Posts by Fr. Silouan Justiniano
Preparatory Drawings as Temporary Icons: An Alternative Solution
In preparation for our patronal feast, at the Monastery of St. Dionysios the Areopagite, we ran into the problem of our unfinished, blank iconostasis. What could be done for the occasion in order to make it more presentable? First, as is common, we thought of speedily acquiring temporary icon reproductions to fill in the empty…
Continue reading »‘The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting’: A Chinese painting manual offers inspiration to iconographers
Truth is truth wherever it is found. In fact, it is all the more delicious when found in unexpected places. I was at the opening of an exhibition of The St John’s Bible, for which I had been one of the illuminators, and fell into conversation with one of the professors at Minnesota University. We…
Continue reading »Brilliant Darkness: On St. Dionysios the Areopagite’s Blue Halo
…Timothy, my friend, my advice to you as you look for a sight of the mysterious things, is to leave behind you everything perceived and understood, everything perceptible and understandable, all that is not and all that is, and, with your understanding laid aside, to strive upward as much as you can towards union…
Continue reading »Towards a Great Pictorial Synthesis: Interview with Ioan Popa
The following is an interview with Romanian master iconographer Ioan Popa. He’s one of the leading representatives of the contemporary icon revival in Romania, focusing in both panel and monumental fresco painting. Our conversation touches on his artistic development, aspects of the professional training of iconographers in Romania and the challenge of creative engagement with…
Continue reading »The Drawings of Elena Murariu
There’s theory and then there’s practice. The one flows from the other and back again, unceasingly. Their interdependence is indissoluble. Likewise, there’s “inner” drawing and then there’s “external” drawing. The first unfolds and takes shape in the imagination; the latter is the former’s manifestation. A masterful drawing seems to be as if a concrete…
Continue reading »Imagination, Expression, Icon…Pt. IV: Encountering the Internal Prototype
This is the 4th and last post in the series “Imagination, Expression, Icon: Reclaiming the Internal Prototype”: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. When you make an icon, do not copy it exactly… -Elder Sophrony[i] Now that we’ve clearly defined the terms nous, techne, Tradition, imagination and expression, we’re in a better…
Continue reading »Imagination, Expression, Icon…Pt. III: Concerning Expression
This is part 3 of a series: Part 1, Part 2. In general the artificial image, modeled after its prototype, brings the likeness of the prototype into matter and acquires a share in its form by means of the thought of the artists and the impress of his hands. This is true of the…
Continue reading »Imagination, Expression, Icon… Pt. II: Concerning Nous, Techne & Tradition
This is part 2 of a series: Part 1 Because they are the works of God, who is Himself good, the senses and sensible objects are good; but they cannot in any way be compared with the intellect [nous] and with intelligible realities. -St. Thalassios, On Love, Self-control and Life in Accordance with the…
Continue reading »Imagination, Expression, Icon: Reclaiming the Internal Prototype
Editor’s Note: This article is a revised and expanded version of the talk with the same title given at the symposium, Living Tradition: Painting Sacred Icons in the 21st Century, organized by the Orthodox Arts Journal and which took place on May 23, 2015, at Holy Ascension Orthodox Church, Mt. Pleasant, SC. This post is…
Continue reading »From Cubism To The Romanesque (To The Orthodox Icon?)
In a comment on my article ‘The Seventh Ecumenical Council, the Council of Frankfurt & the Practice of Painting’, Baker Galloway asks if ‘to develop towards a contemporary indigenous iconography in western cultures’ we need to revisit ‘these medieval (I use the term loosely) periods in our western history, or do we start from where…
Continue reading »