Opening Night - 'From Stone to Ether: The Journey Within'

14 Apr 2023 - by

It was a wonderful night for the opening exhibition of ‘From Stone to Ether” the journey within’ from master Florentine mosaicist, Anatoly Golobokov. And as soon as people entered, they were in awe at some of the wonderful visual art on display.

By the entrance, there was a table set up showing some of Anatoly’s works in progress, allowing them to see the elaborate process that goes into creating Anatoly’s meta-mosaics and highlighting some of the things they might look for in the artworks on display. There were also a sample of some of the semi-precious stones that Anatoly uses within his mosaics. In his artwork, Anatoly uses a broad colour palette of stones, highlighting the intricacies of stone textures and structures, and reveals how versatile stones can be despite their hard and cold facade. He makes you fall in love with the beauty of natural stones, their minute details and perfect imperfections. To see the stones here first in their natural state helped place the art in context, showing the materials that were used, and the process involved in transforming them into something new.

Genevieve Jacobs welcomed everyone to the evening, introducing Anatoly and talking about creativity and Christianity. There then followed speeches by Anatoly, his daughter Katya, Professor Wayne Hudson and Professor Yuri Kivshar. After this we were all treated to a stunning digital display, inviting people to enter into the world of Anatoly’s art and building a bridge that transitions his physical art into the digital realm. Each animated segment revealed Anatoly’s personal vision of what mysterious worlds each mosaic may contain within itself. A mix of original music and recorded sounds of the Universe (such as sounds of the Black Hole, the Sun, Venus and Earth) were used to add another layer to complete the sensory journey.

To end, we were all treated to some delicious food and wine, while everyone took another look around the exhibition.

The centrepiece of the exhibition is ‘Trinity’, showing three angels to symbolise the three dimensions of the world we live in – height, width and depth. Also in the meta-mosaic are included all the planets of the solar system, a gliding bird to represent the Holy Spirit and a vessel to symbolise Christ’s sacrifice.

Another show piece was ‘Saint Ekaterina Aleksandriskaya, made from ural jasper, Far East jasper, Australian prase and Italian and Russian smelter. The piece presents an icon with the image of the Holy Great Martyer Akaterina Aleksandriskaya, the daughter of the rule of Alexandria of Egypt, endowed with rare beauty and wisdom.

One intriguing mosaic was ‘Fractal Kaleidoscope’, a three-dimensional composition using natural stochastic fractals. It has a large image of an eye (the Universal Observer) and pieces of quartz and amethyst jut out from the flat surface. These pieces jutting out are difficult to see from a distance. They become apparently only when you get closer and then it feels necessarily to look at them from every side and every angle, revealing something different with every new vantage point. The artwork is confronting but also compelling. And the eye, which at first seems bizarre and a bit discomfiting, seems to grow more kinder and more beautiful the more that you look at it.

Yet each of the artworks in this glorious exhibition was worthy of admiration and contemplation, and perhaps each person found their own special mosaic that seemed to speak directly to them. For me, it was the Tasmanian Mother of God, based on a sketch by Fyodor Konyukhov, an ordained priest in the Ukrainian Catholic Church. Christ in the Desert also drew me in with his layers of stones, illustrating the temptation of Christ. If religious icons aren’t your thing, there are also meta-mosaics of animals, landscapes and abstract art.

To view this work once is to see something truly beautiful. But the more you look at it, the more it draws you in, revealing new and fascinating details and uncovering new layers of method and meaning. It can indeed become a journey within – a journey within the painting, a journey within oneself and perhaps a journey within the universe and the spiritual dimension.

To view more of Anatoly's Golobokov's work, follow him on Instagram.

Photos by Liz Jakimow