Theory
The Idea of Canonicity in Orthodox Liturgical Art
First published in Composing and Chanting in the Orthodox Church: Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Orthodox Church Music, Joensuu: ISOCM/University of Joensuu, 2009, 337-342 © 2009 Ivan Moody All rights reserved. The Idea of Canonicity in Orthodox Liturgical Art Ivan Moody “Divine beauty is transmitted to all that exists, and it is…
Continue reading »On The Origin of Ὁ ὬΝ in The Halo of Christ
We are so used to seeing the features of Christ in icons that we no longer pay attention to them, thinking they have always been there, as we see them, taking them for granted. We have perhaps forgotten that behind each feature there is a history and a theological meaning to discover and rediscover. So…
Continue reading »Sacred Space, Sacred Art and The Power of Women
We live in a confused time. Many of the basic foundations which hold the world together have been made fragile. Up/down, center/periphery, inside/outside have all been eroded in their power to frame existence as we watch floodwaters rise around us. One of the foundations systematically attacked through sophisticated rhetoric and political ideology is the complementary…
Continue reading »Today and Tomorrow: Principles in the Training of Future Iconographers pt.2
This is post 2 of 2 in the series “Today and Tomorrow: Principles in the Training of Future Iconographers” Aidan Hart looks at principles of style, composition and fabrication in icons, how these are meaningful in our consideration of iconography and how such considerations should be transmitted to the next generation of artists. Today and…
Continue reading »Today and Tomorrow: Principles in the Training of Future Iconographers pt.1
This is post 1 of 2 in the series “Today and Tomorrow: Principles in the Training of Future Iconographers” Aidan Hart looks at principles of style, composition and fabrication in icons, how these are meaningful in our consideration of iconography and how such considerations should be transmitted to the next generation of artists. Today and…
Continue reading »A Matter of “Ethos”: An Interview with the Painter Markos Kampanis
We often forget that our contemporary art, although the offspring of the 20th century revolutionary avant-garde, has its own set of artistic dogmas, its form of “orthodoxy”, so to speak. Ironically, although the avant-garde might have shattered the stifling shackles of the Academy, it has now itself become another form of restrictive academy, forming an…
Continue reading »On the Gift of Art…Part V: The Threshold
This is post 5 of 5 in the series “On the Gift of Art… But, What Art” Fr. Silouan explores points of contact and departure between traditional visions of art and contemporary art as we know it today. On the Gift of Art… But, What Art? On the Gift of Art…Part II: The Traditional Doctrine…
Continue reading »The Icon Painting Tradition and Modern Art: Hermeneutical Considerations
To articulate what is past does not mean to recognize ‘how it really was’. It means to take control of a memory, as it flashes in a moment of danger. Walter Benjamin In 1557, the Corpus Historiae Byzantinae, a series initiated by the German monk and humanist Hieronymus Wolf[1], was published. Ever since, the region…
Continue reading »A New Icon of St. Mary of Egypt and St. Zosimas: Notes on Form & Symbolism
A New Icon of St. Mary of Egypt and St. Zosimas Notes on Form & Symbolism By Fr. Silouan Justiniano In thee, O Mother, was exactly preserved what was according to the divine image. For thou didst take the cross and follow Christ, and by thy life, didst teach us to ignore the flesh,…
Continue reading »The Robot, the Mutant and The Artist
[1]One of the weaknesses in our vision of the world is that we tend to look at what surrounds us from one side of an opposition. This is inevitable as humanity’s existence unfolds like a wheel, waxing and waning, pulled by opposite forces from extreme to extreme. These extremes feed each other, call each other…
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