4. ART LINKS: AUSTRIA / SERBIA
2018. GALLERY “GRENZART”, HOLLABRUNN, AUSTRIA
AUSTRIAN-SERBIAN ARTISTS EXCHANGE, PART 2
Time: 19. october – 18. november 2018.
Producers: Danube dialogues: Cooperation extended, GrenzArt & Cultural center of Novi Sad
Place: Gallery GrenzArt, Hollabrunn, Austria
Exhibition title: “Rock-paper-scissors”
Curated by Maja Erdeljanin
Group exhibition of Serbian artists: Danijel Babić, Danica Bićanić, Maja Erdeljanin, Goran Despotovski, Jelena Đurić, Goran Jureša, Nebojša Lazić, Lazar Marković, Mileta Poštić, Monika Sigeti, Jelena Sredanović and Georg Vinokic.
ROCK-PAPER-SCISSORS
The exhibition “Rock-Paper-Scissors” presents twelve artists from Novi Sad (Serbia) through their artworks on paper, from paper, complemented by use of rock or scissors: drawings, collage pieces, lithographies, objects, a video installation… The topic refers to the used material on the one hand, and on the other hand, it compares life and art with this well-known game, as well as with less entertaining and more complex phenomena such as: the issues of power, (in)justice, decision making in situations of crisis, factor of luck or presence of “force majeure” that sometimes takes presidence over skill and hard work, and generally provides a balance that is often disturbed but none other than ourselves. These problems are reflected in the artiworks by the following authors: Danijel Babić, Danica Bićanić, Maja Erdeljanin, Goran Despotovski, Jelena Đurić, Goran Jureša, Nebojša Lazić, Lazar Marković, Mileta Poštić, Monika Sigeti, Jelena Sredanović and Georg Vinokic.
The game “Rock-Paper-Scissors” is played in pairs; there are three symbols that the players form with their hands – a fist for rock, open-palmed hand for paper and two fingers extended for scissors. Each of the elements is stronger or weaker than the others. The luck factor or successful psychological assessment of the opponent affects the choice of the symbol that the players show. Due to its random character, it is often a method of choice for bringing unbiased decisions instead of tossing a coin or drawing straws.
The thematic and performing concepts of the artists represented in the exhibition can also be seen in pairs, who contribute to and oppose one another through their creative expressions. Some of the artists are presented with drawings on paper. Danijel Babić addresses the exhibition topic concretely, with a piece of the same name, depicting, with a lot of irony, a problematic emotional relationship between two people, where each of them seeks to dominate over the other one. Through reduced figures and lines, almost with no colour, he gives a clear graphic illustration of personal disappointment. Jelena Đurić, on the other hand, also reflects on the complexity of interactions between people in a relationship, showing them through abstracted coloured surfaces done in oil pastels on paper called “Encounters”. The paper is torn and peeled off in places, but this apparent destruction of the material, coupled with the dynamics of lines and coloured blotches to the background of empty white surfaces contribute to the richness and harmony of the image as a whole.
Mileta Poštić has extended the field of his interest to envelop all segments of life, in the first place the culture based on the media imperative and a mass of superficial information, which is allegedly supposed to prepare a person for successful life. Through works published in the book “111 Recipes for Happy Life”, he offers lucid, somewhat nightmarish, at times humorous, cartoon-like depictions of the contemporary society leading us through its segments from taboo, through conspiracy theories, to instant life philosophies. Realistic figurative images of somewhat bizarre scenes can be found on the drawings by Monika Sigeti as well. She literally reshapes the format of the paper, cutting it by scissors, giving an important role in the composition to the missing parts. The rest of the format is covered by drawn and coloured female figures conservatively dressed and positioned in luxuriant interiors, surrounded by several images, leaving to the observer to imagine the rest of the story, as well as the history of elements that are permanently taken away from the format of the piece.
Collage, as a medium that allows an extensive span of combining techniques and images, visual references and responses to them, is a kind of a dialogue with semi ready solutions, with already prepared art statements. Maja Erdeljanin understands collage as a starting point for a story about the moments that are not memorable, those moments we cherish the least, but which make up the majority of our lives. Her work is a collage composed of bus tickets, flyers, receipts for paid bills. “The Days of Awareness” is her personal calendar and diary that she has been occasionally revisiting for more than 10 years in order to dedicate a piece for each date in the calendar. In contrast to this treatment of personal history and a purposeful diversion from great topics, there are works of Goran Jureša, who, through collages “Deconstruction of the World?” and historical facts, speaks of the bloodthirstiness of some people in power that goes unpunished if there are enough people who are corrupted by its results. If the benefit of one nation is at stake, even if it is just the sake of the nation’s richest class, no one seeks justice for the other nation at whose expense this benefit is gained. Like his historic topics and figures it treats, his collages are made of sharp cut-outs from textbooks and composed on school notebook lined paper, used as an environment for the artist’s vision of the world.
