Priest and Artist Alexander Brodsky – on the Spiritual Dimension of Art
Alexander Brodsky is an Orthodox priest and artist. We talked to him about his path, the subtle relationship between spirituality and art, the supreme intention, and the reasons for considering Oleg Kushnirskiy’s collection a natural stage in life and the historical cycle of his icons.
How did your path in the spiritual and artistic spheres begin? Did these directions develop separately or in parallel?
Alexander Brodsky: I was born in Tashkent in a family of artists, so I absorbed the academic art school since early childhood. My parents, talented artists, studied at the Tashkent Art School, and my mother also studied at the Riga Academy of Arts. My childhood was spent in a creative atmosphere, surrounded by nature.
At first, I didn’t want to study to be an artist, so after school, I decided to enroll in the Architecture department, but I didn’t pass. Then, I realized that fine art was my path and enrolled in an art school in Tashkent. Later, I studied at the Leningrad Higher School of Art and Industry named after V. I. Mukhina, the present-day Stieglitz Academy. In my freshman year, after several drawing classes where we made quick sketches of full-length sitters, the teacher came up to me and asked, “Who are your teachers? Where did you study?” I did not immediately understand her question and answered, “At the art school in Tashkent.” She clarified, “And who exactly taught you?” I gave several names. Only later did I realize the meaning of her question, understanding that my parents were my first and main teachers. It was they who laid the foundations of the academic school and my artistic perception.
The spiritual component has also always been important to me. Since childhood, I’ve had a feeling that there is another world besides the physical one. I remember my maternal grandmother, with whom I was very close, had three icons hanging at home. When I visited her, I always looked at them for a long time – they attracted me like a magnet. The icons seemed to be windows to the sky, to another dimension. Through them, I felt an invisible world where the soul came into contact with something else, which was not in the physical world. Surprisingly, my grandmother never talked about God or faith but only repeated, “Always be kind, carry goodness and love.”
Another important memory from my childhood is the image of the Savior in the reproduction of Ge’s painting “Christ in the Desert,” which my uncle brought from Germany. It also attracted me at all times by the mystical feeling of the desert and the image of the pensive Christ sitting on a rock in the evening light.
What questions were troubling you in the art and spiritual sphere at the beginning of your journey? How did you seek answers to them?
I was always searching for answers to questions about the soul and life’s meaning. I remember when I was in the 8th grade, I used to ask everyone after my grandfather’s death, “What’s behind the stars?” I got the answer later, inside myself: “There is a visible world, and there is an invisible one.” As I grew up, I was surprised and happy to find that the answers to my questions were revealed just when I needed them. I found them in the Gospel, in conversations with people, and in communion with nature and the world.
Please tell us about an episode in your life when such inner answers came to you.
After the second year of college, I had to take a gap year. The winter in Leningrad was very frosty, and I was unaccustomed to the cold climate and often fell ill. The doctor advised me to return to Tashkent to restore my health. I recovered quickly and worked a lot – I had my own large room, which I used as a workshop, and the very atmosphere of home and native place was very inspiring and fulfilling for me. I can’t name a specific moment, but that was the first time I really felt a connection with subtle energies in the form of light inspiring and filling my work.
Over the years, I have realized that the spiritual world is infinite, and one’s understanding of it expands as they ask questions and seek answers. I used to look for the answers externally, but now I am in a state where the answers come from within, through the realization of God in myself and myself in God. This inner world is full of light, sounds, and images.
Your work has a signature color scheme and style. How do these shapes and colors convey the spiritual concepts you wish to impart?
