Modern icon painter creates unconventional art with Jesus Christ (PICS)
What if God was one of us? Saving a child from falling into a manhole, feeding workers, blessing newlyweds? Artist Andrei Bodko fantasized about it in a series of religious paintings titled ‘Always Near’.
Andrei Bodko is a professional iconographer. He graduated from the Saint Tikhon's Orthodox University in Moscow and, since 2009, he has painted many icons for churches and private individuals.
But, Andrei has his own unique view, as, until the age of 25, he was a street artist. In March 2024, he decided to diversify his iconography and draw a series of non-canonical religious pictures he called ‘Always Near’. He believes that his works are reminiscent of pre-revolutionary ‘lubki’ (Russian naive pics of church themes).
“These are not icons, but religious paintings on Christian themes,” the artist says. “How do we believe in Christ in the 21st century? Is he around, helping us? We believe that God is omnipresent, he hears every beat of our heart, sees all our thoughts. God is always near, but we don't see him.”
Andrew believes that because Jesus Christ was born, incarnated as a human being, we can picture him, we can picture that he is near, wherever we are. “Sometimes, he helps and sometimes he just sympathizes.”
Below are some of his works.
Christ assisting a teenager
Christ saving a child who fell down a manhole
Christ and Nikolai Gogol eating spaghetti
Christ feeding construction workers
Christ giving a writer inspiration
Christ visiting a rehabilitation center
Christ is grieving when we quarrel
Christ blessing newlyweds
Christ reading bedtime stories
Christ visiting the artist
