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19 April, 2012 12:29PM AWST
Perth's places of worship: Macedonian Orthodox Church
By Brooke Bannister
Enter the Macedonian Orthodox Church of St Nikola and you'll find Perth's very own Michelangelo, Stephan Adamache, painting the domed ceiling. Just don't expect to find him on his back.
The first thing people say when they enter the unassuming Macedonian Orthodox Church of St Nikola in North Perth is 'Wow' according to Reverend Father Stanko Jovanovski.
The plain brick exterior gives the impression that Perth's Macedonian Orthodox Church is just another, traditional place of worship.
Brightly painted Biblical figures with gold halos adorn every wall depicting scenes from the Bible in a larger-than-life scale.
It is the lifelong work of iconographer Stefan Adamache that leaves believers and non-believers gobsmacked. And he is not finished yet.
"Maybe two to three years but probably more like five more years until I've finished," Mr Adamache says.
The impressive part is he started the project almost 20 years ago and has painstakingly hand-painted every single image, layer upon layer.
The first part of the commission was to paint the main dome of the church in 1995, which took about five months, and it went from there.
With the exception of two breaks a year when he visits his wife in England, Mr Adamache has been painting the North Perth Orthodox Church ever since.
"I live at the back of the church in a little room they organised for me, which is helpful because sometimes when I'm in a good mood I can work for 10 hours a day and just lie down for an hour and work again."
Born in Romania, Mr Adamache always had a love of painting but it wasn't until the fall of the Soviet Union that he had the opportunity to leave the country and pursue iconography in Macedonia.
He learnt much of what he knows about the Orthodox religion while painting the stories of the bible on the walls of the North Perth church.
Mr Adamache says he wants to expose the belief that the artist must lie on their back to paint dome ceilings.
"That's a myth, you can't work like that."
He's right too. Michelangelo actually constructed an elaborate scaffold system, not unlike Mr Adamache's, but didn't lie flat on his back to paint the Sistine Chapel as is portrayed in the movie starring Charlton Heston.
"You have to have what I call the 'necklace', which is a chickpea tin, I hang it around my neck and then I put a jar of paint inside so I have to dip the brush probably thousands of times a day... So Michelangelo wouldn't have done it differently."
You can visit Perth's Macedonian Orthodox Church and view Mr Adamache's masterpiece on most weekday mornings and weekends.
Perth's places of worship: Macedonian Orthodox Church
By Brooke Bannister
Enter the Macedonian Orthodox Church of St Nikola and you'll find Perth's very own Michelangelo, Stephan Adamache, painting the domed ceiling. Just don't expect to find him on his back.
The first thing people say when they enter the unassuming Macedonian Orthodox Church of St Nikola in North Perth is 'Wow' according to Reverend Father Stanko Jovanovski.
The plain brick exterior gives the impression that Perth's Macedonian Orthodox Church is just another, traditional place of worship.
Brightly painted Biblical figures with gold halos adorn every wall depicting scenes from the Bible in a larger-than-life scale.
It is the lifelong work of iconographer Stefan Adamache that leaves believers and non-believers gobsmacked. And he is not finished yet.
"Maybe two to three years but probably more like five more years until I've finished," Mr Adamache says.
The impressive part is he started the project almost 20 years ago and has painstakingly hand-painted every single image, layer upon layer.
The first part of the commission was to paint the main dome of the church in 1995, which took about five months, and it went from there.
With the exception of two breaks a year when he visits his wife in England, Mr Adamache has been painting the North Perth Orthodox Church ever since.
"I live at the back of the church in a little room they organised for me, which is helpful because sometimes when I'm in a good mood I can work for 10 hours a day and just lie down for an hour and work again."
Born in Romania, Mr Adamache always had a love of painting but it wasn't until the fall of the Soviet Union that he had the opportunity to leave the country and pursue iconography in Macedonia.
He learnt much of what he knows about the Orthodox religion while painting the stories of the bible on the walls of the North Perth church.
Mr Adamache says he wants to expose the belief that the artist must lie on their back to paint dome ceilings.
"That's a myth, you can't work like that."
He's right too. Michelangelo actually constructed an elaborate scaffold system, not unlike Mr Adamache's, but didn't lie flat on his back to paint the Sistine Chapel as is portrayed in the movie starring Charlton Heston.
"You have to have what I call the 'necklace', which is a chickpea tin, I hang it around my neck and then I put a jar of paint inside so I have to dip the brush probably thousands of times a day... So Michelangelo wouldn't have done it differently."
You can visit Perth's Macedonian Orthodox Church and view Mr Adamache's masterpiece on most weekday mornings and weekends.
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