Janusz Kirenko
Icons
Prof. Janusz Kirenko, PhD was born in Lublin. He graduated from the Faculty of Pedagogy and Psychology at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, where in 2009, he received was promoted to professor. In 2008, he was honoured with the prestigious title of the “Founder of Polish Rehabilitation” awarded by the Chapter of the Polish Society for Rehabilitation of the Disabled for outstanding scientific achievements in the field of rehabilitation. In 2010, he received the Silver and Gold Cross of Merit for his pro-social activity. Apart from scientific, educational and social endeavours, he is also an avid painter. Prof. Kirenko has contributed to a number of solo and collective exhibitions, both in Poland and abroad. In 2007, he also published his first collection of haiku poems entitled “Unfathomable torment of dreams”, and in subsequent years: “In My Touchiness” (2008), “Some Portraits, Reflections, Impressions”(2009), and “Landscape. In Search of Harmony” (2012). The titles of his collections of poems are often also featured in his painting exhibitions, and some of his paintings bear inscriptions quoting lines from his haikus.
Other galleries of the author
Icons
Janusz Kirenka’s first icons created in 1990 were inspired by a strong personal experience and constituted the author’s unique form of prayer, an expression of his inherent spirituality. They were painted with his lips, with reverence dictated by the artist’s great sensitivity which demanded ceaseless attention to every detail facilitated by his in-depth knowledge of iconography. – Of the works presented at Janusz Kirenko’s ICONS exhibition at Galeria Art Brut, we chose to describe an icon entitled HODEGETRIA, which was later recreated by the painter in 2014. The original Hodegetria dates back to 1991. It is painted in oil on a 21 by 29 cm board (the size of two sheets of A-40 paper).. A short digression should be made at this point to clarify the meaning of the painting. Hodegetria, the Guide Pointing to Jesus, or Our Lady of the Way, was a Byzantine patron of travellers and protector of the blind. Her image is the oldest and most prominent of all iconographic themes. It is said that she was first portrayed by Saint Luke the Evangelist of Antioch. As already mentioned, Janusz Kirenko painted his Hodegetria in 1991 and based his work on an icon by Simon Ushakov – paraphrasing the original but maintaining the layout and style of the original Theotokos. Kirenko’s copy depicted Virgin Mary against a celadon background, frontally, as a half-figure. Her poise lacks motherly familiarity, despite the faces of mother and child being slightly inclined towards each other. The mother and child both gaze towards the left hand of Jesus in which he is holding a rolled up papyrus. The Virgin Mary holds her son in the hook of her left arm and points towards him with a dignified gesture of her right hand. Christ’s entire face is visible and is in no way reminiscent of a child’s – it is a face of a mature, intelligent man. His robe is purple and red, meticulously crafted with minute red brush strokes against a yellow background - the effect of three-dimensionality is achieved by careful application of paint layers in varying thickness. The texture is detectable to the touch. The robe of Virgin Mary is painted using the same technique. Her veil is purple on the outside, with silver trim and celadon lining underneath – weaved by the author’s skilled brush strokes with a network of lines so minute that it gives the impression of three-dimensionality. The green dress is visible only by a glimpse of the right sleeve protruding from behind the veil. The dress is richly adorned. Over the right shoulder of Virgin Mary, her name is written in Cyrillic. Both Jesus and his Mother have large, richly gold, plate-shaped halos around their heads. The icon is signed in the right-hand corner, at the very bottom, and dated 1991. By Kirenko’s own estimate, the work on the icon took him approximately 2 months.