Jasna Samarin in Zvonko Čoh: Odtisnjeni fragmenti, slike in stenska instalacija

20 let

Jasna Samarin in Zvonko ^oh Odtisnjeni fragmenti/Impressions, Fragments

Jasna Samarin in Zvonko ^oh Odtisnjeni fragmenti/Impressions, Fragments 5. 5.–26. 5. 2017

Od teme k svetlobi, od svetlobe k temi Reliefni kolaž Bela sled Zvonka ^oha je atlas ~rno-belega bogastva, ki ga je ustvaril umetnik z neizmernim veseljem do ustvarjanja in življenja.

Vendar, ko gledalec v nekem trenutku prepozna ponavljajo~i se motiv slike in ugotovi, da le-ta izvira iz že obstoje~ega dela, slika v njem sproži vprašanje o originalu in posnetku, o pomenu in umetniškosti dela. Odtisi se kažejo kot ritmi~no ponavljajo~i se simboli, povezani z mnogimi umetniškimi konteksti. Tokratni »ready made« gradniki ^ohove umetnine so lesorezi iz zarezanih desk kot odpadli material iz lipiškega kamnoloma, hkrati z linorezi in štampiljkami, na katerih so bile že kdaj prej uporabljene figure. Naloga umetnosti seveda ni, da dokumentira svet okoli sebe, a v samem življenju je bilo od nekdaj tako, da ~e se nekaj razbije in uni~i, se lahko ponovno zgradi in ustvari. Osnovno na~elo v alkimiji je bilo, da se dolo~ena snov povrne v materijo tako, da se odstranijo vse zna~ilnosti. Šele potem se lahko zgradi nova snov in se ji dodaja želene lastnosti, dokler ne postane kamen modrosti. Alkimija (arabsko al-kimia = umetnost preoblikovanja) je bila v srednjem veku eksperimentiranje s primitivnim kemijskim znanjem in tehnologijo ter hkrati vrsta filozofije, katere namen je bil odkriti najvišjo modrost in nesmrtnost. Seveda pri ^ohovem reliefu, sestavljenem iz kolažiranih papirnih ploš~, ne gre za tak postopek. Dejstvo pa je, da gre pri njegovem reliefu Bela sled prav tako za ritual preoblikovanja in spoznanje, da slikar le v umetnosti vzneseno biva v odkrivanju sveta. Kot bi v abstrahirani krajini ~rt, pravokotnikov, ~istih barvnih ploskev našel izvirne pokrajine in jih z velikim mojstrstvom vpenjal v lastno slikarsko izkušnjo ter s tem omogo~il gledalcu spust v svoj lastni svet, svet identitete in modrosti.

Odtisnjeni motivi s prenosom v obmo~je umetnosti dobijo povsem druga~ne likovne, pomenske in simbolne vrednosti. Zato multiplicirano ustvarjen kolaž ni samo sestavljanka novih oblik, temve~ gre pri tem tudi za lepljenje in sestavljanje trenutkov, pomenov, asociacij in zgodb. Pri kolažu, ki ga na tej reliefni podobi zaznamo le z otipom ali, ~e smo pozorni, s komaj zaznavno senco, gre za le tu in tam zaznano lepljenko kartonskega odtisa na osnovi slikovnega nosilca. Namesto linearnega branja od gledalca najve~krat zahteva poglabljanje v ve~ plasti pomenov ter pogled z razli~nih zornih kotov. V tej monumentalni podobi, ki je univerzalni jezik sveta, ni migotanja, ne ~e~karij, ni presenetljivih presene~enj, ne šaljivosti.

Ni plesa barv, ~rt in hudomušnih kontekstov. Dinami~nost gibljivih slik, ki dominira v ^ohovih razli~nih obdobjih, na~inih in principih njegovega dela, je tu odsotna, sre~evanje vseh likovnih elementov je umirjeno. Funkcija monumentalne reliefne podobe Bela sled ni niti, da potrdi, niti, da zanika, ampak da z mrežo razli~nih odtisov predstavi pot življenja. Od rojstva do smrti. Od svetlobe do teme.

