jun. 5. 2025 TVM Television Maja Savic Ohrid
With the promotion of the Monograph and Humanitarian Exhibition, Ohrid marked the jubilee, 55 years of artistic creativity of the academic painter Jordan Manasijeski. The famous Ohrid, Macedonian and world artist is pleased that his previous opus has been presented into a monograph that will remain as a part of a time, a witness and a gift that will speak about the holy city and the holy spaces. The many years of overall creativity and activity of the artist Manasijeski obliges us as individuals, institutions and society to continue presenting and promoting his work, will say his faithful collaborator, the gallerist Ljupco Župan.
The 55th anniversary of the work of the famous Ohrid, Macedonian and world artist, academic painter Jordan Manasijeski, was marked by his hometown of Ohrid with the promotion of a major work, a monograph dedicated to his work by the author Vladimir Velichkovski.
This is not just a monograph, it is a spiritual manifesto, it is a roadmap for the future salvation of humanity, as Jordan Manasijeski’s painting unites and bridges all times and spaces, says the promoter and art historian Vlado Gjoreski-Rafik.
–Jordan does not create, he interprets the world, seeks the vision of God’s painting, approaches the essence of existence, which we cannot and do not want to accept because of our damned conformism, worn out. This is asceticism. These are paintings that are prayers addressed to all the stars within us and above us, says Gjoreski-Rafik
Manasijeski is pleased that his previous opus has been translated into a monograph that will remain as a part of a time, a witness and a gift for future generations, which will speak about the holy city and the holy spaces.
“The artistic opus was actually in the beginning for me to understand things from the surrounding material world, I made several works from that opus, but later I felt that besides this material world of ours there was something else, bigger, to call it a secret message for some new spaces, so in a way by some non-coincidence, I think necessity, I made the first painting from that opus of spiritual art. That opus of spiritual art later developed and I managed to somehow persistently make more paintings, both small and large, helped by my friends who encouraged me to continue, they liked it. I continued until I entered the Bukefal Gallery at Ljup?o Župan’s.” – says Manasijeski.
The collaboration between Manasijeski and Župan can be called fateful. The gallerist will say that what he saw and experienced in Jordan’s studio, he had not experienced in any other place before.
“As a gallerist, I collaborate with many authors, especially from Macedonia, but the beginnings of working with Jordan Manasijeski introduced a new phase in my work. Having become more familiar with his painting, in consultation with several of my colleagues from Europe and commissions from the Autumn Salon and other art salons, it was decided that his paintings would be exhibited at those prestigious salons based on the style he works in and the messages that emerge from his paintings that something like this had not been seen in those salons before.” – says Ljupco Župan – Bukefal Gallery.
The promotion through the world’s art salons began with the exhibition of the painting “The Path to the Magnificent Gate” at the Autumn Salon in Paris, which was nominated for the Grand Prix award in competition with 600 world artists. After the excellent reactions from critics that Mansijeski’s painting was special, invitations to his exhibitions began to pour in, recalls Župan.
“The signs that his paintings were noticed by art critics, by salons in Chicago, New York, Florence, Paris, Tokyo are a sign to us that his painting has been noticed and that we can be happy that from this city, from the base of civilization, from Ohrid, we have a painter who conquers the world’s artistic trends, that is, he is paving the way for new contemporary art. That is a statement by the Italian critic Salvatore Russo, who expressed that sentence based on his insight into the works of Jordan Mansijeski.” – points out Župan.
Manasijeski creates tirelessly, constantly and curiously searching for secret messages about some new spiritual spaces. After each painting I feel joy, says the artist.
“Knowing that the material world is changeable, I surrendered myself nobly to spiritual art and saw that it is endless and the creator who has entered those spaces endlessly, even while alive, can create and understand those spaces, those small gates of the heavenly secrets.” – says Manasijeski.
The many years of overall creativity and activity of the artist Jordan Manasijeski obliges us as individuals, institutions and society to continue presenting and promoting his work, and the idea of ??establishing an institute for the analysis of his art has already begun, which is a precursor to the idea of ??a museum space, in which there would be an overview of his entire work, announces Župan.
Jordan Mansijeski’s monograph is a rich and luxurious hardcover edition of about 500 pages in Macedonian and English with almost 300 reproductions. The promotion of the monograph in Ohrid also had a humanitarian character. Part of the funds collected from the sale of graphics will be donated to support the victims in Kocani. It was previously promoted at the Macedonian Academy of Arts and Sciences in Skopje and in Bitola. Copies of the Monograph will be found in world art centres such as the Library of Congress in Washington, the Vatican Library, the Tate Modern Museum in London and others.
Mansijeski is the recipient of awards from several art centers, including the international “Michelangelo”, the award from the jury of the Biennale of Nations in Venice, from the Japanese Association of Contemporary Art. The city of Ohrid recognized its living legend and greatest artistic ambassador in the world by awarding the highest municipal award “St. Clement of Ohrid – Patron of the City of Ohrid” for 2014.
