Nika Šimac, Miran Cencič: Tantasan, slike, prostorska instalacija in kipi

Nika Ĺ imac in Miran Cenci~ Tantasan

20 let

20 let

Nika Šimac in Miran Cenci~ Tantasan slike, prostorska instalacija in kipi 2.–23. 6. 2017

ALADIN IN NJEGOVA KONTEMPLATIVNA SLIKA Izbrana dela Mirana Cenci~a v intimni, pridušeni svetlobi poustvarjajo umetnikovo raziskavo notranjih, introvertiranih krajin.

So odmev ne~esa, kar je skrito v globini in do ~esar pride avtor preko procesa sanj. Gre za podobe, ki se mu vtisnejo v spomin na krhki to~ki med spancem in stanjem budnosti. ^e je njegovo psihi~no stanje umirjeno, se za zaprtimi o~mi pojavi peš~ena struktura ali, kot jih sam imenuje, kozmi~ni elektroni, ki se za~no združevati v ve~je skupine, madeže, naposled v slike s podobami. Te podobe ga povle~ejo k sebi in zapletejo v lastni vrtinec.

Podobno nastaja umetnikov ustvarjalni proces. Za~etek je vsem slikarjem enak: avtor pred belim platnom. Cenci~ za~enja z nanašanjem zaplat, ki se povezujejo v skupine, dobro uspele parte slike pokrije z lepilnim trakom in dela na preostali površini naprej, obra~a platno za 90 in 360 stopinj, in ko uvidi, da je v sliki »nekaj živega postalo« – da je vanjo prodrla svetloba ali da je preprosto zazvenela –, pomeni, da je dokon~ana. Ko v sliki, v katero se rad ~ustveno zaplete, najde spomin, so možgani zadovoljeni.

Prepri~an je, da so najlepše tiste slike, ki nastanejo same. Platna razkrivajo pokrajine, ki obstajajo, vendar v nam neznanih krajih in v nam neznanih ~asih, so nekakšne prapodobe, spomini, arhetipi pozabljenega, a hkrati najdenega. V tem smislu se v sliki skriva ~as, mnoštvo latentnih resni~nosti. Avtor jih poimenuje mesnate krajine, kar je aluzija na biblijski izraz »in beseda je meso postala« in nas vodi do temeljnega vprašanja, ki je medieviste in teologe ves ~as najbolj vznemirjalo, in sicer, ali je mogo~e prek vidnga uzreti nevidno.

Slikarska tehnika, ki jo pri tem uporablja, je jaj~na tempera z lazurnimi nanosi. Z lakom doseže, da je slika zamrznjena, lo~ena od tega sveta in pripadajo~a drugemu, misti~nemu svetu. Slike nastajajo mesece, stran od dnevne ali umetne svetlobe, v poltemi ali celo temi. Svetlobni in barvni u~inki, ki jih avtor doseže, so izjemno delo, ki se pred gledalcem razprostira po~asi in kli~e po intimnem odnosu.

Miran Cenci~ nam že od svojih akademijskih slik dalje jasno govori o bogastvu vidnih-nevidnih doživljajev in dražljajev, v njegovem ateljeju pogosto veje duh Wasilija Kandinskega, ki pravi, da vse oblike življenja osmišlja kozmi~ni duh, ki je v vsaki stvari in oddaja zvoke; na ~loveka u~inkuje na pozitiven ali na negativen na~in, odvisno od ~lovekove notranje naravnanosti. Podobno se gledalcu odziva tudi umetnina. »Svet zveni. Svet je kozmos duhovno delujo~ih bitij. Tako je mrtva snov živi duh.« V filozofiji o fenomenologiji zaznave do potankosti razmišlja Maurice MerleauPonty. Govori o sivini ob zaprtih o~eh, ki nas neposredno obdaja, o zvokih polsna, ki odmevajo v glavi in naznanjajo to, kar bi lahko bilo ~isto ~utenje.

Slikar Miran Cenci~, ki naj bi se na pri~ujo~i razstavi prikazal odet v glino ter v podobi Aladina s ~udežno svetilko, ima tudi kot performer svoj historiat, edinstven v slovenskem umetnostnem kontekstu.

