Mother of God, Rejoicing Icon 1996 egg tempera on gessoed board 12" x 9" x 11/2" $1800  Stand, five layers of wood, handcrafted $50

Artist's Statement

"Since youth, I have been drawn to icons. Those icons which rest within religious communities seem to be imbued with the spirit of the image portrayed. The icon then becomes more than the board and paint, more than matter. The icon becomes quietly invitatory, invocational."

"Once, having entered a show at a museum on the west coast, I remember standing, trying to decide which way to move to view the works of art. I felt compelled to turn around. As I turned, I saw an icon of the face of Christ and was so drawn to the piece, I could view no other. Easily, an hour slipped by as I stood praying. A brief inquiry of its history told me that the work had come from a monastery. I could relate similar experiences when visiting sites in Jerusalem, Canada, the United States."

"Never dreaming I could create an icon, I found through a friend some years ago, a man who had hid, as a Russian Orthodox monastic, in caves during the Stalin pogroms. He emigrated from Russia, moving to the US and taught iconography. I saw that his spirit was clean, was true. And through his teachings, I have begun to learn to write the icon. Always a student in this venture, I will never be able to touch the spirit of all the saints, Mary the Mother of God and Our Lord Jesus. But perhaps when my intentional hands leave a piece and it rests within a praying community, the breath of God may be felt. That is my hope."

Lu Bro
 

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