Artist Talk: Vladimir Grygorenko

Please join the art department for this remote lecture with iconographer Vladimir Grygorenko as he speaks about his work at the St. Gregory Monastery.

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Vladimir Grygorenko was born in 1965 in Ukraine. He was brought up in a non-religious family. He entered college to study mechanical engineering, and eventually earned a master's degree in the field. He began to paint during his freshman year, and for many years created "secular" canvases.

Throughout this time, one question remained foremost in his mind: What is ultimate beauty? In search for the answer, he turned to iconographic images. He began to study rare books, and to speak to museum restorers to piece together the ancient process and materials of icon painting which was nearly lost during decades of Communist oppression.

Eventually, he found a famous iconographer, Archimandrite Zinon, in a small skete near Pskov and he was able to learn a method of iconography based on a famous medieval essay by the priest Theophilus, titled, ‘On Diverse Arts’. Vladimir writes,‘‘There is a connection and a difference between painting and iconography. A good painter seeks the truth about the created world; an iconographer shows the truth about the Creator.’’

This event is presented with support from the Ellen H. Johnson Endowment for Contemporary Art.

Join Zoom Meeting: https://oberlin.zoom.us/j/83958524985
Meeting ID: 839 5852 4985