Page 5 - PROOF!v2

While Lane had attempted to draw icons as a child, and had shown promise as a young artist, he had never actually completed one. In 1985, Abbot Bonaventure, the head of the monastery, had himself become interested in iconography. He decided to incorporate bi-ritual faculties, performing the Liturgy in both the Western (Roman Catholic) and Eastern (Orthodox) Rites. A chapel was built for the latter, and the abbot wanted “real, painted icons,” according to Lane. “Not reproductions.”
By chance, Canadian iconographer Michael O’Brien was visiting the abbey that summer. Lane saw his opportunity. “I gured, if Abbot Bonaventure wanted me to paint icons, I’d better learn how.” O’Brien’s teaching was Lane’s rst formal introduction to iconography. “I had a feeling even then that it would be a lifelong commitment,” he adds.
Lane’s innate sense of how icons should look, combined with his own way of painting, has led to a unique iconographic style that leans heavily on the Byzantine school of the 9th–12th centuries. “If you look at the Chora Church in Istanbul,” he says, “at the Resurrection fresco in the funerary chapel...it’s just a stunning tour de force. I look to that as an inspiration.”
e di erences between Western and Eastern religious art at rst seem di cult to square when one considers a Catholic monk painting Byzantine-in uenced icons. Historically, Eastern art forbade naturalistic expressions for fear of idolatry, focusing instead on the transcendent experience the art was meant to evoke; on the other hand, Western art sought to bring the viewer closer to Christ’s fullness – his human experience. But Lane doesn’t necessarily see a contradiction. “It comes down to humanity versus spirituality,” he explains. “And they’re both perfectly valid arguments.” And, he notes, people who otherwise would protest religious art in churches have come to accept iconography, namely because of the strong theological content.
Christian iconography is person-oriented, says Lane. “ e human body is both the context and the visual focus of God’s outward signs, instituted by Him, to bestow grace,” he says. erefore, no churches, books, or objects, no matter how holy their history and usage, are venerated separately in an icon. While heavenly beings may appear in anthropomorphic visage, devils are depicted as distorted humans, their evil having mutilated their original likenesses to God.
Lane is careful to point out that icons employ symbols, but are not symbols in and of themselves; rather, they are windows to encounters with living beings, both human and divine. e one notable exception is the Cross of Christ, whose wood is venerated iconographically as the means chosen by the Messiah for our salvation.
e subject matter of iconography can be grouped into four main areas. First, there is “portraiture” – as simple as the Shroud of Turin, which, for many centuries, was folded in such a way as to show only the head of Christ. Portrait icons are generally frontal, engaging the worshiper directly; a variation is the “praying gesture,” in which the saint is turned three-quarters to the le or right with hands upli ed.
Second, there are “event” icons, which depict the acts of Christ and His saints, Old and New Testament history, or the story of the Church. History is sometimes rearranged to make a theological point; there are many icons, for example, that depict St. Paul at the Pentecost, not because he was present historically, but because he was a true apostle.
“Mystical” icons are a third category, though viewed with some suspicion because they o en express theological speculation which may be orthodox enough, but must be examined closely. ese icons can appear somewhat removed from scripture.
Finally, there are “vision” icons, another group that should be viewed with care. Visions can be subjective, says Lane, and experience has shown that not all visions which purport to be from God actually re ect the teachings of the Church. In this case, iconographers look for reputable sources for the reported visions, and feel most comfortable when the local – then hopefully the Universal – Church pronounces the vision worthy of belief.
Most of all, says Lane, icons need to be explained. And he wants people to ask. “Catechesis needs to go on,” he says. “It’s part of their purpose.”
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