Graphic paper serves as the background for the works of several artists, with heavy lithographic stone or wooden matrix serving as a means of achieving the artist’s personal pursuit of creative freedom. Nebojsa Lazic, master of graphic printmaking, was presented with several lithographic pages. By drawing birds and cages in energetic black lines, the cages that threaten to imprison, or that have just freed them, the author lets out his fears and tears down limits, imposed by the norms of the world that is, for him, devoid of any colour at that moment. As a contrast to these birds that are forcibly grounded, Jelena Sredanović offers to the viewer a vision of a free birds’ flight. In her coloured prints performed in the lithographic technique of wood engraving, she depicts the blue skies above the clouds, rising above the passing troubles that make us forget that the sun keeps shining above us. The feeling of lightness in the almost photorealistic images of soft clouds is contributed to by the very fine Japanese paper that these large format pieces are printed on.
Lazar Marković creates his drawings on the computer. He deconstructs abstracted photographs of his environment, digitally changes their structure by colours and drawing, and then makes interventions on the printed copies, damaging them on purpose, to show his attitude towards the eternally parallel processes of construction and deconstruction of the world. Georg Vinokic, too, looks from his own perspective at the transiency and the power relations within an individual. The structures of the paintings on canvas and paper are previously enriched by papier-mâché. The reliefs he creates change the surface of the pieces forever and predetermine the composition, but the motif of the predefined limits as such speaks of the susceptibility to changes. “The Passers-by” are fragile, static plants that sprout, grow, bear fruit and die before us.
Finally, this exhibition comprises works of two conceptual artists engaging the gallery interior. Danica Bićanić displays soft objects that resemble stones, and are actually either piles of plastic bags with garbage or nylons made into a collage on a paper surface. Interactive sculptures made of soft rubber, named “Shaping”, are there for the audience to shape as they like, allowing the willing visitors to be artists, shaping together the reality, that is, the sculpture, depending on their various perceptions, interrelationships and communication. Goran Despotovski treats the human figure, and the roles we assume during our lifetime, adapting ourselves, letting the roles change us from outside and inside. The print and video piece “Electricity” cuts the human skin surface on segments like a tailor’s model. It also shows “patterns” in the form of pores and body hair, as well as damages, skin marks and scars, which appear with long-term use.
Multiple techniques, the transition from a drawing into a print, from a print into a digital print, from a picture into an object, from an object into a video installation, from an installation into a collage, and from it back into a drawing, is a feature of almost all pieces in this exhibition, like the popular game it is named after itself, where none of the subjects, none of the topics, none of the techniques is superior to the others, but it just serves as a temporary means for facilitating the communication of the message, as a creative tool.
The exhibition “Rock-Paper-Scissors” has been co produced by the Cultural Centre of Novi Sad and the Danube Dialogues Festival, within the project “Cooperation Extended – Art Links” in cooperation with the artists association “GrenzArt” from Hollabrunn in Austria, as part of art exchange.
Maja Erdeljanin
19 oktobar-18. novembar 2018.
GrenzArt, Hollabrunn, Austrija
COOPERATION EXTENDED – 4. ART LINKS 2018: SRBIJA
Danijel Babić, Danica Bićanić, Maja Erdeljanin, Goran Despotovski, Jelena Đurić, Goran Jureša, Nebojša Lazić, Lazar Marković, Mileta Poštić, Monika Sigeti, Jelena Sredanović i Georg Vinokic
ROCK-PAPER-SCISSORS
Izložba “Kamen-papir-makaze” predstavlja dvanaest umetnika iz Novog Sada (Srbija) kroz njihove radove na papiru, od papira, uz upotrebu kamena ili makaza: crteži, kolaži, litografija, objekti, video instalacija… Tema se odnosi na korišćeni materijal sa jedne, a sa druge strane poredi život i umetnost sa poznatom igrom, kao i sa manje zabavnim i složenim pojavama poput: pitanja moći, (ne)pravde, donošenja odluka u kriznim situacijama, faktora sreće ili postojanja “više sile” koja ponekad prevagne nad veštinom i napornim radom, i uopšte čini ravnotežu koju često sami narušavamo. O pomenutim problemima u svojim delima razmišljali su sledeći autori: Danijel Babić, Danica Bićanić, Maja Erdeljanin, Goran Despotovski, Jelena Đurić, Goran Jureša, Nebojša Lazić, Lazar Marković, Mileta Poštić, Monika Sigeti, Jelena Sredanović i Georg Vinokic.
