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Valentin Bucur was born on August 24, 1957 in the
town of Predeal, one of Romania's most exclusive
and picturesque winter-health-resorts. As a child,
Valentin Bucur was fascinated by the interesting
forms of the trees and tree-roots of the
wonderful forests surrounding Predeal. He collected
tree-roots and, with the hands and eyes of a
10 years old, talented child, modelled them to
real sculptures by making only minor changes to
Mother Nature's original creations. One day he
found a larger root which seemed to represent a
man and "changed some little details" to give
his man a face (very close to a real human face)
and entitled his first real art-work "The Forest
Man".
As a young boy, Valentin Bucur passionately loved and admired abbeys, icons and the profound religious athmosphere of churches. Not surprisingly, his first painting represented an icon. On the other hand, Valentin Bucur was impressed by the shining power of immaculate snow, (a light effect which can be seen now in the microcristalline structure of his glass and mirror engravings), and decided to study at the Experimental Skiing High School in Predeal. After graduation he accepted a position - as a topometrist - at the Institute of Geodesy, Photogrammetry, Cartography and Territory Organisation in Bucharest and was promoted to work at the Laboratory of Microfilms of the same institute. Bucur became an expert in Microfilms, Photoreproducing and Gigantography. He also worked some years as a watchmaker, which explaines his passion for miniatures, details, precission and artistic perfection. The Constantin and Elena Church in Ialomita was painted and decorated by the artist with passion and devotion. At present Mr. Valentin Bucuris a highly respected and admired Iconograph and Miniaturist. His icons are engraved in glass and/or mirror, and are worldwide unique, from the viewpoint of the original technique employed by the artist. The engravings were realized in/on glass and mirror with a diamond-hardened file. At his first two exhibitions opened in the town of Deva, Mr. Valentin Bucur presented 25 glass and mirror engraved icons, all of them being inspired from the Bible or bearing a profound religious message: Jesus With The Children (Let The Children Come To Me ), Jesus Walking On The Water and Saving the Ship, Jesus on Clouds (mirror), The Church (on mirror), Celebration of the Sabbath, Mother Mary with Jesus, The Healing of the Blind, Jesus Meeting Peter, Jesus Carrying His Cross, Saint Nicholas, Lazarus' Ressurection, Jesus as a Child, Jesus' Head (on mirror), Jesus Christening, Jesus Meeting the Romans, Maria Magdalena Washing Jesus Feet, The Healing of the Leprosy, Healing of the Mad Man, Talida's Ressurection, The Arrival of the Magi to Jesus, Maid Mary (on mirror) Bunavestire, The Holy Trinity. The white, immaculate, transparent and translucent shining icons were selectly illuminated with white light and accompanied by contemporary religious music ( ERA/ Ameno). You could feel Your Soul entering a universe of mild light, purity, peace of mind, reconciliation and gratitude, to encounter the sacred. A very special effect comes from the mirror-engraved icons because anyone can see his own face reflected near the engraved sacred faces in a dimension called Divinity. The public's reaction constituted a tremendous emotional surprise for the author. Valentin Bucur's very select exhibition was visited especially by teenagers and young adults. Almost all visitors were very impressed, some of them leaving the exhibition with tears in the eyes and expressing gratitude for what they were offered, love, peace of mind, beauty purity and hope. Even some of Valentin Bucur's miniatures have a religious theme: A 8 cm high Church built from 5000 identical sugar granules which were carefully selected (sometimes only 2 or 3 granules were selected from a table-spoon full of sugar crystals) and "agglutinated" with a very special (and still secret) material, employing an original technique developed by the artist. A prayer-book 4mm/4mm in which the prayer " Pater Noster " is written on 14 "pages" with 889 hair segments having the same thickness, the same colour and belonging to the Author.The other miniatures represent a 7mm/3mm bycicle having all necessary components and even accessories and which was created in 9 months of hard work, a split (sectionated) rice-grain hold together by a hinge and decorated in/on one half with the word CHINA made of rubins. (rice-grain engraving); A picture representing a rural landscape (4mm/4mm and made of the author's hair) and having a wooden frame with veneer, and finally a sculpture in a shell with a 89 rubins "monture"(outfit), representing (and being entitled) The Ecological System. His unique and very original miniatures will be presented for entry in The Guiness Book of Records. Valentin Bucur's exhibition was recorded on film by by all major Romanian TV stations (PRO-TV, TVR-1, and Antena 1) and was presented to a very large audience, nationwide. The exhibition was visited by tourists and representatives from 24 nations. The press was also highly impressed by Valentin Bucur, by his wonderful icons and amazing miniatures, and praised him in a series of articles like: "Bucur Valentin - The Art As Love" (1), "The Church in The Soul" (2), "A Different Exhibition" (3),"A Rice Grain With....Hinge" (4), "An Exhibition Which Should Be Seen" (5). The photographs presented in this article were done by a young and but very talented photographer, Mr. Zoltan F. Locsei. The next Valentin Bucur art-exhibitions will be opened in Romania's capital Bucharest (at the House of the Republic), in Romania's major cities (Timisoara, Cluj, and Jassy),in the UK (London) and in the USA (New York); The entire Valentin Bucur collection was evaluated to be worth 5 million US $, and is kept in a bank from Hunedoara-county for safety reasons, and the Author intends to sell his collection at this price. Bibliography: (1)Anamaria Plesoianu, Touristic Romania, A Weekly National, August 26, 1999; (2) Mihaela Oprea, The Hunedoara Telegraf, August31- September6, 1999; (3)Viorica Roman, Cuvantul Liber, July16, 1999; (4)Paul Tota, Oglinda, Nr.441, July1999; (5)Alexandru Gruian, Lumina, Nr.67, 12-18 June 1999; Acknowledgement: Daniel Pop, the Author of this article wishes to thank Mr. Valentin Bucur for a very special Interview, Mr. Zoltan F. Locsei for the photographs presented in this article, Mr. Eugen Durdun and the Company Recep Plus for many hours of access to the Internet. Photos : Note: Some of these images may take a few seconds to download as they are quite large. Click on your browser's BACK button to return to this page after viewing the images) 1. Mother Mary with Jesus 2. Bicycle 3. Rice Grain With Hinge 4. The Church (miniature created from 5000 sugar granules) 5. Mother Mary 6. The Healing of the Blind 7. The Secret Evening Meal 8. Jesus as a Child 9. Jesus on Clouds (mirror) 10. Jesus Meeting Peter 11. Saint Nicholas 12. Lazarus' Ressurection 13. Prayer Book 14. Exhibition Hall 15. Church (on mirror) 16. The Author 17. The File with which the Author worked return to taf main page |
