Monika Slemc & Nina Čelhar: Subordinations |
Museums night |
Meduza Gallery, Koper |
15th of June 2019 – 15th of September 2019 |
Inauguration: Saturday, 15th of June 2019 at 8.00 pm
Monika Slemc: JOMO. FOMO. YOLO., 2019, acrylic on canvas, 100 x 80 cm
Monika Slemc: JOMO. FOMO. YOLO., 2019, acrylic and oil on canvas, 120 x 90 cm
Nina Čelhar: Embedded II, 2019, acrylic on canvas, 54 x 80 cm
Nina Čelhar: Spatifil IV (detail), 2017, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 40 cm
The exhibition Subordinations presents two young artists: Nina Čelhar and Monika Slemc. The two painters are stylistically and artistically very different but they share a research focused on man and his action in modern society. The artists reflection is about today's chaotic lifestyle, human needs, desires, the need to escape from everyday life and the search for a safe place. Monika Slemc is focused on the relationship between man and nature while Nina Čelhar on the relationship between man and architecture.
Monika Slemc draws inspiration from nature which is also her refuge from daily life which is turbulent, overloaded but monotonous. The artist takes pictures of nature with her mobile phone and she uses these imagines to create alienated paintings. At the same time the paintings give a sensation of movement. The image runs away and get the viewers confused, making impossible for them to see clearly. Monika paints a view that would not be possible in reality. The large sizes of the images “embrace” the viewer who feels comforted.
Slemec does not reject technology, on the contrary it incorporates it and combines the possibilities it offers with the pictorial tradition. Subordination to technology and the feeling that we will miss something if we don't constantly check what is happening on our electronic devices are issues that Monika tries to solve in the JOMO.FOMO.YOLO! cycle. In this cycle she finds her artistic expression, free from predefined themes and styles and from institutional contexts. She simply enjoys the act of painting.
Nina Čelhar explores Architecture through the relationships between man-house, house-nature, nature-man. She also explores the relationship that modern man has with the space where he lives, what he expects and demands from space and what he needs. Personal space represents a material reflection of the inhabitant’s values and an emanation of his interiority. In her artwork she mainly explores intimate spaces designed for the individual, the single-family housing architecture is at the forefront in her paintings.
Nina takes as models for her houses (for both the interior and the exterior) architectures from magazines and Internet. She doesn’t want to represent imaginary architecture, she uses existing buildings that people have chosen as their home, buildings who maintain a genuine relationship with the surrounding environment.
Nina Čelhar places her functional (concrete) and minimalist architecture in a green environment. The painted facades are taken from real houses which serve as a model. The palette is limited: shades of green (for nature) and grey (for architecture). The result is a feeling of calm and serenity, intimacy and security. Despite the geometric architecture with similar shades the final appearance is a soft image.
Architecture is the result of human creativity and progress. Since humans always search in their own home what he lacks in the outside world, architecture is subordinate to men and it is a reflection of human condition. Čelhar's artworks are extremely clean and strong. The human figure is absent in her Architecture but the images are rich of details.
The exhibition will be open until the 22nd of September. The curator of the exhibition is Ana Papež Križaj.
INFO: Ana Papež Križaj, 070 760 950, ana.papez@obalne-galerije.si