In my art, I strive to connect visible and invisible worlds. I have been working on several series for many years. In the early 1990s, I took part in an international youth retreat in Senezh, a creative base of the Artists’ Union of the USSR, with several friends. My friend and I went to the secretariat of the Moscow Union of Artists, and we were unexpectedly invited. We worked in Senezh for two months, and it was there that several important series, which I continue to develop to this day, were born. One of them was “Auric Man” where I strived to convey aura through color. This theme eventually evolved into the “Faces” series, which is more connected with the visible world.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, I created a series of works, titled “The Universe Cup.” One of the main works in this series depicts a cup containing the universe. I finished this painting in 2002, and this year, it seemed to “call” to me again. I added an eight-leaf clover, or eight-pointed star – a very ancient symbol, to the painting’s center. This symbol is also called the “flower of life” and is often found in the iconography of the Virgin Mary. It seems to have appeared on its own; I did not invent it, nor did I refer specifically to icons or other sources. This eight-leaf clover seems to rise from the cup or, on the contrary, to sink into it – everyone sees and feels it in their own way. Only after adding this symbol, I realized that now it is complete. It took me so many years to finish it.
What do you see as the mission of an artist – in general and personally?
I see myself as a vessel – a bowl filled with meanings. It is very important to realize what we fill ourselves with and what source we want to feed on. This is our choice, and what we can give to the world depends on it. When you are filled with true values, it is important to keep this purity and share it with others. This is my spiritual mission and ministry. Art is a way to convey not only external images but also deep, spiritual meanings.
What place do you think icons have in art? After all, they are not just connected to the spiritual but are its guides.
Icon painting has a unique place in art. For centuries, there has been a bridge between our material and spiritual worlds. The icon helps us touch the invisible dimensions of existence, the highest spiritual levels. A person who comes into contact with an icon always feels this connection. And this interaction enriches their spirit and mind, filling their life with higher meanings.
How did you get acquainted with Oleg Kushnirskiy’s collection of Russian icons?
This year, I met his son and director of the collection, Ilya. We were introduced to each other by the art critic Galina Mumrikova who had previously been at the presentation of the catalog of Oleg Kushnirskiy’s collection. We had a deep and fascinating conversation with Ilya, discussing many topics related to art and spirituality. It was a very inspiring encounter. Later, I studied the catalog of the collection with great interest.
What would you particularly note about Kushnirskiy’s collection?
First of all, it’s noteworthy that almost all the icons from this collection feature the border scenes of feasts and lives of saints, which is quite rare. Much more often, icons depict only one image of a saint. The border scenes depict and tell us about the main events and spiritual deeds of the saints or feasts. This approach to the formation of the collection gives it special spiritual depth and selectivity.
It also seems to me that Oleg Kushnirskiy did not just choose icons for his collection – they found him on their own as if they were calling him. I think nothing happens by chance, and there is God’s Providence in it.
What do you think is the significance of Oleg Kushnirskiy’s collection?
At the beginning of the 20th century, Russia went through hard and terrible times that affected all spheres of life, including its cultural heritage. Today, much has been written about how the Bolsheviks sold off works of art from our country’s museums to collectors and museums abroad.
For many years, I’ve been wondering why Russia, having collected such a rich heritage, had to lose it because of revolutions, wars, and other disasters. And suddenly, I got the answer: as a result of these complex and difficult historical events, our country was losing great minds and great creators. A huge wave of emigration carried away Russian families, Russian people, and the best figures of art, culture, and science, dispersing them throughout the world. Yet, at the same time, there was a kind of spiritual dispersal that helped spread our spiritual values globally. I haven’t encountered such a thought in literature, but it seems to me that there is a higher purpose behind it. I think there is an invisible spiritual ark, but there is also a visible one connected with the huge heritage of Byzantine and Russian iconography. Icons, being part of the visible ark, serve as a kind of portal for communication with the spiritual world. Scattered around the world, they gradually reveal new meanings to people. Those who are distant from the Orthodox faith perceive an icon as a kind of artistic object. But over time, compiled into collections in different countries, icons start their new lives by becoming a source of spiritual enlightenment.
Oleg Kushnirskiy has gathered an amazing collection reflecting his inner world and spiritual search. He leaned toward a specific school of icon painting, and he made a great gift to the world by opening the collection to everyone. Thus, his collection becomes part of that very ark, its visible side, which continues to open with new facets of spirituality for all those who seek spiritual meanings.