Page 125 - maxim art monograph

Cosmic Liturgy, acrylic on canvas, 2022
One of the rarest things in life is to meet the innocent, the blameless, and the childish in a good sense. Such a rare and indescribably innocent thing is encoun- tered by whoever sees this painting by Bishop Maxim Vasiljevich. First, the black universe (due to the lack of atmo- sphere) seems to us as if it were breath- ing and pulsating with its blue shim- mers. It is not the vast faceless space in which the fixed stars run their curved courses. And the stars do not seem to be of the hard and heavy material of the congealed lava but rather appear like soft and juicy fruits in a heavenly fruit bowl. Their lighting, which results from the artist’s rare color work, makes us feel like children playing a space game in a friendly and welcoming environ- ment. And suddenly, in the center of the enormous sphere, we perceive a gigantic child’s face, looking at us with innocent eyes, which look at us as if to detect if there is any trace of unfailing love left in the depths of our hearts. Perhaps the Little PRINCE on the right has the inno- cence that gives him the audacity to stretch out his little arms and embrace the mysterious majestic FACE OF THE UNIVERSE. In this painting, the unex- pected originality achieves three points: the unique color work, the incredible lightness that holds the meteor planets, and the waving scarf that transforms the Little Prince into a flying CHERUBIM. — Stephen Muse
125