eyes, caught in a gesture of pure astonishment, are the visual and emotional center of gravity of the work. The gaze thus becomes the gateway between the unseen and the seen, between ignorance and revelation, between inner darkness and the light of grace. The chosen material – welded and patinated stainless steel through enclosure, contributes essentially to the expressive character of the work. Nueleanu uses leftover stainless steel, fragments apparently worthless, which he recomposes in a coherent and spiritual form. This choice emphasizes the idea of ​​“resurrection”, of reconfiguring what was “useless” into a creation with meaning and vibration. The patination adds a subtle play of reflections that, in contact with real light, seems to pulsate, evoking the mystical moment of regaining sight.

Another essential component is the metal drapery, which envelops the character’s head. Made of hammered sheet metal, it seems to float in a graceful, almost levitative movement, amplifying the spiritual tension of the work. Although the sculpture is “coreless”, that is, it does not have a compact inner mass, it remains legible from any angle. The gaps between the metal fragments allow light to penetrate, completing the composition through the active participation of the viewer, who is invited to imagine what is missing. The black granite base elegantly contrasts with the living and iridescent material of the sculpture, emphasizing the solemnity of the moment represented. It is a choice that fixes the work in space, but also in memory – as a testimony of the miracle and the rediscovery of meaning. Thus, “Touched by Light” becomes a visual meditation on revelation, a story about the rediscovery of the world through grace and about the ability of art to render the unseen. Through his unique technique and emotional intensity, Bogdan Nueleanu creates a work that is not only seen, but also felt.

About the artist

Born in 1978 in Săulești, Gorj County, Bogdan Nueleanu grew up near the works of the great sculptor Constantin Brâncuși, located in Târgu Jiu, works that exerted a strong influence on him, instilling in his heart the desire to become an artist. He began his artistic studies by enrolling at the School of Arts in Timișoara, where he chose to study sculpture. Immediately after graduation, he became a student at the “Constantin Brâncuși” University in Târgu Jiu, which he left shortly after admission, leaving for Greece, where he became familiar with the welding technique. After a period of five years spent in sunny Greece, he decided to return to the country and became a student of the painting department of the Faculty of Fine Arts of the West University of Timișoara. Here, studying Picasso, he became acquainted with the sculpture made through the welding technique, whose founding fathers are Pablo Picasso and Julio González.
He describes this experience as revelatory and decides to follow the master's courses in sculpture at the same university. The influences of Brâncuși's works, felt since childhood, along with those of the proto-fathers of welded sculpture, with whom Nueleanu identifies through the prism of his love for sculpture and the industrial experience accumulated in Greece, speak for themselves, Bogdan Nueleanu representing a true standard in terms of welded sculpture.
Bogdan Nueleanu is currently a doctoral student at the Faculty of Fine Arts and Design in Timișoara, where he is conducting detailed research on the agglutination of different types of metals in welded sculpture. He is a member of the Union of Visual Artists of Romania, Timișoara branch, since 2010. His artistic activity includes numerous exhibitions, both in the country and abroad, and he has been awarded several prizes, including: the Youth Prize of the Union of Visual Artists, at the Annual Visual Arts Salon (2012), the "Pro Cultura Timișiensis" Prize (2013), awarded by the Timiș County Council, the Diploma of Excellence for Sculpture (2016), from the Union of Visual Artists, Timișoara branch, and in 2017 he was awarded the Diploma of Excellence for merits in promoting culture, awarded by the Timișoara City Hall. Bogdan Nueleanu chooses metal as his working material, being attracted by the chromatic valences it possesses and, in this spirit, he creates a series of associations between different types of metals, thus marking a new beginning, in which metal is not only a raw material through which the artist preserves the work, but also a means of artistic expression, through which feelings seem to come to life with the chromaticism of the metals. Thus, we encounter in his works, rusty metals, as a trace of the time passed over them, but also shiny metals, which reflect the environment, capturing the vibrations of the moment, as well as chromatically highlighted metals, emphasizing the painterly side of the artist. He often fuses different metals, such as bronze and iron, using the lost wax method or with the help of welding in a protective gas environment, creating works characterized both by the muted chromaticism of the metals and by a dripping of the texture, a fluid state through which the metal passes on its way to eternity. The artist's works fall, without a doubt, into the series of searches in the field of metals with different properties and characteristics and represent the embodiment of the effort made to highlight the chromatic valences of the noblest metals used in sculpture.