NELU GRADEANU , iconografo rumeno

NELU GRADEANU , iconografo rumeno

 

The painter Nelu Gradeanu has borned in Barlad, Vaslui county, Romania, on 16th of April 1969. He has been studying monumental painting, for some years, with Vasile Caraman and Gheorghe Raducanu under Romanian Patriarchy guidance. His speciality is wall painting and restauration.

"The orthodox icon is two-dimentional not 3D, while the essence of Nelu Gradeanu’s icons is the grace, the divine grace and the inverse perspective of the icon, that is to say the figure is orientated towards the onlooker, towards us, as the psalmist recalls: ”Show Your face, God, and come to redeem us, bring down the skies and come to us!” Saint John’s look has this appearance between the desire of salvation and craving for punishment; this is a revengeful look, sharp and keen, which will save the humanity." Priest and Professor Constantin Galeriu

"Nelu Gradeanu’s brush, inspired at the same time by the confession of faith and by the vibration of colour, brightly expresses an equilibrium of wisdom between feeling and feelings, between repose and thrill. Poetry is the house of God and the icon is the soul inside." GH. CIOBANU

"Related to Gradeanu’s art, who is an exceptional painter of icons, I want to underline two dimensions: first he observes the Byzantine canons and second he is a painter of easel, a painter of heathen themes which nevertheless perfectly suit the icon. I don’t think that we should judge Nelu Gradeanu’s art according to only these compositions. He takes certain liberties from the canons, and from the Byzantine erminies, which not even Grigorescu has observed when he painted Agapia Monastery. I look at these works of art happy to see both icons and paintings in them. Thus, we would like to see in these paintings what has remained in our emotional and visual memory since our childhood."

"Every good Christian had one or more icons in his house and we always refer to the icons we used to pray to when we were kids, when we had learnt how to make the sign of cross for the first time. I think that what is actually happening in Nelu Gradeanu’s art is something very beautiful. There is the sacred which makes us turn to ourselves, to our inner nature and there is also the liberty the artist gives us so as to see his works as paintings. This is an innovation, something that I’ve never heard of with any other painter, and I think the result will be both the artist’s satisfaction and our endless joy. If the religious art is situated at the frontier between art and religion, Nelu Gradeanu’s iconographical creation is between these two, between the aesthetics of sacred experiences and the aesthetics of life itself. In his creation we can detect the metaphysical everlasting truth and the thrills of evolution."
Prof. Gh Ciobanu

Nelu Gradeanu was productively and seriously apprenticed under the guidance of his professor Caraman working hard in the decoration of some religious dwellings. As a student of the Religious Painting School within the Romanian Patriarchy, NG assimilated wide artistic knowledge, his mentor being Master GH RADUCANU. 

Personal art exhibitions: Bãrlad, Iasi, Bucuresti, Ipotesti, Suceava, Vaslui, London
Painted churches: Popeni, “Transfiguration” Monastery from Husi, Coroiesti, Ciurea, Spiridon from Barlad, Vladimiresti 

The artist’s paintings can be found in the personal collections of:  P.S.IOACHIM AL HUSILOR, P.S.CORNELIU BÂRLÃDEANU, ACD. RÃZVAN THEODORESCU, TRAIAN BÃSESCU, CAROL DANIEL - ENGLAND, FRANCESCO SCALI – ITALY, CRISTEL VIISER– HOLLAND, DR. CONSTANTIN TEODORESCU, VALENTIN CIUCÃ, DUMITRU PRUNARIU, THE LITERATURE MUSEUM - IASI, THE ART MUSEUM – ROMAN, FATHER GALERIU, ADRIAN PORUMBOIU; lovers of icons and portraits from USA, Japan, Italy, Germany, England, Austria, Holland, Romania, Greece.

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Fonte : www.nelugradeanu.com