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Times Square Gossip: OKSANA PROKOPENKO AT SAINT PETER’S: **** OKSANA PROKOPENKO PRESENTS THE FINAL WEEKEND OF HER MOSAIC ICONS AND PAINTINGS AT THE NARTHEX GALLERY **** Oksana Prokopen…

Exhibition of Mosaic Icons and Paintings: Press Release

Oksana Prokopenko

Exhibition of Mosaic Icons and Paintings 
On view: December 2, 2011- January 8, 2012
Opening reception: December 15th, 6 to 8 pm
The Narthex Gallery 
at Saint Peter’s Church
619 Lexington Ave at 54th St, New York, NY 10022
Open to public daily 9 am-7pm

 

Celebrated New York based Russian iconographer and painter, Oksana  Prokopenko, has works in permanent collections of museums in Italy and the US.

Prokopenko has been featured on the Russian international TV network, NTV, radio shows, and numerous publications.  To quote Margo Grant, the Museum of Russian Art’s director, “The soul of Prokopenko’s work is in her walking that fine line between the transcendent and the ordinary. Prokopenko has achieved sheer brilliance in her deft treatment of the tiny pieces in her micro-mosaics.  What’s more is that it is done with a rainbow of majestic colors. ” 

Sue Dymond of The Glass Craftsman,  describes viewing Oksana’s work as “basking in quiet brilliance” and suggests  – “Prepare to be inspired.”

Russian TV network’s Blagonravova states, “Oksana’s work is made not only with thousands of glass pieces, but also out of thousands prayerful words.”

Prokopenko is a rarity in today’s contemporary art scene.  Her work process is similar to artists that worked hundreds of years before her with an intense focus on precision, quality and detail.  Her masterpiece, The Archangels, which took her 2 years of full time work to complete, contains over 40,000 tiny pieces of colored glass. This inspired work will be one of many of her works featured in this exhibit, which includes mosaic icons, painted icons, oil paintings and mixed media works. Often described as a colorist, her colors inspire the viewer to spiritual and emotional heights similar to those felt by Prokopenko during her creative process, which has been described as a spiritual practice – a colorists communion with the divine.

 See and feel the magic.

For further information please contact:
Tom Lutri (917) 941-1856
www.oksanapro.com

info@oksanapro.com

 

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Solo Exhibition at the Museum of Russian Art

Very exciting news:
Museum of Russian Art will present a solo exhibition of my work in November of this year.
Details are on the Museum’s website, as well as below.
Interestingly, the Museum was initially interested only in my abstract work, which I found quite surprising. I think that the current interest in art lies in the sphere of artwork that is straightforward and easy (or at least appears easy) to grasp. Icons, on the other hand, trigger something else, something deeper, purer, something contemplative- not the currency of today.
However, in a change of heart, and a wise one at that, the Museum has now expanded its plans into showing both, iconography and abstract work. In a way, it makes sense: the two are the directions I am currently working in, they show different yet complimentary sides of my art making.
I hope you can make it to the opening!

Exhibition details:

Oksana Prokopenko
Oil paintings, Mixed media and Glass micro mosaics

Runs from Saturday, November 12, through November 20, 2011.
Located at the Museum of Russian Art (MoRA)

Opening Reception: Saturday, November 12th from 5pm to 7pm
The exhibition will be open on November 12th through November 20th
by appointment only.

MORA is proud to announce this exhibition of an exceptionally talented artist through a wide diversity of media. Prokopenko is a rarity in today’s contemporary art scene. Her focus on detail in her mosaics is akin to that of artists that worked hundreds of years ago.

Oksana has been featured on the International Russian TV network, NTV as well as having been interviewed on artistic radio programs. Her work has been featured in various magazines, including a 4 page spread in Fall 2010 issue of The Glass Craftsman. Her work is also in the permanent collection of The Sienna Art Institute in Sienna, Italy.

Often described as a colorist, Prokopenko is equally adept on canvas with a brush as she is at cutting thousands of tiny colorful pieces of glass by hand.

