Bogdan Florea, the artist who found ideas and essences in wood

I recently met, hidden away in an economics graduate of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, an amateur plastic artist in love with wood. In fact, I didn't discover him, but he discovered himself, this year letting out that feeling that he has felt inside him since he was a child. And seeing his work, I understand why he chose this path. This is Bogdan Florea, or Bogdan Myart as he is known online, a sensitive and talented young man from Craiova.

Inherited sensitivity

Bogdan and his brother Alexandru set up a Facebook page this year - UnicaArt - where they exhibit their work. The two brothers were born in Timisoara, a year apart (1983 and 1984), but now live in Craiova. Bogdan, the older brother, although he graduated with a degree in Finance and Banking, felt that this was not the path that was chosen for him.

I would also have liked this path of finance for the image, perhaps, because I didn't feel it would bring me peace and fulfillment. I didn't see what I could do to bring a smile, a gleam, a twinkle, a flicker to man. You see, there's something beyond us. We're not born absolutely naked. From our parents, hereditarily, we inherit something, and the Divine Majesty sows something in us, that something that tells you, guides you somehow through a higher sensitivity than usual, I think.

Bogdan says they were both drawn to this side of beauty and skill from an early age. They loved to embellish their toys with lights and led lights, making different animals or vases out of clay, drawing or painting on pieces of paper or wood.

First exhibition

Growing up, these artistic inclinations remained hidden for a while behind practical things, behind the idea of finding a job that would help him to support himself, to have a certain image in the world. But the inclinations one is born with cannot be erased. That smoldering fire may be hidden for a while in the ashes, but all it takes is a gust of wind to ignite the smoldering fire. A few such "blades of wind" have been around since 2013, but only this year came the decisive one.

This is how the exhibition at the Traian Demetrescu House of Culture in Craiova, from June 6, 2016, called "Ideas and Essences". The exhibition included works representing facts and feelings experienced, in one way or another, by the 2 brothers.

Also this year, in the week dedicated to the poet Traian Demetrescu- Tradem, from November 01-05, Bogdan participated with 4 works inspired by the poet. These are the poems Zdrențurosul, Magdalena, Due Drumuri and Iluzia din urmă, for which he found an equivalent in another art form.

Two roads

Combining the artistic and the useful

Many of the works are not only works of art, but also light fittings or decorative objects. In fact, the artistic message is a whole. I asked Bogdan about this message and how they are realized, whether he gets help to realize the electrical part for example.

Works only have meaning if they are thought about before they are created, they are brought into existence in order to be known by the persons for whom they are created. In practice, a dialog takes place, through the works, between the one who created them and other persons.

The works are 100% personal, not out of vanity but from the simple fact that the creator knows where he is starting from and where he is going. He knows what he wants to express through his works, he knows that something and the intensity of that something that made him tremble.

Bogdan realizes both abstract and minimalist sculptures as well as works that fall under functional art (lighting objects). He has also made decorative and interior design objects in various visual media.

Wood - a wellspring of stories

Ideas for works come all the time, but there isn't always time or financial support for all of them. It's often hard, but she says that's the interesting part, that when it's hard, you don't give up. He told me that he often forgets to eat too, thinking about how to find a material expression as close as possible to what that idea was in his mind.

He uses all kinds of wood for his works. The wood is finished with beeswax or olive oil. Sometimes he also uses balsams and, when necessary, varnishes to protect the work.

"Wood has a story, it carries within it a charge, a warmth, and if you know how to get close to it, you will discover a true source of stories, a true friend, but it is a friend that often tries your patience."

Sensitive, devoted, artistic

I asked Bogdan how he would describe himself in 3 words.

Sensitive - probably more sensitive than some people. Devoted and dedicated to what I do, sometimes to the point of obsessiveness. Artist, but not in the bragging sense, no art studies, no accomplishments. Artist in being, with a trepidation to things and issues that many people generally don't react to.

Bogdan does not stop searching for his way, searching for himself in the crowd of "self" that he feels exists inside him. Perhaps, if you read the work sent to the Cultural Vault, Me with me and still me...You will look at his quests differently and understand him better.