SAINT Chalom is a Melbourne based visual artist and Christian mystic. His “organic abstract” works (with solid roots in the abstract expressionist movement of the mid 20th century), attempt to impart spiritual blessing,  impart healing and to express the wonder of the created realm in a meditative and worshipful way. “Chalom” is a Hebrew word meaning “Dreamer” or “the act of dreaming” and the word enjoys a close relationship in meaning to the more familiar Hebrew word “Shalom” which means “Peace”. Since his first solo exhibition in Sydney in 2021 at age 56, he has had busy round of Solo shows, art prizes, art fairs and group exhibitions, enjoying a rapid rise in recognition and success in Australia’s vibrant art scene.

The collection of works he has created for “If Only” was painted between April and July 2025. In essence they are energetic and worshipful responses to Creator and the landscape Saint Chalom lives in, at 600 metres altitude atop Melbourne’s Dandenong Ranges, among the highest altitude homes in the region. He lives on a multi-acre property with vegetation ranging from 70 metre tall Mountain Ash trees to sculpted heritage gardens, with views out to the South and East, primarily towards the Yarra Ranges and snowfields of Mount Donna Buang and beyond. As he was working, Autumn drew to a close and began shifting into Winter and these works are a deeply spiritual response to the energy, movement and life of the changing of seasons he witnessed at that time. The intention (literally written into each work) in the works is that there would be a tangibly experienced touch or visitation from the Divine realm when the viewer gets close to them. In these works, the question is being asked: can man-made artefacts act as an impartational vessel for the spiritual intentions and anointing of an artisan connected to the Divine? The entire practice of the anointing cloth and creating a prayer cloth comes from Acts 19:11–12. “And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.”