Prokopenko’s dyptic paintings, titled “The Wisp of Red Realities have been aquired by MORA into our permanent collection and of course will be available at her show. MORA director, Margo Grant, wrote the following concerning this Prokopenko work:

“Prokopenko’s deft treatment of energy and emotion is apparent in her twin red delight. The shocking blue in the upper right portrays a tender jolt of conflict that is echoed almost everywhere you look in art and the world over.

The soul of Prokopenko’s work is in her walking that fine line between the transcendent and the ordinary. The small blue patch in the sea of red may be seen as reflecting the disparate nature inherent in most things we encounter. Or does the blue treatment represent the whimsical and incredulity of our world?” Aug 12, 2011

Come visit us at MORA for a taste of the magic.

The Museum is located in the historic district of Jersey City,
walking distance to the PATH train or the Battery Park ferry.
Minutes away from Manhattan.
[directions]

Contact for more information:
Director:
Margo Grant (917) 449-2842

Inspiration of the Moment

Bouguereau, The Virgin With Angels

I am back to working on the Virgin and Child, see here and here , and this gorgeous image captures the mood of my current working state ~ the prayer, the grace, the contemplative posture, the awe, the joy, the celebration, the calm, the vision, the understanding, the wisdom, the compassion~
may my work show these~

A Walk in the Woods – Guest post by Bev

After posting my musings on guidance/coincidence, I received this wonderful essay from Bev of http://playingwithbrokenglass.wordpress.com/. I post it here with Bev’s permission. I feel it makes for a meditation as well as food for thought, suitable not only for artists and iconographers, but for all who travel- and all of us are travelers through life. Thank you, Bev.

“A short story: There is a woods; large enough you can walk safely and far enough that your mind may wander, too, into places you treasure. You stride along, breeze in your hair, sun on your shoulders, a song or prayer and random thoughts keeping rhythm to your steps.

Choose one scenario: 1. you must see someone at the end of the walk and need to think about the meeting, or, 2. there is no one to meet, there is no urgency; this walk is for you.

By choosing #1, you will walk only half-seeing your surroundings: the clouds will scuttle by without you seeing animal shapes in them, you will not see the marks in the moist soil as prints of people, rabbits or ravens, you will not hear birds’ songs. Your mind is occupied, closed to inspiration. The walk was not a failure; simply, it was not creatively successful, not a “blast-off” moment that made you want to get back to your studio to draw and jot down your thoughts. But then, your goal had nothing to do with creativity.

By choosing #2, you will walk into a place full of possibilities. You are aware of your surroundings and all your senses take it in. You sit on a warm fallen log or pause by water and when you look around you will see colours you want to put into a work of art. You admire a pattern of leaves. You are thrilled by green foliage against the blue sky. If you meditate, or just sit still and enjoy the moment, you will begin to think afresh, unlike the thinking that goes in your studio. If you have an art problem or an abandoned theme stashed in the back of your mind waiting for solution, something you see, hear or think might bring it darting into the foreground. Unlocking it. You have let your mind free to open that door where creativity dwells, waiting.

Neither choice was wrong. Each had a purpose. One to go from point A to B to get the job done and the other to go from A to discovery. In the second case, it was about the trip, not the destination. If your mind is on the destination, you will not get anything during the trip.

I believe this is the crux of the situation you described. You did not go to Palm Sunday service in your usual place of worship, but were open to do something different. You chose a different church, not an unfamiliar place, but one you hadn’t seen through the same eyes before. You sat in the pew and literally saw something at the altar that spoke to you. A miracle? Perhaps. A miracle if you believe God knows our needs before we do and His hands guide us.

