Bogdan Nueleanu - "Between Night and Day II"

Bogdan Nueleanu
Apr 28
2 min read

Updated: Apr 29

Title – "Between Night and Day II"

Technique – Hammered Copper and Stainless Steel, welded

Dimensions – 40 × 18 × 17 cm

Year – 2025

Artist's Note: Following the sale of Between Night Day I, the artist created this new unique "Between Night and Day II", continuing the exploration of the same deeply personal theme while refining both his concept and technique.

Bogdan Nueleanu - "Between Night and Day II"

Between Night and Day by Bogdan Nueleanu is a profound abstract interpretation of the restlessness and intense insomnia the artist experiences almost every night—those hours that border on madness. With remarkable technique and subtle symbolism, this piece invites viewers into the artist’s inner world, where metal and form reveal the silent battle between two fundamental temporal dimensions: night and day. Through an extraordinary composition and masterful choice of materials, Nueleanu captures a personal, yet universal human experience.

The sculpture is forged from copper and stainless steel—two materials that oppose each other in physical properties but are rich in symbolic resonance. The black-patinated copper evokes night: the time when thoughts intensify, and insomnia grips the soul in oppressive silence. In contrast, the mirror-polished stainless steel symbolizes day: a space of clarity and awakening under the light of the sun. These metals engage in a compositional dance, expressing the eternal shift between shadow and illumination, dream and reality.

The shape of the piece is both complex and symbolic, clearly referencing the mandorla, an almond-shaped form rich with spiritual and religious meaning. Just as Christ Pantocrator is often framed within a mandorla in Byzantine art, Nueleanu suggests a dialogue between the material and the spiritual, between human restlessness and the quest for deeper consciousness.

Visually, the work rejects primary colors, relying instead on the natural tones of the chosen metals. The blackened copper and brilliant steel generate a powerful chromatic tension, where contrast replaces color, and transience and duality emerge at the heart of the piece.

Between Night and Day also echoes the legacy of two great Banat-born Romanian artists: Constantin Lucaci, renowned for transforming stainless steel into lyrical forms, and Peter Jecza, master of abstract bronze geometry. Nueleanu draws inspiration from both, blending their approaches into a singular artistic vision that is innovative, yet profoundly personal. The physical and conceptual fusion of the two metals deepens the work’s meditation on contrast, balance, and human vulnerability.