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Slavoljub Galic - Đani
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BLESSING Hardly anything happens accidentally. Thus it happened, presumably by Predestination, (in the year so-and-so), that firstly the pilgrim and then Mr. Slavoljub Galić, nicknamed Đani, a citizen from Kragujevac found himself in imperial Lavra, the endowment of the honorable Nemanjić dynasty, the Symbol and whole of Serbian body, in Hilandar Monastery. The donor of gifts, as it has long been known, does not forget His favorites, thus replenishing their sacks whenever they are empty. Then, recognizing the favorite, the Hilandar monks, administers of His will, endowed him, not with redundant but with their mere possessions. Although old tools were in question, the essence of the gift is not diminished. On the contrary, the importance of the story is thus increased. To make the story clear, the tools consisted of old, crumbling hoes, spades and shovels out of use, but widely known to have been weld by Gypsies. All of them were given to Galić with blessing. Returning home, stunned with the strength and the charity of the holy place, filled with plentitude of beauty and kindness, the noble goldsmith began the second round of creation. Firstly, he recast the tools and then hammered, laminated and sorted out, designing and shaping, respecting both the Creator and the object. And, from the borderland of mind, or even further, where the dreams reside and multiply, a series of thirty-three symbols, works dedicated to the number of Christ’s earthly years emerged. Humans are not able to create out of nothing, like the almighty Creator, but with His permission, they may reasonably imitate him. Thus, taking iron as basic, historically younger and therefore closer to perishable human nature, he laid, impregnated, hammered, cast, spread sunny tears into the cascades of gold, adding a tiny beam of heavenly light captured in the precious stone to and fro. Gold has been known as noble, but burdening and torturing for the imperfect human soul ever since; yet for the enlightened, it hides multitude of meanings, noble and secret. Among the secret ones are the hint, apparition and enunciation of incomprehensible deity and its numerous reflections, especially symbolic when serving as a sound or toll of inapproachable and divine light of the Creator. It is in this segment of symbolical body where this laborious worker’s use of gold should be most often observed and interpreted. In the Monk’s Satchel, gold is in the background, signposting to Bethlehem Star and beatific and guiding sign of the cross. In Hilandar Wheel, the whole circle is covered with gold with a diamond in the centre, thus implying both Never-Sleeping Eye and the whole Universe surmounted and bordered by the emptiness and Everlasting Cross. In Hilandar Gateway, a whole, lofty arch is filled with gold, thus pointing out the symbol of a narrow door through which all who pass may be saved. Yet, fragmentary accents of gold are more often on the dark, cast, iron foundation, where the first element of Volcano, symbolic and favorable matter of alchemists, should be perceived and bound to artificial, decaying and earthly, yet sufficiently durable to be the measure of human transience. On those dark, differently hammered iron plaques, the accents of gold are readable and recognizable like in Jacob’s Ladder, where the Greek and somewhat Maltese cross betokens the final salvation to all who approach it; similar is the Cross that symbolizes the course of the River of Jordan or the small one, composed of sunny tears that bears the primary iron Cross, preventing it from splitting; there are also cast crosses that communicate with surrounding elements tending to cover everything one day, and submit to divine nature. The hint of the Second Advent is found in Labyrinth of Hilandar, in the base of the ring or in wavy cross, as if seen through water in the Monastery Nail, or like luminous cross with aureole in the ring named Nucleus. In the keyring composition, named as Salvation by the author, the observer, i.e. future bearer, is taught in a sublime way that the straw can be caught only by the greatest earthly symbol, by the cross that sublimes temptation, cavalry, atonement and redemption. Hilandar Dawn is also a ‘loquacious’ key-ring that promotes sufferance, accomplishment and redemption for the most devoted and the most faithful souls. Winding and narrow path with multitude of gold drops, acquired gifts and a cross-like perforation that symbolizes universal eternity with flaming point of diamond, light and radiates with so powerful energy that makes us breathless (The Way to Holy Mountain). There is also the Bethlehem Cave, the composition of supreme correlation between of Heavens and the earthly gifts of heaven; the cave itself is covered with a curtain, the symbol of curtains in Jerusalem Temple where the Great Secret (Secret of Secrets) is kept, now taken as the symbol of the secret of Christ’s advent to the earth; the drops of gold that flourish under the curtain should be sensed as precious gifts for the believers; the gold disk with the inscription Victorious Christ is easy to understand as the flag of victory for those who follow His path. In these works, we firstly recognize manifold symbols in diamonds as divine, light emanations, although physical connotations of the mineral can be revealed in the spacious labyrinth of meanings. Among most distinct are Bethlehem or some of Virgin Mary’s stars, but those that denote supremacy of the spiritual in regard to the physical also exist, as well as sovereignty of the Creator over the subjects. Thus, we recognize the indication of Birth, the triumph of Resurrection… until the indication of Second Advent of the Lord. At first glance, this collection captivates us with its rudimentary character, the lack of hammering, concise and powerful stylization, simple compositions whose meanings spread further whenever looked at again. Everything somehow hovers in the borderland of the virtual, like the creations originating from a child’s heart in which the possibilities of reading permanently multiply. Yet, each piece has its practical value, thus can be regarded both as work of fine and applied art, i.e. design. It is not quite strange to combine iron and gold; it was most often practiced in weapons, from Vikings, Damascus to noble Tulla, but its application in objects that are to be utilized is new, and precious stones easily enter their anciently possessed realm.
Quite new is that the material that was once
consecrated by its presence in the holy place is now used as the
foundation of overall contents, like salt and wheat alongside with
yeast in newly processed bread. Thus, fortunate holders of this
jewelry will be endowed the essential, transient and direct
protection of Hilandar sacredness in future. And the whole deed
should be considered the intersection of the realistic and the
vision, the expression of belief and noble heart, the endeavour
conducted by supernatural and supreme principle in which the
realized are At the exhibition, the first public presentation and proclamation of the works and the artist, those who do not exclaim Aksios, i.e. the Worthy will make a mistake. I strongly believe in accuracy of the aforementioned statement, convinced that the time of the gentleman and the artist Slavoljub Galić Đani is yet to come. The Blessing endowed to him and this work is the guarantee for all assessments. Metohija, |
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