A modern Hephaestus struggles to revive gods

Flames flicker throwing blazes on the red-brick walls, prince Cuza stares from a corner of the room, and close to him, still and sober as an Egyptian pharaoh, marshal Antonescu scans the horizons.

We are in the studio belonging to sculptor Ioan Bolborea, Gioni for his friends. In fact, this is not a mere studio, but a real factory, spanning on more than 3,000 square metres and fitted with everything an artist needs in order to create bronze sculptures: two high-capacity ovens, rooms for modeling and packaging, storage places and even a crane to manipulate large-sized objects.

We are in the workshop of a genuine modern Hephaestus, dreaming about gods and heroes' rebirth. One of the most imposing works of the post-revolutionary period was made here: the Monument of Romanian Infantryman, an impressive composition both by presentation and by artistic vision, which was probably decisive for the jury that granted the highest grade to the project made by sculptor Ioan Bolborea, in a competition entered by more than 50 artists.

Ioan Bolborea spent his childhood years in the area of Brasov and Fagaras. He fell in love with painting in elementary school. His parents allowed him to choose his profession, although they wanted him to become an accountant or an engineer, occupations most sought at that time. Therefore, he made his own choice, picking as a starting point the Art High School in Brasov. Things worked out with difficulty here, especially in the beginning, as the student had a lot of work to do in order to catch up with the others.

But once caught in the action, he decided not to give up. He experienced the first shock exactly at the sculpture class, where he had a Greek teacher. In one class, he asked the students to make a composition named "Maternity." A difficult task for somebody that at that time had just a slight idea on what the very notion of "Maternity" might mean. Ioan Bolborea started though to work, eventually managing to make a sort of statuette representing a mother holding her son.

The pupil had no knowledge of compositional lines, volumes or other such elements. At the end of the class, the teacher came to look at the works and, after walking around the working desks, he started evaluations. "A for this, a B for these two, and this work can only be granted a D," the teacher concluded, pointing at the "statuette" made by Ion Bolborea. The young student was terrified. But the verdict eventually managed to motivate him, especially that he himself had opted for the "profession" of artist. He started to work hard and to take supplementary hours.

He used to come to the workshop in the afternoon and work on various compositions, and sometimes he attended classes for higher grades. At a certain point, the Greek teacher left and was replaced by somebody from Bucharest, namely sculptor Florin Codre. Obviously, the new teacher had no idea about his future students or their artistic abilities. Therefore, in the first class he gave them a task difficult even for the most advanced students: the portrait. Ion Borborea then had the feeling that history would repeat itself, especially that, as he was not so skilled in drawing the eyes and the mouth, he insisted on the portion between the neck and the head.

Finally, teacher Codrea started evaluating the works and when he got to Ion Bolborea, he examined it from all angles and said: "The student who made this composition is meant to be a sculptor." The teacher was right, because Ion (Gioni) Borborea today is a complete artist, with many awards and national and international exhibitions. Moreover he is the owner of a plant where he makes his sculptures in bronze, already popular among his fellow artists.