Na potovanju po slikah od teme k svetlobi Jasne Samarin in od svetlobe k temi Zvonka ^oha zlahka dojamemo, da se za barvami v~asih skrivamo, v~asih pa se z njimi sporazumevamo. In vse postane tako preprosto, kajti svet nikoli ni popolnoma ~rn in tudi ne ~isto bel. Ampak je nekje vmes.

Naslov razstave Odtisnjeni fragmenti je napotek in zavajanje hkrati, ponuja možnost konkretnih ali prostih asociacij ter ve~pomensko branje posameznih podob ali iz fragmentov nastale celostne umetnine dveh avtorjev. Na~elo njunega skupnega delovanja sta tema in svetloba, Jasno Samarin vodi likovna pot v ciklu devetih slik od teme proti svetlobi, Zvonka ^oha v dvanajstmetrskem mozai~nem reliefu od svetlobe proti temi.

Izvedbeno sta jima skupne lesene deske z zarezami, ki v kamnolomih ostajajo kot odve~ni kolateralni produkt pri rezanju kamna z diamantnimi rezalniki. Pri svojem delu sta jih za osnovni motiv uporabila oba, ona za odtise v prahu iz kamnoloma, on kot lesorez za ponavljajo~e se odtise na svoji slikovni površini. Njuni odtisi so kot ponavljajo~i se minimalisti~ni elementi, podobni poeti~nim kodam, ki ju v povezavi z njuno zna~ilno avtorsko poetiko povezujejo v razli~ni pripovedi: Jasno Samarin v ciklu slik Nokturno in Zvonka ^oha v celostenskem reliefu Bela sled. Pri obeh gre za samoizpraševanje in konceptualni izziv. Osnovni namen obeh njunih monokromnih stvaritev je posredovanje duhovne ~istosti, pri ~emer lahko umetnika z zamejitvijo na (skoraj samo) eno barvo raziskujeta (s)pokojnost lastne simbolne abstrakcije.

Abstraktne slike Jasne Samarin so z razli~nimi asociativnimi motivi iz narave sestavljene iz vertikal in horizontal, pri ~emer umetnica svoja intimna ob~utja ponuja vživetju gledalca. Ko je Piet Mondrian s študijami dreves vedno bolj abstrahiral podobo v serijo vertikal in horizontal, med katere je vstavljal barvne pravokotnike in tako iz podobe drevesa dobil abstraktno sliko, je težil k univerzalni podobi. K sliki, osvobojeni prepoznavnosti. Razbitje podobe drevesa iz njegove pojavnosti v univerzalen abstrakten jezik je bilo izrazito radikalno dejanje proti ustaljenemu redu in starim vzorcem, ki stojijo na poti napredku in jih je zato treba odstraniti. Nasprotno pa v abstrahirano krajino (tokrat) horizontalnih linij prinaša Samarinova berljiva znamenja in sledi, s katerimi vabi v pokrajine svojega najintimnejšega sveta. Ko slikarka razrezane fotografije poustvari s tradicionalnimi sredstvi na slikovnem nosilcu, podobam odvzame karakter posnetka. ^eprav je motiv prepoznan, slikarka ne upodablja ve~ realnega sveta, saj je slika nastala zaradi njene domišljije. Podobe reducira na najosnovnejšo obliko, s ~imer se pozornost zvrne na uporabljene materialne elemente: barvo, obliko, teksturo in celo na proces izdelave umetniškega dela. S premišljenim sestavljanjem razrezanih fotografij, trakov in poslikav slikarka sugestivno vabi v svoje intimne pokrajine. Brezkompromisno odpira svoj lasten, vizualno ~ist slikarski jezik. V navidezno abstraktne slike vra~a pomen: odtise zarezanih desk projicira na svoje dojemanje sveta in vpenja v lastno slikarsko izkušnjo. Od teme potuje proti svetlobi.

Spoj tradicionalne ~rno-bele fotografije s klasi~nim slikarstvom je bil pri Jasni Samarin vrsto let unikaten, njen tokratni niz slik Nokturno pa je s pretanjeno ujetimi monokromnimi posnetki hkrati tudi meditativen. A zakaj bi danes sploh še hoteli fotografirati v ~rno-beli tehniki, ~e pa je svet poln barv in digitalni fotoaparati lahko ujamejo trenutek, takšen kot je? Zato, pravijo veliki fotografi (kot so Ansel Adams, Sally Mann, Sebastião Salgado ali Peter Lindbergh), ker šele tako najbolje pokažemo, da svet ni ~rno-bel, ampak poln ~ustev, ki so pomembnejša od barv. Poln je globine neznanega, ki ji vlada ~udovita tema. Poln je oblik, ki poveli~ujejo svetlobo. Poln je tišine in glasbe. Glasba, zlasti klasi~na, organsko vzbuja ob~utek prijetnega, ugodja, lepote. Poln je harmonije, ujete v odtise stopinj v mivki na morski obali. Ko galeb zajadra pod nebo, da dojame to lepoto. Nokturno Jasne Samarin je na stotine fotografij s prefinjenimi odtisi desk z zarezami, odvrženih v kamnolomu in upodobljenih na njenih slikah. Nokturno je v slikarki sami. Je rana v razpuš~ajo~i se temi, prekrita z nežnostjo dotika mehkobe najdrobnejšega peska, je tanka rde~a ~rta življenja, razpeta na dnu osrednje slike, je neslišna melodija, ki se pne proti svetlobi. Je hrepenenje in žarek ~iste svetlobe, h katerima stremi umetnica: tihi nokturno, vpet v prostor tišine med minimalisti~no zaznanim zvenom barv ter mehkimi šumi oblik.

Tatjana Pregl Kobe

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From darkness to light, from light to darkness mony, captured in footprints in the sand on the shores of the sea. A gull sails beneath the sky to understand the beauty. Samarin’s Nocturne is comprised of hundreds of photographs making subtle impressions on the etched wood, the refuse from a quarry. Nocturne is in the painter herself.

It is a wound released into the darkness, covered with the gentle touch of soft fine sand, the thin red thread of life, suspended at the bottom of the central painting. It is a soundless melody that reaches toward the light. It is longing and a beam of pure light toward which the artist aims: silent nocturne, suspended in the space of silence between the minimalistically perceived sounds of color and the soft murmurs of shape.

Zvonko ^oh’s relief collage White Trace is an atlas of black and white abundance created by the artist with immense joy toward creation and life. However, when at a specific moment the viewer recognizes the repeating motif of the paintings and realizes that they emerge from already existing work, questions are triggered about originality and imitation, about the meaning and the artistry of the work. Impressions appear as rhythmically repetitive symbols, connected with many possible artistic contexts. The readymade building blocks of ^oh’s artwork are the etched boards discarded from the Lipica quarry, and also woodcuts and stamps on which there are previously used figures. The purpose of art, of course, is not to merely document the world around us, but the process in life itself whereby something that is broken and destroyed can be built and created once again. The basic principle of alchemy is that certain substances can become materials stripped of all their previous characteristics. Only then can a new substance be created with the addition of desired properties, until it becomes the philosopher’s stone. In the Middle Ages, alchemy (from the Arabic al-kimia = the art of transformation) was experimentation with the then primitive knowledge of chemistry and technology and at the same time a kind of philosophy, the purpose of which was to discover the highest form of wisdom and immortality. Of course, ^oh’s relief, made from collage paper surfaces, is not the same kind of procedure. But nevertheless, White Trace also represents a ritual of transformation and recognition that only through the creation of art can the artist reside in the rapturous discovery of the world. As if he finds the abstracted landscape of lines, rectangles, pure color surfaces in the original landscape and, with great mastery, affixes them to his own painterly experience and in this way allows the viewer into his own world, identity, and wisdom.

The imprinted motifs, transferred into the field of art, acquire entirely different visual, substantive, and symbolic values. Thus the multiplication of the created collage is not merely a puzzle of new shapes, but it is the coherence and composition of moments, meanings, associations, and stories. In the collage, we perceive the relief of the images only with touch, or, if we are attentive, by the hardly visible shadows, or the occasional trace of pasted cardboard impressions on the surface of the work.

Rather than a linear reading, it more often demands of the viewer a deepened regard into the many layers of meaning and its various perspectives.

There is no flickering, no scribbling, no surprising surprises, no jokes in these monumental images that are the universal language of their world.

There is no dance of color, lines, playful context. The dynamic quality that dominates ^oh’s various periods, methods, and principles of work, is absent here; the encounter of all the visual elements is tranquil. The function of the monumental relief images in White Trace is not to confirm, not to deny, but simply to present the path of life through the membrane of the various impressions. From birth to death. From light to darkness.

During the journey through Samarin’s paintings from darkness and light, and from light to darkness in ^oh’s, we understand that we sometimes hide behind colors, and sometimes communicate with them. And everything becomes so simple, because the world is never completely black and also never purely white, but somewhere in between.

The title of the exhibition Odtisnjeni fragmenti (Impressions, Fragments) is both instruction and deceit. It offers both the possibility of specific or free associations, and a multilayered reading of individual images or of the totality of the artwork created by the two artists, Jasna Samarin and Zvonko ^oh, as it emerges from the fragments. The principle of this necessarily collective work is darkness and light. In the cycle of nine paintings, Samarin follows the visual path from darkness to light. In a twelve-meter long mosaic relief, ^oh leads the way from light to darkness. Together they are comprised of wooden boards with engraved cuts along the length, collaterals product from a quarry, used in the process of cutting stones with a diamond wire saw. In their individual works, each of the artists makes use of the boards in the presentation of the same basic motif, Samarin using impressions in dust from the quarry, and ^oh using the board as a surface for printing images on the picture plane.

Their impressions are like the repetitive minimalist elements of similar poetic codes, which, in the connection of their individual artistic poetics, connect the different narratives: Samarin’s cycle Nokturno (Nocturne) and ^oh’s wall relief Bela sled (White Trace). In both, there is self-questioning and a conceptual challenge. The basic purpose of these monochromatic creations is mediation of spiritual purity, which the artists achieve by limiting themselves to (almost) only one color, thus researching the repose of their own symbolic abstractions.

Samarin’s abstract paintings depict various associative motifs from nature composed of verticals and horizontals. In this way, she offers her intimate feelings to the viewer to experience. Using a study of trees, Piet Mondrian, created abstract images, a series of verticals and horizontals, among which he placed colored rectangles. Thus an abstract painting emerged from the images of trees, which tended toward a universal image. Toward painting, the liberation of recognizability. Breaking the image of trees away from their natural manifestation and creating a universal abstract image was a radical act against the established order and old patterns that stand on the path to progress and, because of that, must be removed. The opposite of this abstracted landscape of (this time) horizontal lines is provided by Samarin’s legible markings and traces, and brings her most intimate world into the landscape. As a painter, she combines cut-up photographs with traditional painterly methods, taking her images from the character of the photographs. Although the motif may be known, Samarin is no longer portraying the real world, as the painting has emerged from her own imagination. The image is reduced to its most basic form, and the viewer’s attention falls onto its material elements: paint, form, texture, and even the process by which the artwork has been created. With the deliberate compilation of torn photographs, strips, and painting, the artist suggestively invites the viewer into her intimate landscape. Uncompromisingly, she opens up her own visually pure language.

And meaning returns to the seemingly abstract picture: the impressions on the etched board are projected onto her own perception of the world, affixed to her painterly experience. From darkness, she travels toward the light.

Over a period of years, Samarin’s fusion of traditional black-and-white photograph with classical painting has always been unique, but the Nocturne cycle, in which refined monochromatic images are captured, is also meditative. But why would anyone today want to use black-and-white photographic techniques when the world is full of colors and digital cameras can capture the moment as it is? The great photographers – such as Ansel Adams, Sally Mann, Sebastião Salgado, and Peter Lindbergh – reply: because that is the only way to show that the world is not black and white but filled with emotions, which are more important than colors.

The world is filled with the depths of the unknown, which is mastered by the magnificence of darkness. It is filled with shapes that glorify light.

It is filled with silence and music. Music, especially classical, organically awakening a feeling of tranquility, comfort, beauty. It is filled with har-

Tatjana Pregl Kobe 3

Jasna Samarin, Nocturne/Notturno 2015/2016, print in akril na platno/print and acrylic on canvas, 190 x 130 cm

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Zvonko ^oh, Bela sled/White Trace Zrcaljenja piramide; osrednji del triptiha, Cankarjev dom, linocut, Ljubljana, acrylic 1998–99and collage on paper, 150 x 1200 cm 2016/17, lesorez, linorez, akril in kolaŞ na papir/woodcut, 10

Partitura, Galerija TR3, Ljubljana, 2000

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Foto: Tihomir Pinter

Foto: Zvonko ^oh

Jasna Samarin je bila rojena 19. januarja 1966 v Ljubljani. Obiskovala je gimnazijo Ivana Cankarja v Ljubljani in potem študirala na Akademiji za likovno umetnost in oblikovanje v Ljubljani pri prof. Emeriku Bernardu.

Diplomirala je leta 1989. Kot štipendistka francoske vlade je med letoma 1990 in 1991 študirala na Beaux Arts v Parizu (ENSBA), med letoma 1989 in 1992 je nadaljevala tudi podiplomski študij slikarstva na ALUO v Ljubljani pri prof.

Emeriku Bernardu. Od prve samostojne predstavitve leta 1989 v Kulturnem centru na Reki (Hrvaška) je imela okoli trideset samostojnih razstav doma in v tujini. Prav tako je sodelovala na mnogih doma~ih in mednarodnih skupinskih razstavah vse od leta 1988. Od leta 1989 je ~lanica Zveze društev slovenskih likovnih umetnikov. Bila je ve~krat nagrajena: leta 1991 je prejela pohvalo francoske vlade v Parizu, leta 1992 odkupno nagrado na ex-tempore v Piranu, leta 1995 odkupno nagrado Mestne ob~ine Ljubljana in v letu 2007 ~astno nagrado na Majskem salonu ZDSLU. V razvijanju osebno razpoznavne likovne poetike deluje na podro~ju klasi~nega slikarstva. S kolaži in oljnimi tehnikami spreminja ~rno-bele fotografije narave v umetnine, ki se nahajajo v nekaterih pomembnih zbirkah. Živi in ustvarja v Hruševem.

Zvonko ^oh je bil rojen 7. avgusta 1956 v Celju. Leta 1979 je diplomiral iz slikarstva na Akademiji za likovno umetnost v Ljubljani pri profesorju Janezu Berniku in nato opravil še specialisti~ni študij pri profesorju Štefanu Planincu. Že med študijem se je za~el ukvarjati z ilustriranjem in umetniškim animiranim filmom. Je avtor in soavtor ve~ risanih filmov (Poskušaj migati dvakrat, 1981 – soavtorstvo z Milanom Eri~em, Poljubi mehka me radirka, 1984). Z Milanom Eri~em sta tudi soavtorja prvega slovenskega celove~ernega risanega filma Socializacija bika (1999), za katerega sta prejela nagrado Prešernovega sklada. Za svoje delo je leta 1983 prejel nagrado zlato pero Beograda, Levstikovo nagrado (1988, 1999), leta 1995 priznanje Hinka Smrekarja in leta 2002 nagrado Hinka Smrekarja ter dve plaketi Hinka Smrekarja (2006, 2010), leta 2003 nagrado Najlepša slovenska knjiga za otroke in leta 2004 ter 2011 nagrado Izvirna slovenska slikanica. Leta 2004 je bil uvrš~en na ~astno listo IBBY – IBBY Honour List v Cape Townu. Deluje na podro~ju umetniškega animiranega filma, vizualnih komunikacij, stripa in ilustracij. Od decembra 2015 do februarja 2016 je imel v Mestni galeriji Ljubljana pregledno razstavo. Živi in ustvarja v Hruševem.

