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Featured Work
Jesus Mosaic at St. George
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Joulia VitaliyMosaic (EXTERIOR)
About the Artwork
On Christmas morning 2008 Russian born artist Joulia Vitaliy received a phone call from Vlad Blashishin informing her that he was planning to install her 7' mosaic of Jesus Christ on the face of St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church that very morning. By 11:30 am the installation was complete.
This is the realization of a dream that began for Pastor John E. Hamatie more than 14 years before and a project which, for the artist, began over a year before. In fact Ms. Vitaliy had worked on little else in the past 12 months. Having studied briefly two years prior under some of the greatest artisans in Acadamy of Art in St. Petersburg, Russia. Ms. Vitaliy embarked on this grand scale project with limited experience, the blessings of her church, and receiving only the cost of materials and equipment as payment.
This is a gift from the artist to St. George Church and to the city of Orlando. Clearly visible from Lake Eola, this beautiful work of art, made of smalti, many of which are 24 karat gold, will adorn the face of the church for decades to come.
About the Artist
Joulia Vitaliy
Began art education in Russian traditional art school in St. Petersburg.
Artist Statement: Art exists in a moment of interaction and leads us to the depths of our human psyche. The painted surface is a window to our inner world, an invitation to a game which will unlock out personal secrets, will transform us. What we see is a matter of personal interpretation. “We tend to see things not as they are, but as we are”. Importance is not in the image itself, but in the sensations it produces.
Every material has a function. The different materials I use help me to give new metaphorical form to my ideas and to emphasize the meaning and achieve pictorial significance. Images serve as a catalyst to provoke an emotional response. Bright colors give intensity to the experience. Carving helps to emphasize the movement of the form, and also negates the existence of the image itself, challenging our perception, and inviting us to look beyond the surface, beyond the visual prettiness and point to the possibility of existence of other layers of meaning. The combination of relief and carvings develop an illusion of the multidimensional space. My series of reflections show the relationship between our conscious subconscious and reflective self. It points to the difference between social perception and inner reality.
In art, everything is resolved through contrast and similarity, unity and contradiction, the ultimate duality of life. My two-sided works represent this idea. I was inspired by frescoes of Pompeii. Everything is dualistic here – roughness of the surface and delicacy of the image; imitated broken stone pointing to the transience of time, contrasted with the idea of everlasting beauty, eternity of spirit.
My works are the bi-products of my inner spiritual investigations. I am trying to portray life with all its beauty and complexity. My art can be considered as traditional. I am using subjects to convey my aesthetic and spiritual beliefs.
I invite people to look beyond their visual reflection of consciousness to the endless abyss of their soul. Since consciousness affects and is in turn affected by our thoughts and feelings, consciousness could be compared to a mirror, which reflects everything that is projected. To probe the mystery of man, we must go beyond the reflected and projected outer realities on the surface of this mirror. Instead, we should let intuition, the intelligence of the heart and soul, guide us to the core of consciousness, to the presence of un-manifested center of pure being and to the center of our un-manifested soul entity. We must go beyond the mirror of reflections and of consciousness to the place where our ordinary level of consciousness is transmuted and transformed into the light of the soul itself.
Aristotle says, “Art completes what nature cannot bring to finish”. I have no concept of finished work. Nothing is “finished” in “reality”. Everything is a part of the continuous flowing process. Every painting is a step along the creative path of development in my career. Success is a work in progress. There is success in every stage of the painting. It is not an ultimate achievement, but an unfolding development.
Did you know?
The tallest sculpture of a human figure is the minimalist William King sculpture of three figures looking to the sky at the Orlando airport. The tallest is 40 feet tall!
Discover Art in Central Florida!
For those who have eyes to see, there are hundreds of works of art around them.
This web site provides some information on many of those works of art that can
be regularly viewed in Orange County by any member of the public without an
admission fee. They are outside in public view, or located in an interior area
that is normally open to the public.
Look around this web site and find something that interests you. Then go see it
in person. The information you find here will add to the pleasure of exploring
public art in Central Florida.
If, in your travels around Orange County, you come across some public art that
is not listed here, please let us know so we can add it. If you are aware of
additional information about art or artist that is included here, again, please
let us know. Together we can make this an incredible resource for people seeking
to spice up their life through exploring art.