Spomnimo se njegovega novogoriškega performansa (v sodelovanju s pesnikom Tomijem Vre~arjem) iz devetdesetih let prejšnjega stoletja, v katerem se je dal javno prebi~ati ter tako izpostavil svoje telo v smislu »to je moje telo, ki se daje za vas«. Aladinovska pojava bo gotovo bolj duhovita, vsekakor pa razbremenjujo~a napetosti, ki jo obiskovalci obi~ajno ~utijo ob sre~anju s sodobno umetnostjo.

Umetnost Nike Šimac in Mirana Cenci~a na tem mestu pride do soto~ja. Obredno, naravno, šamansko se zlije z mistiko ter nekdanjimi ~asi in prostori, ki nam nalagajo dolg, da ga v naših življenjih odslužimo. Takšen je nauk.

Klavdija Figelj

TANTASAN Beseda tantasan v nare~ju Breginjskega kota pomeni v~asih.

Umetnica, kiparka Nika Šimac, si jo je sposodila za ponazoritev umetniškega ustvarjanja, v katerem je sama v vlogi medija, skozi katerega prehajajo ideje, ki pa se le v~asih uresni~ijo kot umetniško delo. V bistvu samo takrat, ko je umetnica fizi~no in mentalno pripravljena; ko uspe dose~i dolo~eno stopnjo koncentracije in je tehni~no izpopolnjena, kar vse kaže na prehod v polje obrednega.

Obredje razume v smislu blagodejnosti za skupnost ter kot sestavni del posameznikove duhovne biti. Kot umetnico jo zanima kolektivno nezavedno ter arhetipi, ki so si podobni v razli~nih kulturah na razli~nih koncih sveta. Do njih prihaja, ko se poveže z naravo, v enosti z njo, mo~ umetnosti pa ji na tem mestu pomaga, da se silnicam odpre, jih poetsko-estetsko poustvari, umetnost ji vra~a s terapevtskim u~inkom.

S svojo prostorsko postavitvijo ustvarja duhovni prostor.

Zasnovala jo je posebej za novogoriško Mestno galerijo. Sestavila jo je iz treh med seboj povezanih delov. Senat prednikov, postavljen med stebre galerije, sestavlja sedem kipov, ustvarjenih iz lesa topole, ki je bila posekana ob gradnji Eda centra. Kipi v mešani tehniki (les, beton, stare obleke, morski kamen, oljenka, vrv, ogenj) v prostor prikli~ejo prednike in ga razsvetljujejo. Osrednji krožni obod galerije zasedajo repinci, veliki listi zdravilne rastline repinec. Rastline so vidonom – šamanom pri obredu pomagale preiti v drugo stanje duha, da so lahko leteli v podzemlje ali v nebesa ali pa v vmesni svet, pa~ glede na nalogo, ki so jo morali opraviti. Navadno so v drugem svetu iskali izgubljeno dušo ter, da bi jo pripeljali nazaj, zanjo morali opraviti daritev. ^e so višje entitete sprejele daritev, je ~lovek ozdravel. O tovrstnem letenju avtorica govori tudi v delu Vidonov let, ki vsebuje liste psihoaktivnih rastlin iz naše okolice.

Avtorica jih je uokvirila kot sliko ter ustvarila krila, ki nas po svoji monumentalnosti in barvni skali lahko vodijo celo do ~udovitih kril angelov na Cavallinijevi Poslednji sodbi v rimski Santa Maria in Trastevere. V središ~nem delu galerije – duhovnega prostora visijo in se gibljejo frlini, vsak od njih s tremi peresi, zataknjenimi v drevesno šiško. Frlini po staroverski praksi, kot jo razlaga etnolog in preu~evalec staroverstva Pavel Medveš~ek, odganjajo zduhce prednikov. Obredni prostor je ustvarjen.

