CASORIA INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM

Anamarija Stibilj Šajn

 History is being created at this very moment. The works of art which will outlive the constraints of time are to become part of it. Therefore it is very important to gain an insight into what is currently happening in art. However, in the Slovenia of the nineties of the previous century official institutions dealing with education, museums and publishing found themselves faced with numerous dilemmas: How to deal with new art practices, how to understand and present them, what stand to take on their issue. Therefore the idea to create a museum of contemporary art production is a truly commendable and brave project. It is Antonio Manfredi, a tireless artist himself, who came up with the idea, which soon took hold among his colleagues all over the world. The museum, which is currently being established, will thus open up a view of various researches and attempts in the field of contemporary art, as well as connect all kinds of artistic expressions, which are not few. They exist in much greater numbers than there are languages, as each author creates with his own artistic vocabulary. New, unconventional means of artistic expression are continuously added to the traditional ones, thus transforming art, which is gradually acquiring a multimedial character

Art has always reflected the time in which it is created. It cannot be incubated, nor can it be created in isolation. Artists are actually very sensitive people, open not only to their personal innermost world, but also to the outside. 

Although we are living in a time of the information highway, which provides limitless opportunities for global dialogues, artists remain independent individuals, generating countless ideas and letting their imagination take wing.  Ideas swarm in their vast world of reflections, waiting to be elaborated into careful plans. In the time when we are bombarded with so much information and trapped within the virtual, artists open up their intimate selves, the world of their personal experiences, fantasies and dreams, transforming them into a new visual presentation. 

When amidst a huge number of exhibits displayed we are faced with the creativity of Slovene artists, we cannot help but wonder whether there are any criteria which join or divide their work and whether a phenomenon like “genius loci” applies in their case. Does a local parameter define a specific artist to a noticeable extent? Without doubt an author originates from it directly or indirectly. However, within this space an author still remains an individual, preserving his originality, which makes him distinct from others.  

Although Slovenia is a small country, it does not have a unified geographical profile. It could be easily called a land of many faces. Its population, although small in number, still differs in many ways and speaks numerous accents. Artists are no exception, and the group of artists selected for the occasion reflects this state of affairs. Each one of them has developed a very different artistic expression. On the one hand there are artists who still use traditional means of expression and speak about the contents we all know and recognise. On the other hand there are artists who have extended these areas to experiment in the world of media. 

The painter Klavdij Tutta is a prolific artist and an active organiser of international art events. The Mediterranean world represents a firm stimulus for his motifs, and is indirectly reflected also in his colour range, which expresses intensity, warmth, variety, and power. Energy accents may even seem more distinct than usual, as the painter uses bright vermilion reds. In figural compositions the painter elaborates an animal figure, which is in many of his latest variants restricted to a mere image of an eye, as the author tends to opt for a narrative reduction more and more frequently. Artistic settings are getting more and more airy, purified, and convey a more distinct and pure choice of artistic expressions. However, these are getting deeper, more significant, enriched with intimate reflections and accentuated with current contents. The painter’s playful, dynamic compositions consist of several integral parts, joined by a rhythmically balanced system of points, which reflects the painter’s response to ecranisation, reproduction, and consumerism.

The artistic world of the painter Klementina Golija, who studied at the Accademia di Brera in Milan, is concealed behind the veil of a layered artistic setting, enriched with collage elements and multiple colour layers, through which the collage trickles onto a two-dimensional screen, revealing itself as an internalised image. As the painting surface is actually a substance, so is a fragment of the painter’s thought materialised in a way. It enters this setting in the form of a playfully articulate drawing construct, marking the imaginary artistic space with its distinctive character, defining the creative thought and directing it towards the thematically realistic starting point. In the process of creation forms are brought to life by a perfectly sublime luminescence, which appears openly in some places. 

The painter Nuša Lapajne has participated in several national and international exhibitions. She is renown for her numerous projects in the form of ambiental displays. Doing this she tends to create an interesting dialogue between her own creativity on the one hand, which involves also creating by means of new media, and ready-made objects or “les objets trouvés” on the other hand. This time she reveals the intimate space of an individual in rapture against prints of extreme dimensions in the background. France Bernik said: “Art is a matter of each individual, but it is intended for all the people”. In the case of Nuša Lapajne it is “a table” that becomes the unveiled fraction of her work rapture. 

