Page 214 - Uros Todorovic Byzantine Painting Contemporary Eyes

Byzantine Painting through Contemporary Eyes
the bust of Archangel Michael is notably bigger in size, and of course, at first glance this seems to be of little consequence – as the two figures belong to separate compositions.
However, the observer’s perception of how these compositions connect within the specific space of the church interior is indeed significantly influenced by the noted change of scale. The upward passing of the vision from the scene of Resurrection to the depiction of Archangel Michael is an experience which in itself may amount to abstraction: the change of scale can be experienced purely as a change of mode of one’s vision, and ac- cordingly, within such an experience the depicted figures surpass their merely representa- tional quality and meaning – and in effect become abstract. In this sense the decorative red border which separates the two wall surfaces both divides and unites these compo- sitions. When we add to this perception the complimentary effects caused by the Byzan- tine chant, we become immersed by an exalted experience which by far surpasses the formal and narrative meanings of the two discussed compositions in Chora.
For example, while listening to Byzantine chant, the faithful who are in a prayerful mood tend to open and close their eyes at particular moments in response to what is being heard. When one’s eyes are closed, in synchronisation with the melody of the chant, the image (of a fresco or an icon) which was viewed just a moment earlier is grad- ually dispersed into the rhythm of music.
With this in mind, as shown in image 27, we have covered a small section of the pho- tograph shown in image 26 with dark blue colour, and then continued – as seen in image 28 – to cover larger sections, including the dividing red border. Thus, the experiment in image 28 shows how while hearing Byzantine chant the Byzantine image is melodically dispersed into its musical counterpart. Therefore, within this experience, the content is most important while the observed abstraction is simply a visual consequence – which is precisely the claim often made by Kandinsky.
As shown in image 29, in continuation of our experimentation we have turned the same photograph on its side and thus arrived at a composition notably similar to Kan- dinsky’s work entitled Fixed Flight, shown in image 31. We have then covered (eliminat- ed) some more features in our experimental composition (image 30). This led us to detect a connection between Kandinsky’s Fixed Flight and some of Mark Rothko’s dark-blue compositions. Accordingly, as seen on the left of image 32, on top of which we have ini- tially commenced our experimentation, we have painted a Rothko-like composition, while we have left the right side untouched, as a demonstration of how, when turned on its side, a segment of a weather-affected Late Byzantine fresco can be easily mistaken for Kandinsky’s abstract work. Consequently, image 32 visually demonstrates how Rothko and Kandinsky share the experience of the Late Byzantine influence. We shall discuss in
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