Thomas Xenakis first came to Wesley Theological Seminary as Artist-in-Residence in 1996. Working quietly and almost unobtrusively at his easel, he patiently layered the thin coats of egg tempera onto carefully prepared boards, painting images of Jesus and the Saints in the exacting tradition of iconography in the style he had grown up with in the Greek Orthodox Church and studied as a Fulbright scholar in Greece.

Unlike many iconographers, however, Xenakis had also received a thorough grounding in the modernist tradition, having studied with the important figurist Phillip Pearlstein and others while in college; and had worked for a number of years as a medical illustrator, having received the Master of Arts degree in Art as Applied to Medicine at the prestigious Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

The technical skills acquired in the study of these varied approaches to art allowed him to envision a more deeply personal expression of spiritual realities. Even before his residency in our studio, Tom had begun to slash into the surface of certain meticulously-prepared iconic images, laying bare the supporting wood; and adding sculptural elements that similarly called attention to the physical presence of the artwork. His gift to the seminary from that time is an example of these experiments in breaking open the idea of the icon. The feathers, beads, wires, and torn paper of In the Jordan, hanging near the entry to the Kresge building, invite the viewer to consider the baptism of Jesus not simply as a spiritual metaphor, but as a quite literal, and very physical, inbreaking of another reality into time and space.

In the intervening eight years, Tom continued to paint and to study, acquiring the Master of Fine Arts degree at the Maryland Institute College of Art, and returning to Greece on a second Fulbright scholarship. The works in the present show, XPYSO (which means "gold" in Greek), bring together in a new way the technical skill of the iconographer, the meticulous observation of the medical illustrator, and the personal vision of the modernist painter.

These works begin like a traditional icon, with a gessoed panel surface, covered with gold leaf. In works with titles like "Emai (I Am)," "Theosis (Unification)," and "Zoe (Life)," the gold shines through the bright, swirling paint like a declaration of God’s glory, which is sometimes hidden from view but always present. Biomorphic shapes suggest the abundant, teeming of life in a puddle or a Petri dish, or the interior cells of some mysterious being. In some places, the edges of the gold leaf lift away from the surface, fluttering in any passing wind like a reminder of the Holy Spirit. In others, Xenakis gouges grooves and scratches down through the layers of paint, gold, and gesso, revealing the heart of the wood that supports the painting with delicate traceries that resemble footprints or the trail of a falling ember. This wounding of the surface adds to its interest and beauty, suggesting a parallel with the eternally wounded, eternally risen Body of Christ, broken for the healing of the nations, and eternally robed in glory.