Brussels tree of life

This is one of a series of works developed within a shared conceptual framework, where each piece exists as an independent variation within the same visual and theoretical system. Although the works differ in form and composition, they are united by a single underlying idea and belong to the same thematic field. The artist’s works exist on a delicate threshold between the icon and contemporary sacred art, where the image ceases to function as an illustration of a religious subject and instead becomes an experience of presence. What emerges in this practice is not an attempt to depict the spiritual, but a desire to make the invisible perceptible. In this sense, the works remain deeply connected to the original nature of the icon: not to represent, but to reveal.

The use of gold in these objects is fundamentally non-decorative. As in Byzantine and early Russian icon painting, gold here does not describe light — it acts as a sign of uncreated light, a timeless space in which matter has already been transformed by the presence of spirit. Against the raw texture of wood and architectural surfaces, gold appears almost as metaphysical energy breaking through the material world.

Wood, too, transcends its role as a support material. It becomes an autonomous symbol connected to one of the central themes of Christian visual tradition: the image of the tree — the Tree of Life, the Cross, the Oak of Mamre, the garden of Paradise. This motif continues onto the painted side panels of the objects, where stylized and nearly abstract branches and organic forms emerge. The artist dissolves the closed surface of the icon: the image begins to grow beyond its frontal plane and extends onto the side surfaces, becoming a continuation of the icon into space rather than a fixed frontal image.

The side surfaces are therefore essential to the work. In the classical icon, space is always symbolic, intended to overcome visible reality in order to reveal another dimension. Here, the same principle is expressed through the language of contemporary art: the image is no longer confined to a single viewpoint but unfolds as a multidimensional presence. The object requires the viewer’s movement, drawing them into its orbit and transforming contemplation into an almost liturgical experience.

Each work is a three-dimensional photographic object-sculpture-painting that belongs to the series Contemporary Icons. Within this series, wood functions as both material support and image — a “face” or icon in itself, transformed through gold into a sacred surface. From this foundation, each work may develop different variations and continuations, while remaining part of the same conceptual system.

The artist does not reproduce the canon literally, yet preserves the internal structure of iconographic thought. These works do not narrate; they create a condition of silence and contemplation. In this context, the words of John of Damascus feel especially resonant:

“The invisible has become visible.”

Through rhythm, color, gold, and wood, the artist creates a space where matter and light encounter one another. These pieces exist not simply as museum objects, but as forms of contemporary sacred sculpture that require not only the gaze, but also the inner participation of the viewer.

In this sense, the artist’s practice can be understood as a contemporary continuation of the idea of the icon beyond direct adherence to canon. It is an attempt to preserve the essential function of the image: to become a site of presence and to open for the viewer an experience of the invisible.

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