To certain extent, the history of the IconArt Gallery is a fascinating cognition of the contemporary art reflections close to iconography. For majority of artists, one of the main topics is the topic of the Mother of God that was and still is the symbol of the special protection for Ukrainians.
The image of the Mother of God speaks to us from diverse monuments of the past: from ancient Byzantine to contemporary ones that “speak” different language in unison with thoughts of ancient Ruthenian painters, though, about the mission of the Virgin Mary. The “Under Protection of the Mother of God” exhibition demonstrates the efforts of two Lviv authors, Oksana Romaniv-Triska and Taras Lozynskyi, to reproduce this image in glass art. Traditionally this technique is associated with the iconography of Gutzulchyna and Pokuttya that “caused” contemporary efforts of art interpretations, after all.
Ancient Ukrainian iconography that inspires by deep images and diverse art interpretation served the primary source for the presented works. Each of artists pushes off from their own perception of the ancient icon seeing the expression of color, emotions, unrest and experience in it (Taras Lozynskyi) or the image-sign, the important symbol created with the help of the author performance technique. The artists do not reproduce the diversity of the traditional Mother of God thematics (except for the “Protection of the Mother of God,” “the Virgin Mary”) but of all time try to consider the most well-known depiction of “Madonna and the Child” demonstrating completely different principles of its interpretation.
Oksana Romaniv-Triska