Your holy martyr George, O Lord, through his suffering has received an incorruptible crown from You, our God. For having Your strength, he laid low his adversaries, and shattered the powerless boldness of demons. Through his intercessions, save our souls! /General troparion for martyrs/
Group exhibition “Vision of Victory/Saint George” is dedicated to the figure of Great Martyr Saint George the Dragon Slayer, one of the most popular saints in Ukraine, and patron saint of Lviv, whose spiritual strength and care protects us in times of historical upheavals. This time Gallery offers contemporary vision of Victorious Saint by more than twenty artists working in different techniques and styles - in addition to traditional icons on board and on glass, we will have a chance to see images of St. George in paintings, engravings on wooden board, graphics, ceramics, artistic weaving and mixed techniques.
Church especially honors St. George as a great martyr, who was not afraid of suffering and pain, and witnessed his faith in Christ by accepting martyrdom, and yet, particular attention of Christians has always attracted famous miracle of Saint George the Warrior that is described in church literature as The Miracle of St. George and the Dragon (Snake). Most artists who are presenting their works at the exhibition also focused on this event by depicting the dynamic figure of the Warrior on a horse who overcomes fantastic beast - a vivid image of true victory over evil!
Yet if we look closer to that vision and remind ourselves the tradition of iconography, and also hagiographic and liturgical texts devoted to figure of the Victory-Bearer, we can discover deeper symbolic meaning of this fierce battle. For Christians, above all, important is not physical strength and advantage of a man, but support of God and spiritual courage, which is clearly manifested in traditional iconography of this miraculous victory: Manus Dei (Natala Rusetska); sign of the cross (Andriy Vynnychok and Sophia Bilyk); Angel of God (Oksana Andrushchenko); golden sphere of heaven (Olexandr Bryndikov, Uliana Tomkevych, Oleg Denysenko); or, finally, gold and deep reddish military cloak that rises up to heaven by the breath of invisible force (Roman Zilinko, Arsen Bereza, Danylo Movchan, Uliana Nyshchuk-Borysyak, Ostap Lozynsky, Yaroslava Tkachuk etc.
For Andriy Vynnychok, Orest Hnativ, Arsen Beresa it was important to emphasize the great strength and tension of the struggle between Good and Evil not only in spiritual, internal way, but also in intense visible resistance. Inspired by medieval Ukrainian icon, folk icons on glass, old prints, Uliana Nyshchuk-Borysyak, Ola Kravchenko, Romk Zilinko, Uliana Tomkevych, Natalia Rusetska, Danylo Movchan, Olexandr Bryndikov, Ostap Lozynsky, Oleg Denysenko, Oksana Andrushchenko, Yuriy Smolsky focused on the vision of Saint in peaceful and spiritual self-confidence - as opposed to the deficient comic of snake...
When we look at the story of the martyrdom of Saint in the days of the Roman emperor and persecutor of Christians Diocletian through the light of these intense, bright and at the same time calm and confident visions of victory, then, first of all, we will see not the suffering and death of Saint, but his triumph and crown of immortal glory. When we recall St. George as a man who was whipped with strands, whirled on the wheel with sharp nails, stripped of his skin and killed, then actually, in these sufferings we will recognize this very hard, and while brave and calm struggle that nullifies all treacherous deeds, temptations, fiery mouths of godless power of evil... This vision of victory is not simple, but essential at all times, and especially vital for us today.
Maria Tsymbalista