Nika Šimac, najve~krat v soustvarjalnem aktu s slikarjem Petrom Mignozzijem, odkriva pomembnost in magi~nost v soustvarjanju z naravo – naravo v Jungovem smislu, ki kot ~ista in nepokvarjena predstavlja arhetip. Njene raziskave temeljijo na iskanju to~ke ravnotežja med osebno kreativnostjo ter soo~anjem s popolnostjo naravnih elementov. Sama pravi, da so umetniška dela in dejanja premišljeno usmerjena k razkrivanju kolektivnega nezavednega v prvobitni obliki enosti.

2

ALADDIN The selected works of Miran Cenci~ resort to intimately dimmed light to re-create the artists’ exploration of internal and introverted landscapes. They express that something, which lies hidden in the depths and is only revealed to the artist in his dreams. The images are impressed into his memory on the delicate brink between sleep and wakefulness. The artist tells that when he is in a peaceful state of mind, he first sees a sandy structure appear behind his eyelids.

The cosmic electrons—as he calls them—start clustering into specks, blots and, eventually, images. The pictures then draw him closer and into their own vortex.

The artist’s creation starts in a similar way. All painters start from the same point: a white canvas. Cenci~ begins by adding blots of colour and connects them into groups and sets; then covers the parts of the pictures he deems complete with adhesive tape and continues with the rest of the canvas. At times, he tilts the canvas or turns it by 90 or 180 degrees until ‘something comes to life’, until light appears or begins to resonate, which means that the picture is finished. Once the emotional bond is created and memories recovered, the brains are satisfied. He believes the most beautiful are the ones that appear by themselves. His canvases reveal landscapes that exist in places and times we do not know, primal symbols, memoirs and archetypes we have forgotten and still seem to remember. Pictures therefore conceal time and a variety of latent realities. The author calls them fleshy landscapes—referring to the biblical phrase “and the word became flesh”—and thus leads us to the basic question that occupied the minds of theologians for ages: Could the unseen be viewed through the visible?

The artist uses egg tempera covered with lacquer to give the painting a sense of being frozen, separated from this world and part of another universe, a mystical realm. He takes months to finish his paintings, secluded from daylight in rooms with dim lighting or no light at all. The light and colour effects created by the artist are extraordinary achievements that gradually appear before the viewers’ eyes in all their intimacy.

Ever since his academic years, the works of Miran Cenci~ have been speaking about the fullness of the tangible or elusive stimuli.

The spirit of Wassily Kandinsky often pervades the atelier of the artist, who believes that all life forms are animated by a cosmic spirit that reverberates within everything. It has a positive or negative impact on humans, depending on their inner attitude. Artworks have the same effect. “The world reverberates. The world is a universe of spiritually active beings. Dead matter is therefore living spirit.” The phenomenology of perception was tackled in philosophy by Maurice Merleau-Ponty, who wrote about the all-surrounding greyness of closed eyelids, the sound of slumber echoing in one’s head and announcing what could be considered pure sensing.

Miran Cenci~ boasts a considerable and unique history as an art performer in Slovenia and is expected to appear dressed in clay as Aladdin and his magic lantern. We shall certainly recall his performance in Nova Gorica in the Nineties with poet Tomi Vre~ar, where the painter let himself be flogged in public and thus exposed his body in the meaning of the words “This is my body, which is for you”. The surely funnier appearance of Aladdin will probably ease the tension usually felt by visitors in face of modern art.

The art of Nika Šimac and of Miran Cenci~ meet at this point. The natural and shaman rituals blend with the mystical, the past and the debt that we must repay in our lifetimes. That is the teaching.

Klavdija Figelj

TANTASAN The meaning of the word tantasan in the dialect of Breginjski kot is sometimes. Artist and sculptor Nika Šimac borrowed the word to express the essence of artistic creation, where she only acts as a tool, a vessel for ideas that only sometimes turn into artworks, only when the artist is physically and mentally up to the task, when she manages to achieve a certain degree of focus and technical skill, when she enters a special ritual space.

She understands rituals as service for the benefit of the community and a constitutive part of one’s spiritual essence. As an artist, she is interested in the collective unconscious and the archetypes that are encountered across cultures in various parts of the world. She manages to access them by getting in touch and blending with nature, while her artistic skills help her to open to the forces, to recreate them through poetic and aesthetic skills and art pays her back as therapy.

