Lanscape Spaces / Prostori krajolika
September 4 – 22, 2019
PM Gallery

 

Exhibition opening: Wednesday, September 4, 2019, at the Prsten Gallery  at 20 pm

 

Artists: Alebić Josip, Babić Damir, Bakić Gordana, Brandis Josip, Čabraja Igor, