Lado Jakša: Resonance časa, fotografije

Lado Jak{a: Resonance ~asa fotografije

Lado Jak{a: Resonance ~asa

fotografije

3.–24. 2. 2017

Resonance ~asa Z naslednjo pomembnejšo razstavo se je ustvarjalec predstavil v prestolnici Jugoslavije – Beogradu. Pri fotografijah v Happy Gallery leta 1988 se je odlo~il za estetiziran izliv slikovnega polja preko zavezujo~ega pravokotnega formata slike na fotografski papir. Na tej razstavi so se prvi~ pojavile tudi lutke, sugestivni plakati, strgani in razmo~eni od zoba ~asa, kot jih je našel in situ, pa tudi kamnite krogle, k ~emur se bo v svojem nadaljnjem opusu še vra~al in opozarjal nanje v temah, kot sta na primer Medkulturni dialog in Distorzirana stvarnost. Sledijo razstave v ljubljanski galeriji Equrna in Prakapas Gallery v New Yorku leta 1989, pa v Parmi – Camera Works, 1990, Galerie Europahaus, Celovec, 1993, in likovno-glasbeni projekt Surrealistra skupaj s fotografom in glasbenikom Lucianom Klevo v Avditoriju Portorož in KUD-u France Prešeren v Ljubljani leta 1996. Dolga vijugava in ukrivljena ‘~arobna pali~ica’, ki se s svojo prisotnostjo pojavi prav tu kot enakovreden gradnik kompozicije v svoji fizi~ni prisotnosti in sen~nem odsevu, ostaja avtorjeva zvesta spremljevalka skozi ves njegov opus. Ustvarjalcu v pripomo~ek se pojavlja in ponuja na razli~nih lokacijah hkrati, kadar jo potrebuje, kot na primer da jo uporabi kot ohranjevalko svetlobe ob skorajšnji temi in njeno konico, kot vžigalico, prižiga s pojenjajo~imi zadnjimi plamen~ki zahajajo~ega sonca na fotografiji iz leta 2016.

Od leta 1996 dalje, ko je v njegovo življenje vstopila tudi njegova zdajšnja življenjska sopotnica, kot fotograf skorajda ne fotografira ve~ na ~rno-beli film – fotografije ob~asno tonira v sepia ali modrih tonih – pa~ pa izklju~no v barvni diatehniki, in sicer zaradi vse števil~nejših foto-multivizijskih projekcij, kjer je diapozitiv osnovni nosilec slike, in zaradi dejstva, da ~rno-beli fotografiji ni mogo~e dodati realnih barv, ~e so ji bile te odvzete že v originalu. Še vedno je mnenja, da je dobro barvno fotografijo vsaj tako težko posneti kot dobro ~rno-belo, kjer se realen kolorit zaradi fotografske tehnike sam po sebi preoblikuje v paleto ~rno-belih odtenkov, pridobiva na sfumatu, subtilnosti chiaroscura … Pri barvni fotografiji pa je poleg likovnega, oblikovnega in vsebinskega konteksta treba upoštevati tudi kolorit in njegov karakter ter ga smiselno in tanko~utno umestiti v celoto. Zato se leta 1998/99 s triptihi barvnih fotografij predstavi v Cankarjevem domu v Ljubljani in nadaljujejo se fotografova opažanja – fotovizije, ki preraš~ajo ‘zunanjo’ ikonografijo, za katero se razkriva druga, bolj intimna in osebno izpovedna od prejšnje, predvsem pa intuitivna, ve~plastna in angažirana glede na kopico vsebin in informacij, ki odzvanjajo v ~asu. V triptihu Zrcaljenja piramide na primer v povsem obi~ajnem spomeniku umetnik prepozna monumentalno piramido, v asfaltu vesolje in v luži njegovo zrcalo … Z oljnimi madeži onesnažena tla ga navdihujejo le toliko, da v odbleskih in odsevih le-teh nastajajo novi in novi avtoportreti. Tudi sen~ni portreti so stalnica v fotografovem opusu. Ena bolj izstopajo~ih je zagotovo serija tistih, nastalih na Dragonji leta 1999, in vklju~uje tudi akte, ki jih je, ‘naklju~no’ kot vedno, opazil v konstelaciji kamnov pod vodo. Kako v vsakdanjih stvareh zaznati klju~na in presežna sporo~ila, govorita tudi primera iz leta 1999: Narcis, katerega profil se je izrisoval ob pogledu skozi podrto ostrešje obrambnega stolpa v Vipavskem križu, ali Partitura, ki ga je s svojimi likovno-glasbenimi grafizmi trsne strukture fotografsko in glasbeno navdihovala na gladini jezerca pod Krimom.

Lado Jakša pri svojem umetniškem ustvarjanju združuje znanje in izkušnje z razli~nih podro~ij. Je fotograf, glasbenik, skladatelj, umetnostni zgodovinar in zagovornik visokih eti~nih meril, po katerih tudi živi. Od njih seveda ne odstopa, pa ~etudi ga marsikdo še vedno rad ‘dobrohotno podu~i’, da je danes vendarle treba delovati druga~e, bolj egoisti~no in prera~unljivo, ~e želiš kam priti oziroma kaj dose~i … A Lado Jakša gre svojo pot, skupaj z nami, ki nam je mar za boljši svet. Da se kljub temu tudi na ta na~in dale~ pride, celo zelo dale~, nam sama zase govorita tako umetnikovo delo kot življenje, ki ne poznata niti prizadevanj za medijsko izpostavljenost, kaj šele zapredenosti znotraj socialnih omrežij. Kot ustvarjalec se zaveda, da je imel sre~o, ker je za~el ustvarjati v ~asu, ko je bilo ljudem dano veliko priložnosti, da se preizkusijo in dokažejo na razli~nih podro~jih.

Strnjena in zgoš~ena pregledna razstava Resonance ~asa ob umetnikovi 70-letnici zaobjema 14 izstopajo~ih tem, ki smo jim lahko sledili preko številnih fotografskih razstav. S prvo, v galeriji Emonska vrata leta 1977, je Lado Jakša tako simboli~no kot konkretno vstopil v Ljubljano in njeno fotografsko sceno. Z zrnatostjo klasi~nega filma oziroma drobnega puš~avskega peska na posnetkih kot ‘ozadja življenja’, na katerem veter neprestano briše sledi in preoblikuje pokrajino, je zabeležil svoje prve sen~ne avtoportrete kakor tudi v krajinsko partituro ujeta glasbila. Ta s svojimi bleš~e~imi odmevniki pogosto spiralno zaobjamejo fotografovo telo, medtem ko v drugih nenavadnih perspektivah pridobijo celo monumentalne razsežnosti; kjer pre~na flavta na primer postane raketa ali celo mitraljez … Nam avtor sporo~a, da stvarem in ljudem pripisujemo pomene glede na to, s katere perspektive in plati gledamo nanje? Da se z glasbo oziroma z umetnostjo tudi bojujemo, vendar za kulturne vrednote in pri tem nikogar ne poškodujemo? Da z umetniškim delovanjem in z njegovo duhovno hrano, ki jo užijemo, ustvarjamo presežke, ki nam prepre~ujejo drsenje v narcisisti~no polje, kjer se nekaterim dozdeva, da se svet vrti le za njih in okoli njih?

Leta 1986 je Lado Jakša z razstavo v novomeški Fotogaleriji za~el enega od svojih zna~ilnih prepoznavnih projektov, ki jih nadaljuje tudi v fotomultivizijskih projekcijah, ob katerih igra svojo avtorsko glasbo na razli~ne inštrumente v živo. Pred nami se tako odvija svojevrsten glasbeni in likovni esej v slikah – fotografijah, z mo~nimi simbolnimi pomeni, arhetipi, osupljivo nenavadnostjo in unikatnostjo, pa vendar nekomplicirano preprostostjo in razumljivostjo, ki zleze pod kožo in prepri~a še tako zahtevne poznavalce. Ni ~udno, da so sledila multivizijska naro~ila za celostne predstavitve mest, likovnih ustvarjalcev, literature, poezije, mednarodnih znanstvenih kongresov, ekologije, kulturne krajine … Njegove razstave namre~ praviloma nastajajo ob navdihu ambientov galerijskega prostora in v dialogu z njim. V novomeškem primeru je izbral dolenjsko prestolnico, kjer je razstavljal, ter jo posebej za razstavo odslikal v svoji slogovno prepoznavni maniri, v zanj in za nas metafori~no pomenljivih pogledih. Sledenje navdihu in svoji intenci ga namre~ prej ko slej pripelje do tega, kar ‘iš~e’, in ponavadi še dlje. “Na ~isto drugem polju sem to re~ dobil, kakor sem si bil kdaj mislil,” se je Lado Jakša strinjal s citatom Jožefa Stefana in z njim poimenoval tudi enega izmed ciklov fotografij, posve~enih njemu, ko je razstavljal v galeriji Inštituta Jožef Stefan v Ljubljani leta 2008.

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V tem ~asu se je ve~urno delo s kemikalijami in jedkimi hlapi v fotografski temnici pri Ladu Jakši že transformiralo v ra~unalniško ‘sevanje’, zato je to dejstvo marsikoga navdalo s predsodki, saj je bila fantazma fotografovega dela v temnici takrat še vedno mo~no prisotna in na neki na~in ena~ena z umetnikovim ateljejem. Kljub temu pa mu prostor navdiha ni nikoli pomenilo ra~unalniško okolje, ta se je, kot vemo, dogajal drugje; v naravi, urbanem okolju, kjerkoli!

Ra~unalnik je zanj postal zgolj orodje, ki je digitaliziralo manualno delo in ga z vrhunsko tehnologijo v nekaterih segmentih celo bistveno izboljšalo in izpopolnilo. Zato med avtorjevimi fotografijami nikoli ne bomo našli ra~unalniško spremenjenih originalov! Vedno na ‘preži’ za nenavadnimi pogledi, izzivalnimi zornimi koti, ki izklju~ujejo montažo ali dvojno ekspozicijo, na sledi za skritimi in skrivnostnimi ambienti, detajli, simbolnimi pomeni oblik in stvari Lado Jakša zavestno postavlja fotozrcalo, saj, kot sam pravi, z njim simbolno reflektira svoj pogled skozi razli~ne filtre lastnih razmišljanj, fantazij, zaznavanj in poudarja, da se naš pogled na stvari okoli nas ostri s pogledom na sam pogled ter da se skozi zaslonko naših lastnih misli s posnetki zaustavlja ~as. Ali kot pravi Ivan Cankar v Enajsti šoli pod mostom: “O~em, ki iš~ejo, srcem, ki verujejo vanje, se kažejo ~uda ob vsakem pogledu, ob vsakem koraku,” kar bi zagotovo lahko aplicirali na fotografsko ustvarjanje Lada Jakše. In prav Ivanu Cankarju v spomin se je umetnik na razstavi na Vrhniki leta 2007 v njegovem – Cankarjevem domu predstavil z bolj sofisticirano in razširjeno razli~ico Konkavno konveksnega, kot smo jo videli leta 2004 na avtorjevi razstavi v galeriji K&K v Avstriji. Tu se je posvetil pogledom, ki se razpirajo v ~asu kot ribja o~esa; okroglim in kroglastim formam, ki jih na Vrhniki in njeni okolici ni tako malo: oboki, svodi, izvirno Malo in Veliko okence …, kakor tudi pogledom, ki v ‘galerijah’ vetrobranskih in izložbenih stekel nenehno zrcalijo razplastene in deformirane podobe ~asa. Na tej razstavi so ga zanimali tudi robovi in vogali, kot da bi slutil, da se velike spremembe dogajajo prav tam.

Cikel Aluzije, ki skupaj z Zamaknjenimi pogledi predstavlja dva ve~ja sklopa fotografij, narejenih z odsevno aluminijasto folijo, zmore v gibanje zaobjeti cel niz trenutkov ~asa. A od tu je le še korak do Svetlopisov, Galerija Furlan, Ljubljana 2008, in Fluidne partiture jazza, Cankarjev dom Ljubljana, 2016, kjer je avtorjevo premikanje in gibanje fotoaparata primerljivo s slikarjevo potezo oziroma pri fotografiranju glasbenikov z energi~nostjo gibov, kot se med muziciranjem premikajo inštrumentalisti in kar z izpihi izžarevajo pihalci. Ves ~as pa se dogaja tudi Medkulturni dialog, angažirana tema avtorjevih fotorazmišljanj: Nasilje 2002, Kulturni center Sre~ka Kosovela, Sežana; Resonance ~asa, Galerija Pavlova hiša, Gornja Radgona, 2003, Avstrija; Mednarodni likovni simpozij, 2004, 2005, Kultur und Congress Center Beljak; Dialog brez dialoga, Mesec fotografije, Ljubljana, Galerija Mikado, 2008 …, ki se prekriva z Distorzirano stvarnostjo: ZDSLU, Ljubljana, 2013. Oglaševani ‘sre~ni in uspešni mladi’ ljudje, razgaljena telesa, moda – ikone današnjega ~asa; identifikacija za vse sloje in izobrazbene strukture je zakon.

Najbolj razširjena in ~aš~ena globalna vera, za katero se zapravlja in dela. V poplavi erotizirane in njej sorodne propagande, ki sporo~a, da bi se lahko imeli še bolj fajn, kot se imamo, Lado Jakša opozarja na zlorabljena in zmanipulirana telesa, na igrice, tudi politi~ne, ki jih kot fotograf beleži med plakatnimi ‘maskami’, razobešenimi po

drevesih, kandelabrih, elektri~nih omaricah in še ~em v ~asu volitev.

Seveda ga likovno najbolj pritegnejo tiste, ki jih mati narava v skladu z vsesplošno farso tudi sama obdela: razmo~i, odlepi, natrga, naguba …, pa tiste prelepljene, ki skrivajo svoj pravi obraz, in tiste, v katerih je prepoznati razpadanje fasade zunanjega bliš~a. Morda kot kontrast temu, pa tudi v razmislek, so se zadnja leta v fotografskem opusu Lada Jakše za~eli pojavljati druga~ni motivi nenavadne estetike, svetlobnosti, modrine in izjemne, skrbno dozirane globinske ostrine. Ker gre za motive – naj si še enkrat sposodim misel Ivana Cankarja – ki jih sre~ujemo na vsakem koraku, ob vsakem pogledu, sem jih s~asoma za~ela imenovati Prezrti pogledi (Finžgarjeva galerija, Ljubljana; Mesec fotografije, Bratislava, 2015, Slovaška). Za njihovo dozdevno ‘nezanimivo’ podobo v prvem planu se v vseh naslednjih, likovnih in simbolnih, odstirajo prave modrosti vse~asja. Že res, da so s stališ~a globalne percepcije tovrstni motivi kot taki nezanimivi, ker ne opozarjajo nase, a ko odmislimo ‘surovo realnost prvega plana’, presenetijo s svojo izjemno dragocenostjo. Podobni so ljudem, ki jih je družba izrinila na obrobje, jim vzela delo, pravice, dostojanstvo in mo~, zato so fotografije Prezrtih pogledov posve~ene prav njim, Prezrtim ljudem in prezrtim skrivnostim narave.

Ker umetniki obi~ajno svoja dela ustvarjajo pred ~asom, ki bi jih tukaj in zdaj zares doumel, njihova dela žal pogosto ostajajo nerazumljena v ‘zakodirani’ shemi konkretnega ~asa, v katerem živimo. Lahko bi trdili, da gre za dokaj natan~na zaznavanja, še posebej, ~e opus Lada Jakše pogledamo s ~asovne distance, skozi prizmo prostora in ~asa. Ne glede na to, da mi je umetnik že kakšno leto in pol pred newyorškim enajstim septembrom zaupal dramaturgijo multivizije z naslovom Amerika ni samo Amerika – ta se je realizirala šele na zaklju~ku njegove fotografske delavnice v avstrijskem K&K marca 2001 – kjer si je kot rde~o nit diaprojekcije zamislil uporabo posnetkov katastrofi~nih ruševin nekega ‘novograjenega’ kompleksa ameriškega downtowna, ki ga je fotografiral leta 1989, kot umetnostna zgodovinarka ne morem, da ne bi na njegove fotografije znotraj likovnokritiškega okvira gledala tudi ikonološko in ikonografsko ter predvsem skozi umetnikova sonihanja, skozi Resonance ~asa.

Nuša Podgornik

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Medkulturni dialog, Happy Gallery, Beograd, 1988

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Distorzirana stvarnost, Prakapas Gallery, New York, 1989

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Resonances of time him what he is ‘looking for’ or usually even further. “I found this thing in a completely different field that I never would have guessed,” Lado Jakša agreed with the quote by Jožef Stefan and used it to name one of the series of photographs dedicated to him when he had an exposition in the gallery of the Jožef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana in 2008.

With the next major exhibition, he introduced himself to Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia. For the photographs displayed in the Happy Gallery in 1988, he chose to spread the visual field onto the photo paper aesthetically, through a limiting rectangular format. At this exhibition, puppets, racy posters, torn and soggy by the ravages of time just as he found them in situ, as well as stone balls appeared for the first time, but he kept coming back to them later on in his work drawing attention to them in projects such as A Dialogue Between Cultures and Distorted Reality. He then held exhibitions in the Equrna Gallery in Ljubljana, the Prakapas Gallery in New York in 1989, the Camera Works Gallery in Parma in 1990, Galerie Europahaus in Klagenfurt in 1993 and launched an art and music project called Surrealistra together with photographer and musician Luciano Kleva in the Auditorium of Portorož and the Cultural and Art Association France Prešeren in Ljubljana in 1996. The long crooked ‘magic stick’ that was introduced here as an equivalent element of composition with its physical presence and shadowy reflection remained the author’s faithful companion throughout his entire opus. It appears and places itself at the artist’s disposal at different locations simultaneously, exactly when he needs it, like on the photo from 2016 when he uses it to generate light at dusk and lights its tip as a match with the last flickering flames of the setting sun.

Since 1996, when his current partner came into his life, the photographer—apart from occasionally toning the photographs in sepia or blue shades—has almost never worked with black and white film, but only with colour slides due to a growing number of multi-image projections, in which the slide represents the basic element of the picture, and the fact that realistic colours cannot be added to a black and white photo if they were already taken away from it in the first place. He still believes that a good colour photograph is at least as hard to take as a good black and white one where the real colours transform into a palette of black and white shades by themselves because of the photography technique, thus achieving the sfumato and the subtle chiaroscuro effect. Apart from the artistic concept, form and content, in colour photography, the colours and their character need to be taken into consideration as well as carefully arranged to form a whole. In 1998 and 1999 he displayed his triptychs of colour photographs in Cankarjev dom in Ljubljana maintaining his observations in the form of photographic visions that outgrow the ‘external’ iconography revealing new ones, each more intimate and personal than the previous one, but mostly showing intuitiveness, multifaceted nature and commitment compared to a multitude of content and information resonating in time. For instance, in the triptych Reflection of a Pyramid he finds an awe-inspiring pyramid in an ordinary monument, space in asphalt and his own reflection in a puddle. Oil-slicked ground inspires him

When creating, Lado Jakša combines his knowledge and experience from various fields. He is a photographer, musician, composer, art historian and proponent of high moral standards by which he abides. He sticks to them—of course—even though many people still like to give him a ‘kind-hearted pointer’ on how nowadays things have to be done differently, in a more selfish and cunning manner, in order to see something through or to achieve something. But Lado Jakša follows his own path, together with all of us who strive for a better world. His life and work with no aspirations for media exposure, let alone taking part in social media, speak for themselves and show us that despite all this you can get far in life, very far indeed. As an artist, he realises that he has been lucky because he began his career in an era when people were given many opportunities to test out and prove themselves in a variety of areas.

Resonance of time, a concise and coherent exhibition at the occasion of the artist’s 70th anniversary, includes 14 most striking themes that could be explored at his numerous photography exhibitions. With the first one in the Emona Gateway Gallery in 1977, Lado Jakša symbolically and literally entered Ljubljana and its photographic milieu. Using classic film grain or fine desert sand in his shots as the ‘background of life’, where the wind does not cease to cover up the tracks and change the landscape, he showed his first shaded self-portraits and musical instruments captured in the composition of the landscape. These instruments often spirally grasp the photographer’s body with their shiny bells, while in other unusual perspectives, they even acquire monumental dimensions.

For example, a side-blown flute becomes a rocket or a machine gun. Does the author want to tell us that people and things are attributed meaning based on the perspective or aspect from which we perceive them? That we can use music or art also to fight for cultural values while not hurting anyone in the process? That through artistic expression and its spiritual nourishment that we nibble on, we create masterpieces that prevent us from sliding into narcissistic territory in which people think the whole world revolves around them?

In 1986, Lado Jakša launched one of his emblematic projects with an exhibition in the Novo Mesto Photo Gallery and pursued it also through multi-image projections during which he plays his own music on different instruments live. This way we can witness a unique musical and art essay in the form of photographs, revealing strong symbolical meanings, archetypes, astounding unusualness and uniqueness, but also clean simplicity and coherence that can get under your skin and captivate even the most critical connoisseurs. No wonder that afterwards he was hired to do complete multi-image presentations of cities, painters, literature, poetry, international science congresses, ecology, cultural landscape etc., as his exhibitions tend to come to life when inspired by the ambience of the gallery and in dialogue with it. He chose Novo Mesto, the capital of the Dolenjska Region, as he exhibited there and for the exposition, he portrayed it in his typical style, presenting metaphorically meaningful perspectives to us and to himself.

Following his inspiration and intentions tends to eventually bring 6

just enough to produce new self-portraits in the reflections. Shaded portraits are also a regular feature in his works. One of the most noteworthy is a series of portraits that were taken at the Dragonja River in 1999 including nudes that he—accidentally as always— perceived in the constellation of stones beneath the water. We can see how to discover vital exuberant messages in everyday things in the following works from 1999: Narcissus whose profile outlined when looking through the roofing wrecks of the defence tower in Vipavski križ or Musical Score that inspired him with its artistic and musical traits of the reed structure on the little lake beneath Mount Krim.

During this period the hours of work with chemicals and corrosive fumes in the photographic dark room have turned, in the case of Lado Jakša, into computer ‘radiation’ and many have therefore come up with prejudices, as the ghosts of the photographer’s work continued to have a strong presence in the darkroom, which was equalled to a painter’s atelier. Nevertheless, Jakša could not draw inspiration from computer environments, but the inspiration came rather, and we know it, from other places: nature, cities and any other part of the real world. Computers are nothing more than tools to digitalise what once used to be done by hand, simply top technology used to considerably improve and upgrade obsolete techniques. Thus, there is not a single photograph among the artist’s creations that has been processed on a computer! Always on the lookout for unusual views and provocative perspectives, excluding editing or double exposure, searching hidden and mysterious settings, details, objects and shapes with symbolic meanings, Lado Jakša is consciously setting a photographic mirror to the world. He is—in his own words—trying to create symbolic reflections through the filter of his own thoughts, fantasies and perceptions. Our vision sharpens, he says, as we start observing our own gaze and we stop the time by shooting through the shutter of our own thoughts. Or, as Ivan Cankar wrote in his “Eleventh Grade under the Bridge”: … “eyes that seek and hearts that believe see miracles at every glance, at every step” and these words definitely apply to Lado Jakša’s photographs. And it was to Ivan Cankar that the artist paid his homage with an exhibition at the Cankar Centre in Vrhnika in 2007 with a more sophisticated and expanded version of Concave-convex than the one presented in 2004 at the K&K Gallery in Austria. On this occasion, he focused on sights that open up over time as fish eyes; on round and spherical shapes that are not so rare in Vrhnika and its surroundings: arches and arcs, the Small and the Big Window, and the glances, reflecting the skewed and frayed images of the times in the ‘galleries’, such as windshields and shop windows. In this exhibition, he was also interested in edges and corners, as if sensing that it is there that the big changes occur.

The Allusions series is — together with Trance-Sights — a larger set of photographs made using reflecting tinfoil to catch a whole array of moments in time. A single step brings us then to Lightscripts, Furlan Gallery, Ljubljana 2008, and The Fluid Motion of Jazz Music, Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana 2016, where the author’s shifting and the movements of the camera are comparable to a painter’s stroke and then once again to the energy of the musicians and their gestures.