Sama igra “Kamen-papir-makaze” se igra u dvoje, postoje tri simbola koje igrači formiraju svojim šakama, pesnica za kamen, ispružena šaka za papir i dva pružena prsta za makaze. Svaki od ta tri elementa jači je od jednog i slabiji od drugog. Faktor sreće ili uspešne psihološke procene protivnika utiče na odabir simbola koje igrači pokazuju. Zbog svoje nasumičnosti često se odabira i kao fer metod donošenja nepristrasnih odluka umesto bacanja novčića ili izvlačenja slamki.
Tematske u izvođačke koncepcije umetnika koje ova izložba predstavlja, takođe se mogu sagledati u parovima koji se kroz svoj lični kreativni izraz nadopunjuju i suprotstavljaju jedan drugom. Jedan deo umetnika predstavlja se crtežima na papiru. Danijel Babić na temu ove izložbe odgovara konkretno, istoimenim radom, posmatrajući sa puno ironije problematični odnos dvoje ljudi u ljubavnoj vezi, od kojih svako pokušava da uspostavi dominaciju i tako nadvlada onog drugog. Svedenim figurama i linijama, gotovo bez boje, jasno daje grafički prikaz, ilustraciju svog ličnog razočarenja. Jelena Đurić, sa druge strane, takođe promišlja o kompleksnim odnosima u vezi, prikazujući ih kroz apstrahovane bojene površine rađene uljanim pastelom na papiru pod nazivom „Susreti“. Na pojedinim mestima papir je cepan i guljen, ali ova prividna destrukcija materijala uz dinamiku linija i obojenih fleka spram praznih belih površina doprinosi bogatstvu i harmoničnosti čitavog prizora.
Mileta Poštić je polje svog interesovanja proširio na sve segmente života, pre svega na kulturu zasnovanu na imperativu medija i mnoštvu površnih informacija, sa krajnjom namerom da pojedica navodno osposobe za uspešan život. Kroz radove objavljene i u knjizi „Mileta’s 111 Recipes for Extremelly Happy Life“ daje lucidne, pomalo košmarne, a ponegde i humorne stripske prikaze savremenog društva u kojima ismeva sve njegove segmente, od tabua, preko teorija zavere, do instant životnih filozofija. Realistični figurativni prizori donekle bizarnih scena nalaze se i u crtežima Monike Sigeti. Ona doslovno prekraja format papira, isecajući ga makazama, čineći nedostajuće delove važnim delom kompozicije. Na ostatku formata iscrtava u boji ženske likove konzervativno obučene u raskošnim enterijerima, u okruženju od po nekoliko prizora, koji posmatraču ostavljaju na volju da sam zamisli ostatak priče, kao i istoriju elemenata koji su zauvek odstranjeni iz formata rada.
Kolaž, kao medij koji dozvoljava veliki raspon kombinovanja tehnika i prizora, vizuelnih citata i replika na iste, predstavlja jednu vrstu dijaloga sa već polugotovim rešenjima, već unapred pripremljenim likovnim iskazima. Maja Erdeljanin kolaž shvata kao polazište za priču o trenucima koji se ne pamte ni po čemu, koje najmanje cenimo, a najveći su deo naših života. U svoj rad kolažira autobuske karte, flajere, plaćene račune. „Dani svesnosti“ su njen lični kalendar i dnevnik, kojem se već više od 10 godina povremeno vraća kako bi svakom datumu kalendara posvetila jedan rad. U suprotnosti sa ovim bavljenjem ličnom istorijom, svesnog odvraćanja pogleda od velikih tema, nalaze se radovi Gorana Jureše koji kroz kolaže „Dekonstrukcija sveta“ i istorijske činjenice govori o krvoločnosti pojedinih ljudi na vlasti koja prolazi nekažnjeno ukoliko je dovoljno ljudi njenim rezultatima korumpirano. Ukoliko je u pitanju dobrobit čitave jedne države, makar samo njenog bogatijeg sloja, niko ne traži pravdu za drugi narod koji tu dobrobit obezbeđuje. Poput istorijskih tema i likova koje obrađuje, i njegovi kolaži su makazama oštro isecani iz udžbenika i uklapani u papire iz školskih svezaka na linije, u kojima nastaje umetnikovo viđenje istorije sveta.