Marcel Proust said, “The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” Our need is to have our eyes open so we see around us. Our need is to allow a higher power to guide us. In other words, it is not coincidence when we have inspiration. After all, the word inspiration is based on “in spir(it)”. (Bev Delyea, 04/27/11)

guidance or coincidence

I attended Palm Sunday in a new church- St Gabriel’s, which more fittingly could have been named Annunciation, as they had the bas relief of annunciation at the altar. In blue, gold and a touch of red- the three mainstay colors of my work. It’s a guidance of sorts- I have put aside the icon of Annunciation months ago- perhaps it’s time to go back to it. Or is it merely a coincidence?

everything is a prayer

God is in the snowflakes and not just in icons. Icons provide a doorway- a window- an initial sacred ritualized entrance point to the world that – at some point, earlier or later- one realizes that one never left-
we are born and exist in this mystical miraculous world of pure love.
It is so intense – this love- that it is hard to keep your eyes, or heart, open at all times.
And so we close them, we pretend, we play games, until
we are ready again to experience the profound waves of love and unconditional acceptance.
Breathtakingly, we are transformed.
We see that everything is an icon, everything is a prayer, everything is a form of communion. And God is truly all around, snowflakes and all.

Free Will

Free will is an interesting concept that I’ve explored time and time again.
This round is different however:
I feel like I realize what it means for the first time ever (though I think I say that each and every time!)
What I mean is that I no longer have a sense of urgency to write an icon that always accompanied my work -
I am free: free to walk away completely and free to choose to continue. Choice is a key word here:
I am given free will to make a commitment, no nudging, no sense of obligation.
There is an invitation, just like there is one each and every time I am about to start a work. Each and every time I, too, had been free to choose. THis time it is every more pronounced and profound.
It is as if I am to make an ever more deliberate decision, an ever more mystical commitment.
Not that I am considering to walk away- no, I am not. But the very idea of being able- surprisingly to many around me, I do not think I ever felt like I could leave iconography, it did not cross mind, I do not think I ever saw it as an option, a choice; though of course it always was! – the very idea of having a choice and exercising the free will to choose and to commit -
it is a mystery, a liberating freedom, a profound understanding of the co-creative process an icon truly is.

Merry Christmas!

We are always at One, however you’d like to define it- God, Universe, energy, being.
Whether we are aware of it or not at any given moment- we still are at One, always.
When I am not fully aware of this oneness, conscious and present to the flow of the divine river- I still am in it, I know it fully and profoundly, to the core of my being, know it deeply – yet cannot feel it.
When I do feel at One -
there is a qualitative difference to my life, my very existence-
it is as if I float several inches above ground, I smile with my eyes alone, I exhale joy.
My work shows it, seemingly still pieces of glass come alive, they cooperate and fall into place just so, the mystery is not a mystery but a way of being.
When this awareness recedes, I miss it, yet I no longer mourn it-
it is not lost, it is right here, just under the surface,
I merely need to build up my stamina to handle the vision of grace and beauty and peace for longer periods of time.
Peace and joy and awareness of being forever at One, awareness of being held in God’s hands lovingly and kindly always-
this I wish you today and always,
Merry Christmas!

Peace that ‘passeth understanding’

When I started working with icons, it was as if I received the so called ‘marching orders’-all I thought of was iconography. At the time, I felt as if there was a gap, a distance between myself and the divine force; we met somewhere in the middle in the profound, life changing co-creative encounter, that resulted in an icon. There was a distinct ‘I’ and a distinct ‘other’.
Over the years, the gap seemed to have grown smaller and smaller, until now- now it feels strangely non-existent, at least when I am working. There is an illumination and a darkness, I am aware of where I am, what I am doing, and yet- there is a strange liberating melting of the boundaries- there is no end an no beginning to me or the icon or the creative spirit.
It is a profound feeling, and yet so simple, one that I think I’ve had all along, and yet never recognized precisely because of its simplicity. Like the air we breathe and do not think of, do not make a conscious notice of.
It’s wonderful as far as daily life, because nothing seems to bother me, everything flows gently in a luminous connected way. It is tough when decisions need to be made, as those require differentiation- good and bad, or at least, better and worse.
We live with that sort of differentiation daily- it is necessary, choices flow out of our sense of what is good and bad, however subjective that might be. And yet, there is a layer, accessible to all I believe, where good and bad are merely two sides of the same coin; there is no need to split them up, the habitual splitting into black and white we engage in daily is superfluous. Iconography teaches that- you step beyond the boundaries into a sphere where all is light and wonder and peace- yes, the kind that ‘passeth all understanding’.