Byzantine Art (4th – 15th century CE) is generally characterised by a move away from the naturalism of the Classical tradition towards the more abstract and universal, there is a definite preference for two-dimensional representations, and those artworks which contain a religious message predominate. However, by the 12th century CE Byzantine art has become much more expressive and imaginative, and although many subjects are endlessly recycled, there are differences in details throughout the period.
Whilst it is true that the vast majority of surviving artworks are religious in subject, this may be a result of selection in subsequent centuries as there are abundant references to secular art in Byzantine sources and pagan subjects with classical iconography continued to be produced well into the 10th century CE and beyond.
Using bright stones, gold mosaics, lively wall paintings, intricately carved ivory, and precious metals in general, Byzantine artists beautified everything from buildings to books, and their greatest and most lasting legacy is undoubtedly the icons which continue to decorate Christian churches around the world.
Aleksandar Filev is a famous Macedonian painter and mosaicist whose work has been influenced by the Byzantine Art and he has shown in his collection of paintings the crucial features thereof.
Aleksandar Filev was born in 1982 in Strumica. He began his education at the Lazar Lichenoski secondary school for applied art in Skopje, and continued at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Skopje, department of painting with conservation and restoration in the class of prof. Blagoja Manevski. Since 2001, he has been an assistant in the open studio for contemporary mosaic. He participates in the production of the monumental mosaics in the Memorial Center in the village. Pelince, as well as in several art projects and group exhibitions.
His works can be found in many private and state collections and institutions, including the International Strumica Art Colony, the Museum of Contemporary Mosaic Bracciano – Italy, but also as mosaic solutions for several sacred objects.
Filev has been working of the paintings collection “Suffering”. According to him, by drawing a figure from the colors poured on the white canvas, he got an association with the image of Jesus. Since then, he started working on this cycle of paintings that are painted in different variants in large formats, in an expressive way, in which you can feel his suffering, his pain in his eyes, his torture.
When you see the Holy Mother of God and other Jesus representation in his collection of works, one can recognize the icono-personal Byzantine representation of the Mother of God, retold in his artistic language. The impact of the Byzantine heritage on our ontological identity is profound. He loves Byzantine painting. It has always been the inspiration of many painters, but his works are not in the canonical way of painting, He tries in his own authentic way to paint the Mother of God, Jesus or any religious representation, still weaving the features of Byzantine art in the background.
He has been working on his latest collection since 2020 and it is about works with large formats. So far, he has painted about 40 works, but still the time has not come for an exhibition yet, because he still has a lot to say, and of course the next exhibition will be with these latest works.