Grafički papir je poslužio kao podloga za radove nekoliko umetnika, a težak litografski kamen ili drvena matrica, kao sredstvo ostvarivanja umetnikove lične težnje za slobodom stvaranja. Nebojša Lazić, majstor grafičke štampe, predstavljen je sa nekoliko litografskih listova. Crtajući energičnim crnim linijama ptice i kaveze koji im ili prete zarobljavanjem ili su ih se upravo oslobodile, autor i sam oslobađa iz sebe svoje strahove i uklanja ograničenja, nametnuta normama sveta koji u tom trenutku za njega nema boja. Nasuprot ovim nasilno prizemljenim pticama Jelena Sredanović, posmatraču pruža vizuru slobodnog ptičijeg leta. U svojim bojenim grafikama dobijenim litografskim postupkom sa drvoreza, ona prikazuje plavetnilo neba iznad oblaka, izdižući se iznad prolaznih briga zbog kojih zaboravljamo da sunce neprekidno sija nad nama. Osećaju lakoće u gotovo fotorealističkog prikazima mekih oblaka doprinosi i izuzetno tanak japanski papir na kojem su štampani radovi velikog formata.
Lazar Marković svoje crteže stvara na kompjuteru. Dekonstruiše apstrahovane fotografije svoje okoline, u računaru im bojama i crtežom menja strukture, a zatim interveniše na odštampanim primercima, namerno ih oštećujući, kako bi prikazao svoj stav prema večitim paralelnim procesima konstrukcije i dekonstrukcije sveta. I Georg Vinokic iz svog ugla posmatra prolaznost i odnos snaga unutar same jedinke. Strukture slika na platnu i papiru prethodno obogaćuje papir mašeom. Reljefi koje stvara trajno menjaju površinu rada i unapred determinišu kompoziciju, ali sam motiv unapred određenih granica, govori o svojoj podložnosti promenama. „Prolaznici“ su krhke biljke koje statične, izniču pred nama, rastu, daju plodove i venu.
Najzad, ovu postavku čine i radovi dva konceptualna umetnika koji angažuju i unutarnji prostor galerije. Danica Bićanić izlaže meke objekte koji nalikuju na kamenje, a zapravo su ili gomile kesa nagomilanog smeća ili najloni kolažirani na površinu papira. Interaktivne skulpture od meke gume, pod nazivom „Shaping“, publika može sama da oblikuje po svojoj volji, jer dozvoljavaju svim voljnim posetiocima da budu umetnik, zajedno oblikujući realnost, odnosno skulpturu, shodno različitim percepcijama, međusobnim odnosima i komunikaciji. Goran Despotovski se bavi ljudskom figurom, ulogama koje preuzimamo kroz život prekrajajući sami sebe, dopuštajući da nas te uloge menjaju i spolja i iznutra. Print i video rad „Electricity“ iseca površinu ljudske kože na segmente poput kroja za šivenje odeće. Istovremeno prikazuje i „dezene“ u vidu pora ili malja, kao i oštećenja, fleke i ožiljke, do kojih dolazi tokom višedecenijske upotrebe.
Mešanje tehnika, prelazak iz crteža u grafiku, iz grafike u digitalni print, iz slike u objekat, iz objekta u video instalaciju, iz instalacije u kolaž, a iz njega ponovo u crtež odlikuju skoro sve radove na ovoj izložbi, poput popularne igre čiji naslov nosi i u kojoj ni jedan subjekat, ni jedna tema, ni tehnika nije superiornija nad ostalima, već samo u određenom trenutku posluži kao sredstvo za lakše saopštavanje ideje, kao oruđe kreativnosti.
Izložba “Kamen-papir-makaze” realizovana je u koprodukciji Kulturnog centra Novog Sada i Festivala Dunavski dijalozi, u okviru projekta „Cooperation extended – Art links“ i u saradnji sa udruženjem umetnika „GrenzArt“ iz Holabruna u Austriji, kao deo umetničke razmene.
Maja Erdeljanin
likovni program 