Jasna Samarin was born on January 19, 1966 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. She attended the Ivan Cankar Gymnasium in Ljubljana and continued her studies at the Academy of Visual Arts (ALUO) with Professor Emerik Bernard. She graduated in 1989. Samarin won a scholarship from the French government and studied at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Paris (ENSBA) from 1990 to 1991. She returned to ALUO to do her post-graduate studies in painting with Professor Emerik Bernard. Samarin had her first independent exhibition in 1989 at the Culture Center of Rijeka in Croatia, and has since had approximately thirty independent shows at home and abroad.

She has also participated in many local and international group shows since 1988. In 1988, she became a member of the Association of Slovenian Visual Artists (ZDSLU). She has received many awards: a commendation from the French government in 1991, an redemption award at Ex-tempore in Piran, the redemption award of the City of Ljubljana, and in 2007 the honorary award at the May Salon of ZDSLU. In developing her own visual poetics, she has worked mostly in the field of classical painting. She has also worked with collage and oil techniques to transform black-and-white photographs into works of art, some of which are now part of important collections. She lives and works in Hruševo, Slovenia.

Zvonko ^oh was born on August 7, 1956 in Celje, Slovenia. In 1979, he graduated from the Ljubljana Academy of Visual Arts (ALUO), majoring in painting with Professor Janez Bernik. He continued his specialized studies under the mentorship of Professor Štefan Planinc. During his studies, he had already begun to create illustrations and artistic animated films. He is the creator or co-creator of several animated films: Poskušaj migati dvakrat [Try to move twice] (1981) with Milan Eri~, Poljubi mehka me radirka [Kiss me soft eraser] (1984). ^oh and Milan Eri~ also created the first feature length animated film entitled Socializacija bika [The socialization of the bull] (1999), for which they won the Prešeren Sklad Award. ^oh has won the following awards: the Belgrade Golden Pen Award in 1983, the Levstik Award (in 1988 and 1999), the Hinko Smrekar honorable mention (1995), the Hinko Smrekar Award (2002), two Hinko Smrekar plaques (2006 and 2010), the award for the most beautiful children’s book of the year (2003), and the award for the best original picture book in Slovenia (2011). In 2004, he was placed on the IBBY Honour List in Cape Town. He works in the fields of artistic animated films, visual communication, comic strips, and illustrations. From December 2015 to February 2016, the City Gallery of Ljubljana held a retrospective of ^oh’s career. ^oh lives and works in Hruševo, Slovenia.

Jasna Samarin Hruševo 149, 1356 Dobrova pri Ljubljani gsm: 041 955 312 E: jasna.samarin@guest.arnes.si

Izid kataloga sta omogo~ili: The pubblication was made possible by:

Zvonko ^oh Hruševo 149, 1356 Dobrova pri Ljubljani gsm: 031 803 550 E: zvonko.coh@telemach.net

Katalog izdal/Catalogue issued by: Javni zavod Kulturni dom Nova Gorica, Mestna galerija Nova Gorica – Zanj odgovarja/ Represented by: Pavla Jarc – Urednica/Edited by: Mateja Polj{ak Furlan – Besedilo/Text: Tatjana Pregl Kobe – Lektoriranje/ Proofreading: dr. Jo`e Gasperi~ – Prevod/Translated by: Erica Debeljak – Fotografije/Photo: Jasna Samarin – Oblikovanje/ Design: Adenda d.o.o. – Tisk/Print: Tiskarna Present d. o. o. – Naklada/Number of copies: 300

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