Art Mosaic

[Vlasta]

Mosaic - not the most common technique in modern Russia decoration of churches. Artist Alexander Kornoukhov - one of the few who are seriously engaged in this rare art.

Among his works - the decoration of Tbilisi Sioni Cathedral commissioned by the patriarch of Georgia, a mosaic of Moscow churches - the Transfiguration of the Savior in Tushino, Saints Cosmas and Damian in Shubin, of the Assumption at Assumption Vrazhek and other churches in the towns of Russia, Ukraine and Italy. Now the artist makes a mosaic mural for the Church of Three Saints in the suburban Archangel. Three years Kornoukhov worked on the mosaic of private chapel of Pope John Paul II at the Vatican.

Читать дальше... 

- This chapel is devoted to 2000 anniversary of Christianity - says the artist. - Working on its decoration, I took a lot of the traditions of early Christian churches such as Santa Maria Antiqua, Santa Maria Maggiore. It was almost a farewell glance at the plastic of the times: now it is in demand only in museums. Subject mosaic: Heavenly Jerusalem - twelve thrones, behind which sit on the three saints, mostly early Christian. The topic was interesting to me: it affects the time when the church was united.

WP|But to complete the work you can not: why?

Kornoukhov|I think the administration of the Vatican felt that the anniversary of Christianity contact with the Eastern Church have organized. Just then there was a meeting between the Pope and Patriarch in Graz. Do not romanticize the Vatican: like any church, is in a sense, the institution where ordinary people are engaged in career matters. The image of the Pope's interesting because he was in the Vatican a kind of Hamlet.

Look at how much has changed over the past decade: in the middle of last century was the postulate of the infallibility of the Pope's throne, hung above the floor, to head the guest was provided at the feet of the Pope. And suddenly - an unprecedented democratization! It is from the mouth of the Pope, I learned that he was not feeling very clever with the papal court and to much attitude with humor. Working in the Vatican, I did not go into the intricacies of etiquette. But when the Pope came once to see my work, and he has not filed the form that I broke etiquette, clad in a white suit: the visitor should not meet the pope wear red and white things. In general, he was very tactful, with the Greek behaved in Greek, with the Jews - the Jews.

WP|How do you, the Orthodox artists working in the center of Catholicism?

Kornoukhov|In this job, I received the blessing of Alexy II. When I talked to the rector of the Russian church in Rome, he said he did not consider the non-Orthodox city: there are many shrines that are meaningful for Christians, two million graves of the first martyrs of Christianity. And what was done by me in the Vatican, - a good non-belligerent mission, rather than "hard-core missionary activity."

WP|How do you think should be in the church strictly follow the canons of art, or should strive to create a new one?

Kornoukhov|Kanon - not a set of fixed rules, but a living legend. But we lost the continuity of this living. Soon people will get tired of the endless repetitions of the same, only in the worst case. On the other hand, the artist can not trust only their imagination. The main task - to adapt the famous themes for each house special, it just inherent proportions.

WP|How do you feel about the fact that many churches in Russia are now painted in a realistic manner XIX century?

Kornoukhov|If the artists at the same time begin to get involved in the ancient times, it is as unconvincing as the naturalism of the XIX century. Although the latter originally bad, because it reduces the high images. On the other hand, the majority wants to see it is, then so be it ...

WP|You think first image, and then the means by which it will perform?

Kornoukhov|In the Church ordered the very structure of the temple has given topic. For example, the image of Christ Pantocrator in the dome will be a key, hence the strong form, making His presence in the temple of the tangible. Generally mosaic - one of the manifestations of architecture, otherwise it becomes a souvenir. It is not always understand, and often a mosaic on the verge of kitsch.

WP|Who is in our country is funding the construction and decoration of the temples?

Kornoukhov|If this is a major object of state significance, going to the board of trustees, which is developing a program of funding. If a small parish, the collection of funds is the same as in the world: the priest addresses the congregation. And there are people who give money and it is always perceived as a miracle: after all, to lay out their own money, you need something in themselves to overcome.

WP|When working for the church, have internally set itself?

Kornoukhov |'s not a question that so many days of prayer, so many - fast. We must love the image that you are doing. I always start with a mosaic perebiraniya stones ...

WP|You among cultural figures signed an open letter to the authorities that in Russia destroyed the monuments of architecture ...

Kornoukhov|Yes, kill history, and soon we have nothing left except the place of execution. We have little responsibility - such a national trait. But any house, even if it is not built by architects of genius, interesting, bears the cultural information. We have also a keen desire to preserve the "dilapidated buildings", destroying them first, then re-erected, not observing technologies of the past, making, say, lime in concrete homes and destroying the historical image of the building. In Western Europe, worry about it! You come into a model house in Rome, and then the wooden beams that are saved with obscure times. And no one is afraid that everything will burn. We are all to be bound in the concrete ...

Oksana Golovko

"Rossiyskaya Gazeta" - federal issue № 3759 from 29 April 2005