Stefan Arteni

(Geizan )

calligraphy
and the
scripto-pictoric works
II

SolInvictus Press 2008

The Byzantine Tradition

The pervasive kenotic spirituality of

East and South-East Europe,
profoundly akin to the principle of
sunyata (void, nothingness,
emptiness) or to Kitaro Nishida’s
notion of the mu no basho, the
place of nothingness , discloses
itself as the path of operational
suchness. Kenneth Inada describes
emptiness as “an experiental fact of
epistemological non-assertion”.
The work is methodically
deconceptualized – Byzantine
apophaticism and the Upanishad’s
via negativa, “neti, neti”, which
means “not this, not that”, or
“neither…nor…”, point to the fact
that visual art is forever resistant to
and refuses the limit imposed by
definition and conceptualization.

Apocalypse, album of clay monotypes

Anastasis, seal carving

Icon
(ink pochoir on vellum)
I wish to say that I have gradually
rediscovered the Byzantine tradition,
it has affirmed itself as my deeper
personality. Paradoxically, perhaps,
it is to Japan I owe this return to my
deepest origins.

Stefan Arteni

Greek monogram: THEOSIS,

seal carving
Far Eastern visual production
techniques employed for
carvings seals with Icons

In an article written for the online journal Theandros, Thorsten Botz-Bornstein

argues that there is a striking parallel between Byzantine and Japanese
aesthetics.
The mute-optical element has priority. Acts of formalization create a reality of
their own, a reality that is strictly a formal one, a style mediated only through
style, a reality which presents nothing but itself - style as a virtual world, or,
paradoxically, as virtual irreality.
Graphein means to write, to paint; graphia means writing, painting.
Icons scrolls,
“Sign of The Logos”, Artist’s Books and Related Materials,
A Retrospective Exhibition of Sol Invictus Press
(November 19, 1998 - April 16, 1999) , St. Mark's Library, The General
Theological Seminary (New York). Curated by Isaac Gewirtz.
Icons scrolls,
“Sign of The Logos”, Artist’s Books and Related Materials,
A Retrospective Exhibition of Sol Invictus Press
(November 19, 1998 - April 16, 1999) , St. Mark's Library, The General
Theological Seminary (New York). Curated by Isaac Gewirtz.
Icons scroll
Icons scroll
Icons scroll
Icons scroll
Stefan Arteni, though trained thoroughly and rigorously in the
East Asian calligraphic arts, often employs them in a non-
traditional fashion uniquely his own. This is most obvious in
the subjects of his compositions. Many of them describe or
are inspired by scenes and figures from the New Testament,
and many feature or include symbols from the Greek
Orthodox tradition… Arteni's interpretations of these symbols
often use the Zen circle as their basic structure. Tellingly, the
lines themselves, regardless of subject matter or Arteni's use
of them in New Testament scenes…seem to form calligraphic
characters. This results in a reinterpretation of Orthodox
iconography and of Western traditions of New Testament
representation. Image becomes character; that is to say,
Word, or Logos.

The two-dimensionality of these drawings, typical of Orthodox

icon painting, as well as of much Western abstract
representation, is animated by the spontaneity of brushwork
found in Japanese and Chinese hand-drawn characters. As
in such characters, the lines work together to form an organic
whole, each of them equally important, regardless of its size
or position. Paradoxically, this does not lead to a sense of
confusion, if the viewer is willing to look with quiet attention.
When these images are seen without the interference of our
conditioned expectations of how artistic representation should
function, the viewer comes to apprehend the importance of
each detail to the unity of the entire scene.
Isaac Gewirtz, Curator, Henry W. And Albert A. Berg
Collection of English and American Literature, The New Laudes Creaturarum
York Public Library (a poem by St Francis of Assisi)
artist’s book
 Five-paneled folding front for the wrapper of Laudes Creaturarum based on the enso,
(Zen circle) theme

The ink-and-brush symbol of the Chrismon (a circle containing the Greek initials of Jesus Christ, I X) on
the wrapper front, which closes in two facing panels, opens upon an Ichthys (a fish within a circle). The
folding panels themselves become a metaphor for revelation.
Isaac Gewirtz, Curator, Henry W. And Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American
Literature, The New York Public Library
Ichthys (ΙΧΘΥΣ) , seal carving
Work in a
private collection,
Tokyo, Japan
Work in a
private collection,
Tokyo, Japan
Icons for a Spiritual Exercise,
album of ink monotypes
Icons for a Spiritual Exercise, album of ink monotypes
Icons for a Spiritual Exercise, album of ink monotypes
Icons for a Spiritual Exercise, album of ink monotypes
Icons for a Spiritual Exercise, album of ink monotypes
Icons for a Spiritual Exercise, album of ink monotypes
Icons for a Spiritual Exercise,
album of collages
Icons for a Spiritual Exercise, album of collages
Icons for a Spiritual Exercise, album of collages
Icons for a Spiritual Exercise, album of collages
Icons for a Spiritual Exercise, album of collages
Icons for a Spiritual Exercise, album of collages
Icons for a Spiritual Exercise,
album of ink paintings
Icons for a Spiritual Exercise, album of ink paintings
Icons for a Spiritual Exercise, album of ink paintings
Icons for a Spiritual Exercise, album of ink paintings
Icons for a Spiritual Exercise, album of ink paintings
Icons for a Spiritual Exercise, album of ink paintings
The Prayer of Jesus, artist’s book
The Prayer of Jesus, artist’s book
The Prayer of Jesus, artist’s book
The Prayer of Jesus, artist’s book
The Prayer of Jesus, artist’s book
The Prayer of Jesus,
artist’s book