A Dialogue Between Cultures, however, is the underlying bottom line to all of the artist’s photographic reflections: … Violence 2002, Sre~ko Kosovel Culture Centre Sežana; Resonances of Time, Pavlova hiša Gallery, Gornja Radgona 2003, Austria; International Art Symposium, 2004, 2005 Kultur und Congress Center Villach; Dialogue with no Dialogue, Photography Month Ljubljana, Mikado Gallery 2008 …, overlapping Distorted Reality: ZDSLU, Ljubljana 2013. The ‘happy and successful young’ people in ads and naked bodies, the fashion icons of today: Identification for all the classes and people of all kinds of education is the fundamental law. Mankind works and spends globally for these two most widespread and revered resources. While the massively eroticised adverts suggest that we could live much better than we actually do, Lado Jakša underlines the abused and exploited bodies, the psychological and political dirty little games among the masks on the adverts, hanging from trees, lampposts, electrical switchboxes and many other places in times of election campaigns. The most interesting ones seem to be those, whom mature nature reserved a special treatment just to stay inside the spirit of the farce: the posters that have been soaked through, came off, become torn or wrinkled, or the ones covered by others just to hide their faces where the phony façade is beginning to come undone. In recent years, Lado Jakša seems to have begun counterbalancing these with positive aesthetics, light-filled photographs with striking blues and extraordinarily sharp and well calibrated depth of field. Since the subjects are everyday sights we mostly tend to neglect, I shall once again resort to Ivan Cankar and give the series the title of Neglected Sights (Finžgar Gallery Ljubljana; Bratislava Photography Month, 2015, Slovakia). Behind the seemingly ‘uninteresting’ subject in the photograph, all the subsequent visual and symbolic layers disclose the very wisdom of timelessness. While it is true that such subjects tend to be uninteresting as they do not claim one’s attention, if we transcend the ‘rough reality of the close-up’, the subjects surprise us with their extraordinary worth.

They may remind us those marginalised people, who had been left without jobs, rights, dignity and power and therefore the Neglected Sights are dedicated to those neglected people and the neglected secrets of nature.

Many artists create ahead of their times and are therefore not understood. Their works tend to be incomprehensible in the ‘encoded’ schemes of the times we live in. If anyone manages to see Lado Jakša’s works through a different space-time filter from a certain distance, his perceptions prove to be accurate and right.

The artist once - a year and a half before 9/11 - talked to me in confidentiality about his upcoming project, a multifaceted vision called America is not only America with photographs of ruins from a ‘newly built’ housing development in downtown USA he shot in 1989. The project was realised at the end of his photo workshop in K&K Austria in March 2001. In spite of such prophetic tendencies, being an art historian, I cannot see his photographs in any other way than through the lens of iconography, iconology and art history, as well as through the artist’s fluctuations and Resonances of Time.

Nuša Podgornik 7

Konveksno konkavno, K&K [entjakob - St. Jakob, 2004

8

Distorzirana stvarnost, Galerija ZDSLU, Ljubljana, 2013

9

Zrcaljenja piramide; osrednji del triptiha, Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana, 1998–99

10

Partitura, Galerija TR3, Ljubljana, 2000

11

Sen~ni avtoportret, Dragonja, Galerija TR3, Ljubljana, 2000

12

Akt, Dragonja, Galerija TR3, Ljubljana, 2000

13

Svetlopisi, Galerija Furlan, Ljubljana, 2008

14

Fluidna partitura jazza, Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana, 2016

15

Prezrti pogled {t. 4958, Mesec fotografije, Bratislava, 2015

16

Narcis, Galerija TR3, Ljubljana, 2000

17

Aluzije, Galerija univerze, Lizbona, 2009

18

Oljni avtoportret, In{titut Jo`ef Stefan, Ljubljana, 2008

19

Izbor pomembnej{ih samostojnih razstav

Lado Jakša Velika ~olnarska 1000 Ljubljana GSM: 041 90 55 44 E: lado.jaksa@guest.arnes.si Lado Jakša je študij glasbe in umetnostne zgodovine združil v diplomski nalogi ljubljanske Filozofske fakultete na temo povezave glasbe in likovne umetnosti ter zanjo prejel študentsko Prešernovo nagrado. Ta ustvarjalni dialog ga od tedaj redno spremlja pri njegovih številnih razstavah in fotomultivizijah ob so~asno izvajani avtorski glasbi, s katerimi se je predstavil po Evropi in v ZDA. Kot umetniški fotograf je imel ve~ kot 60 samostojnih razstav doma in v tujini, kjer redno sodeluje tudi na mednarodnih umetniških simpozijih. Piše kritiška besedila za kataloge fotografskih razstav ter esejisti~ne komentarje in glasbene recenzije za slovenski tisk. Je skladatelj in izvajalec lastne glasbe za film, televizijo, gledališ~e in umetniški ples. Izdal je 14 zgoš~enk. Za svoje ustvarjanje je prejel ve~ nagrad in med drugim tudi dve priznanji Zveze društev likovnih umetnikov Slovenije za vrhunske dosežke v fotografiji leta 2010 in 2015.