Her spatial arrangements create spiritual spaces that she has designed specifically for Mestna galerija Nova Gorica as a combination of three connected parts. The Ancestors’ Senate—set among the pillars of the gallery—is a series of seven statues cleaved out of the poplar trees that were felled for the construction of the Eda Centre. The statues created using a mix of materials and techniques (wood, concrete, old clothes, sea rocks, ropes and fire) illuminate the room and summon up ancestors. The central apse of the gallery is filled with Repinci, the large leaves of burdock, which is a medicinal plant. The herbs were used by shamans to access altered states of consciousness, to fly into the underworld or soar to the skies or the in-between realms, depending on the nature of their quest. They usually searched the other world for lost souls to be brought back or the ones they were expected to make sacrifices for. Once the higher entities accepted the sacrifice, the person was cured. The author refers to this type of flight in her work as Vidonov let, which contains a list of local psychoactive plants. The artist has put the herbs in frames and added monumental, multi-coloured wings, which recall the sublime wings of the angels on Cavallini’s Final Judgement in Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome. The middle part of the gallery or the spiritual space is populated by hanging frlini, each with three feathers stuck in a pine cone. As explained by old-faith scholar Pavel Medveš~ek, the frlini are mythological beings that repel the spirits of the ancestors. The ritual space has thus been created.

Nika Šimac—most often co-creating with painter Peter Mignozzi— is exploring the importance and the magic of creating with nature, the purest and untainted archetype in the Jungian sense of the word. Her explorations are based on a quest for balance between creating from her intimate world and facing the perfection of the natural elements. Her artworks and her actions—she says—directly aim at unveiling the collective unconscious in its primordial oneness.

3

Nika Ĺ imac, Arctium lappa, 2017

4

Nika Ĺ imac, Vidonov let, 2015

5

Nika Ĺ imac, Senat prednikov, 2017

6

Nika Ĺ imac, Senat prednikov, 2017

7

8

Nika Ĺ imac, Frlini, 2017

9

Miran Cenci~, Brez naslova, 2000–2015

10

Miran Cenci~, Brez naslova, 2000–2015

11

Miran Cenci~, Brez naslova, 2000–2015

12

Miran Cenci~, Brez naslova, 2000–2015

13

Miran Cenci~, Brez naslova, 2000–2015

14

Miran Cenci~, Brez naslova, 2000–2015

15

Akademska kiparka Nika Šimac je diplomirala na Akademiji lepih umetnosti v Benetkah leta 2007, leta 2011 pa je opravila diplomo specializanta.

Udeležila se je mnogih skupinskih razstav (La Biennale di Venezia, Arhipelag, Trans-forma, Auswandern, Bindu itd.) in Ex tempor v Sloveniji in Italiji. Poleg številnih razstav je avtorica vedno bolj prisotna v prostoru tudi z javnimi kipi, ki se nahajajo tako pri nas kot v tujini. Med njimi bi lahko izpostavili delo, ki je nastal ob 100. obletnici rojstva slovenskega pesnika Vladimirja Pavši~a – Mateja Bora v Grgarju in Aleksandrinko v novogoriškem mestnem parku.

Izid kataloga je omogo~ila:

Slikar Miran Cenci~ je zaklju~il študij na ljubljanski Akademiji za likovno umetnost. Magisterij je opravil iz restavratorstva, ki ga je ob delu opravil na zavodu za kulturno dediš~ino. Ve~krat je sodeloval na skupinskih razstavah.

Izvedel je tudi nekaj performansov, v katerih se je pokazal kot drzen, pogumen in neobremenjen performer. Živi in dela v Novi Gorici.

Katalog izdal: Javni zavod Kulturni dom Nova Gorica, Mestna galerija Nova Gorica – Zanj odgovarja: Pavla Jarc – Urednica: Mateja Polj{ak Furlan – Besedilo: Klavdija Figelj – Prevod: Peter Szabo – Fotografije: Katarina Brešan in David Verli~ – Oblikovanje: Adenda d.o.o. – Tisk: Tiskarna Present d. o. o. – Naklada: 150

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.

Ob nedeljah in praznikih zaprto.