One of Australia’s leading artists and iconographers, Michael Galovic, believes there was more than a little divine intervention in the creation and delivery of his latest work.
The triptych of the resurrection, installed at Our Lady Help of Christians Church at Rosemeadow, will give parishioners a new focus for reflection this Easter.
The first of the three panels portrays Christ’s crucifixion and death through the imagery of the Arma Christi (instruments of the passion).
The face of Christ in the lower half of the image is based on the Shroud of Turin.
The central panel draws inspiration from the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez’s famous work, The Surrender of Breda.
Showing Christ’s apparent “defeat” and death, it portrays a sense of utter desolation, with only Christ’s face illuminated.
The final segment is based on a medieval illuminated manuscript of the resurrection, with sleeping Roman soldiers.
The striking triptych complements other works in the church by Mr Galovic, including the Immaculate Conception, the Annunciation, the Assumption and the Coronation of Our Lady, as well as a traditional icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour.
The four-times finalist in the Blake Prize for religious art is thrilled with the reaction to his latest work, and was pleasantly surprised he completed it in time for Holy Week 2023.
“Rarely religious commissions manage to occur and be completed to coincide with the important festival they are about,” he said.
“This one simply happened so fortuitously and coincidentally with the upcoming Easter time.
“All of the positive comments I have received about the triptych give wings to us artists nourishing our stamina to continue the road less travelled—religious art.
“Once placed by the entry to the church and directly facing those Marian icons, the triptych will be in eternal dialogue with them.”
Born in Yugoslavia, Mr Galovic is a graduate of the Belgrade Academy of Applied Arts and began painting icons in early 1970 under the guidance of his step-father, who was a painter, conservator, and restorer of old icons and frescos in Serbia.
Following an international career in tourism and as an interpreter and translator, Mr Galovic moved to Australia in 1990 and resumed art and iconography as a full-time profession.
Since then, his traditional icons and contemporary sacred works have been exhibited in shows around the world and he has completed commissions for numerous private collectors, over one hundred churches and institutions such as colleges, universities, spiritual centres, and libraries.