Vasilios Roumeliotis was born in 1977, in Thessaloniki, Hellas.
He is the originator of Roumelight, a brand that excels in the realm of luminism and the creation of light art.
Vasilios Roumeliotis is an alumnus of Wageningen University in the Netherlands where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Technical Civil Engineering and a master’s degree in Geo-Information Science. His educational journey also includes pedagogical training from A.S.P.E.T.E. and Telecommunications Engineering studies in Padova, Italy.
His tenure as a supervising engineer in industrial constructions sparked his experimentation with lighting. Over the past decade, he has refined his practice conceptually, culminating in the establishment of Roumelight. This brand name draws inspiration from the artist’s surname and the concept of ‘light’.
Roumelight has been the banner under which he has showcased his work in solo exhibitions and participated in group displays. These events have been hosted in renowned museums and art spaces both in Hellas and internationally. Notable venues include the Benaki Museum in Athens, Hellas, the New York Design Center in New York, U.S.A, the Innovative Cultural Center (ICC) in Kaluga, Russia, and the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art in Thessaloniki, Hellas.
Presently, Roumelight continues to evolve, carving out a unique and successful niche in the competitive light art market.
Roumelight’s statement: ‘Roumelight offers innovative, atmospheric lighting drawing on architectural minimalism, industrial design, and ancient symbols, among other influences. Made by hand from wood, metal, and glass with energy-efficient bulbs, each site-specific installation is conceived around a theme and tailored to the collector’s preferences. These conceptual works exist in the gray area between functional lighting and the higher plane we call art.’
Curator’s note: Throughout the annals of mankind, light has been harnessed extensively for its artistic and architectural potential. However, it was not until the close of the 19th century, with the advent of electric lighting, that luminism and light art emerged. These forms of art gained dedicated recognition in the late 20th century when their evolution was epitomised by the onset of Modernism and the burgeoning experimentation within the Constructivist and Bauhaus movements.
Inside the sphere of this visual art domain a growing cadre of modern and contemporary artists have significantly contributed to the redefinition of luminism and light art as distinct and important art genres. They demonstrated exceptional skill in dealing with light and showed a profound interest in the myriad ways light could be conceptually integrated into their practices.
Vasilios Roumeliotis, an emerging artist, has made his mark in the contemporary art scene through his handmade conceptual lighting sculptural installations. He is deeply involved in exploring luminism, consciously choosing light as his primary medium of expression and dedicating his creative experimentation to light art.
Liberating the ‘art of lighting’from its purely functional basis, his art incorporates an unparalleled morphological plasticity into the overall form of his lighting sculptures. His strength lies in his ability to work with a wide range of materials. Wood, metal, and glass are just a few of the dominant structural components of his lighting sculptures onto which he applies light with unparalleled inspiration and extraordinary creativity.
Moreover, Vasilios Roumeliotis has successfully crafted his own distinctive, sharply contrasting, artistic language concerning the conceptual transformation of diverse items into new functional entities and autonomous light sources. Everyday objects, from bicycle wheels and cocktails to shoes and memorable vinyl records, are ingeniously transformed into striking sculptures and art pieces that emit light while radiating a playful energy and boundless curiosity, replete with significant cultural references.
Furthermore, his work is characterised by the incorporation of emblematic objects, symbols, personas, figures, archaeological artefacts, styles, and various particularities that served as points of reference in different time periods, refashioned into contemporary light art installations outside their original context. From Ancient Hellenic ships, arks, and symbols to The Phaistos Disc -the famed unique Minoan artefact- or Mona Lisa -the timeless female art icon- these subjects are but a glimpse into his diverse artistic vocabulary, interpreted in a subversive and contemporary manner throughout his entire body of light work.
Today, his creations are presented to the art world under the brand name Roumelight which is continually evolving into a unique and successful brand within the highly competitive light art market.
Without a doubt, it is the technical precision, as dictated by Vasilios Roumeliotis’ architectural background, his profound understanding of 3D digital design combined with his professional training as a civil engineer, and his deep appreciation for originality and creativity in design that pave the way for Roumelight to attain such a high level of artistic value and status within the challenging art field.