Saint Georges le Victorieux

A horseman with a spear is the most recognisable image in Russian icon painting. He has stood on the coat of arms of Moscow since the fifteenth century, and the kopeck takes its name from his spear. Here George is not a portrait of a saint but a formula: horse, rider, spear, serpent — four signs that read from any distance and in any material.

The series lives that formula through dozens of ways. A red ground built up in layers with a drawing scratched into it, as in the Novgorod icons. Blue azulejo tile — the southern twin, São Miguel Arcanjo as he was painted on Portuguese facades. A black field where dozens of faces gather around the rider. A white horse on gold and a black horse on gold — the same subject turned into its negative.

The matter is relief, paint, gold leaf along the contour and the halo, epoxy resin over everything. The gold is laid as leaf and muted: it does not shine, it answers the light, and by evening the work is different from what it was in the morning. Every piece is assembled by hand and exists in a numbered edition.

A series for those who want a guardian image — in a living room, a study, a reception hall. George holds the wall the way he has held the coat of arms for five hundred years.