Metka Erzar’s artistic expression consists of varied surfaces and painting sections with   original structures and interesting textures. The formal base consisting of multiple layers, primed with impastos and enriched with collage fragments, gives the effect of something realistic and represents the outside world. With a minimalistic artistic intervention in the form of symbolic signs and lined traces the painter approaches the sphere of a pure spiritual thought. In her painting there is a lot of (in)directly recognised symbolism which explains the painter’s deep reflections. Although the painter is focused on the world of non-material values, she does not forget the rules of art, among which is the composition principle of the golden cut.  Her work gives the impression of a map which directs us towards a more important internal ambient.  

Boštjan Lapajne, who belongs to the younger generation of Slovenian painters, deals with traditional easel painting, but also with video. Very often he creates interesting dialogues between the two media. This time he presents the video Coexistence. In his video production Boštjan Lapajne manages to join contrasts, uniting two apparently opposite poles into a new meaningful whole. “Live images” of animals are trapped in a moment, while animal paths and human paths – those of the author – are drawn in a space. There is a point in time where the paths are crossed and finally joined. Boštjan Lapajne’s creativity is distinctively expressive regardless of the medium used. 

Within the figural guidelines of Mira Nagode’s art the most important role of form and content is given to human figure. Her Flower Vendor is brought to the painting by gradual lightening of the dark background. Part of the background takes on the role of a contour, which is a drawing element. The setting vibrates with the communication between impastos, representing solid substance, and large but absolutely gentle colour glazes. The image oscillates between realistic recognition, and expressiveness which at times already touches the abstract. Thoughts, feelings, meaning and the atmosphere in general are guided by the colours, which communicate in the range of warm-cold and convey the painter’s desire of the search of light. 

Etko Tutta chooses a sphere of human life to speak about in his personal language of signs and symbols. This time his record is even more direct. It seems that a precisely elaborated face of a man, ennobled by an expressive accent, becomes the central figure of the event. It is personified by a group of stylised flock of birds, which are also generally an indispensable part of the painter’s language. Thus, the painting shows a contradiction between an original, but still traditional image of a man on the one hand, and a crowd of stylised elements and signs, displayed in a playfully decorative manner on the other hand. The contrasts are offered to the viewer not only as a visual, but also as a reflective stimulus. 

In the time when (almost) anything is allowed in art, Nikolaj Mašukov’s creativity really holds a special place. The author comes from Krasnojarsk in Siberia, where he completed an art school, graduating later from the Sculpture Department of the Academy of Fine Arts in Moscow. In his art we can yet and again admire his movements between the past and the present, between the academic and the personal, between historical themes and the moments when he is absorbed in his intimate, even philosophical, reflections. He is a master of drawing. Line is a masterly trace, constructing and elaborating the central theme in detail. However, it is with colour and its luminous accents that the author opens up outwards and, most of all, to himself and to the search of symbolic moments. With colour he creates the space and conjures the atmosphere. With the painting Four Shadows of a Ship he expresses his ironic view of the world. 

The project “Casoria International Contemporary Art Museum” is a perfect venue for outstanding creative personalities with original creative potentials to meet and lead interesting professional discussions. An exhibition is being created with an outstanding crescendo, raising awareness of how varied contemporary art is. It is even unusual at times, but most of all so different from the art we have been meeting throughout history. It is different, because different people create it in a different time. Namely, art is an expression of the deepest feelings, of the most intimate experiences. It is the world of ideas brought to reality, ideas which are generated by each person individually. Therefore these ideas belong to them.  

This project leads us to become aware of the possibilities of new forms and expressions. Seeing its impact, I cannot but remember the old Latin saying: Vivat, crescat, floreat! May “Casoria International Contemporary Art Museum live, grow and flourish! May it continue to open up its door to Slovenian artists as well. Although they do represent but a fraction on the art world map, they still unveil yet another view of art: unique and different from the rest of the world. 

Lubjiana, March 2005