Ovitek Odmev, Emonska vrata, Ljubljana, 1977 Prva stran Avtoportret, Emonska vrata, Ljubljana, 1977

Izid kataloga je omogo~ila:

1977 Ljubljana, Galerija Emonska vrata

Ljubljana, Hotel Bellevue 1987 Ljubljana, Galerija Krka 1980 Ljubljana, Galerija Commerce 1981 Zagreb, Galerija SKUC 1982 Zürs am Arlberg (Avstrija), Galerie Tollkirsche

Ljubljana, Kemijski inštitut Boris Kidri~

Novo mesto, Galerija Pri Slonu

Gorica (Italija), Kulturni dom

Dunaj (Avstrija), Galerie am Mozartplatz 1985 Ljubljana, Galerija Ars 1986 Ljubljana, Cankarjev dom

Novo mesto, Fotogalerija

Ljubljana, Galerija Lerota 1987 Kamnik, Galerija Stol

Trst (Italija), Galeria Studio Phi 1988 Steyr (Avstrija), Galerie Siebenstern

Beograd (Srbija), Happy Gallery

Metlika, Ganglovo razstaviš~e 1989 Ljubljana, Koncertni atelje DSS

Altenburg (Avstrija), Galerie Schloss Altenburg bei Wien

Ljubljana, Galerija Equrna

New York (ZDA), Prakapas Gallery 1990 Celovec (Avstrija), Galerie Bei uns

Parma (Italija), Camera Works

Kranj, Gorenjski muzej 1991 Jesenice, Kosova graš~ina

Ljubljana, Galerija Ilirija Vedrog 1992 Ljubljana, Galerija Insula 1993 Celovec (Avstrija), Galerie Europahaus 1996 Portorož, Galerija Avditorij

Ljubljana, KUD France Prešeren 1997 Maribor, Fotogalerija Stolp

Ljubljana, Galerija Geoplin 1999 Ljubljana, Cankarjev dom

Škofja Loka, Galerija Loškega muzeja 2000 Ljubljana, Galerija TR3 2001 Ljubljana, Galerija Toba~ne tovarne 2003 Gornja Radgona (Avstrija), Galerija Pavlova Hiša/Pavelhaus

Koper, Galerija Pokrajinskega muzeja 2004 Šentjanž (Avstrija), Galerija K&K

Vipava, Dom kulture 2005 Vrhnika, Galerija Cankarjevega doma

Himmelberg (Avstrija), Galerie Jerabek 2007 Tinje (Avstrija), Galerija Soladitas 2008 Ljubljana, Mesec fotografije, Galerija Mikado

Ljubljana, Galerija Loterije Slovenije

^rnu~e, Galerija Furlan

Ljubljana, Galerija Instituta Jožef Stefan 2009 Lizbona (Portugalska), Galerija univerze v Lizboni

Ljubljana, Galerija Lek 2011 Ljubljana, Bežigrajska galerija 1 2014 Ljubljana, Finžgarjeva galerija

Medvode, Kulturni dom 2015 Medvode, Galerija Kulturnega doma

Bratislava (Slovaška), Mesec fotografije 2016 Ljubljana, Cankarjev dom 2017 Nova Gorica, Mestna Galerija Nova Gorica

Katalog izdal: Javni zavod Kulturni dom Nova Gorica, Mestna galerija Nova Gorica – Zanj odgovarja: Pavla Jarc – Urednica: Mateja Polj{ak Furlan – Besedilo: Nu{a Podgornik – Prevod: Peter Szabo in Nina Malobabi} – Fotografije: Lado Jak{a – Oblikovanje: Adenda d.o.o. – Tisk: Tiskarna Present d. o. o. – Naklada: 300

Mestna galerija Nova Gorica

Trg E. Kardelja 5

SI 5000 Nova Gorica

T + 386 5 335 40 17

E mestnagalerija@kulturnidom-ng.si

W www.mgng.net www.facebook.com/groups/Mestna.galerija.Nova.Gorica Urnik: od ponedeljka do petka od 9. do 13. ure

in od 15. do 19. ure.

Ob sobotah od 9. do 12. ure.

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