Holy Icon

“Emerald Silence at Dusk”, acrylic on canvas panel, Bishop Maxim, 2024
This painting presents a warm reddish background transitioning into lush greenish trees, evoking the peaceful and contemplative stillness of twilight.

In a paradoxical and inexplicable way, this second painting (titled “Emerald Silence at Dusk”) is more... ART than the first, titled “Solitary Blues at Sunset.” Of course, many will prefer the first trees. However, the second trees have something inexplicable about them. The first we see as trees that have sprung up on rocks and soil while the second grow on the ridge of a spherical planet, it is not something simple. The painter introduces us to cosmic problems. And our existence is dizzying in this dimension. The first paints landscapes. The second, however, depicts non-existent events. MAXIM, your composition has a rare originality. It is as if the author of Genesis is whispering to us: “In the beginning, God made the four cypresses on the ridge of the earth. And the earth was blood-soaked. And the trees stood above graves. And humans had ‘invented war’.”
Κατά έναν παράδοξο τροπο και ανεξήγητο αυτός ο δεύτερος πίνακας ειναι πιο.... ΤΕΧΝΗ από τον πρώτο. Φυσικά σε πάρα πολλούς θα αρέσουν τα πρώτα. Όμως τα δεύτερα έχουν κάτι σαν ανεξήγητο.τα πρώτα τα βλέπουμε σαν δένδρα που φύτρωσαν πάνω σε βράχια και χώμα ενώ τα δεύτερα φυτρώνουν πάνω στη ράχη ενός σφαιρικού πλανήτη, δεν είναι κάτι απλό. Ο ζωγράφος μας εισάγει σε προβλήματα συμπαντικά. Και η υπάρξή μας ιλιγγιά σε αυτή τη διάσταση. Ο πρώτος ζωγραφίζει τοπία. Ο δεύτερος όμως παριστά ανύπαρκτα συμβάντα. ΜΑΞΙΜΕ, η συνθεσή Σου αυτή έχει σπάνια πρωτογένεια. Είναι σαν ο συγγραφέας της Γενέσεως να μας ψιθυρίζει: «Εν αρχη εποίησεν ο Θεός τα τέσσερα κυπαρίσσια επί της ράχης της γης. Η δε γη ην αιματοποτισμενη. Και τα δένδρα ίσταντο άνωθεν τάφων. Οι δε άνθρωποι δε «είχαν εφεύρει τον πόλεμον».
— Fr. Stamatis Skliris

This image is very special. The simplicity of the two vivid colors is also enhanced by the choice of the dark antique frame. It is captivating in a way that invites oscillations of sustained encounters with the image. In this way it becomes alive and reveals something beyond words in the viewer.  Very nice. For me, I am aware of repeated "surprises" invited by the inner look becoming new in rapid oscillations so that though the image remains still, yet it does not grow old but is alive. Four precious buds protected with much love, holding life ready to burst into bloom...and yet the bloom is awaited in the viewer's heart, motionless movement, here but not yet!
— Stephen Muse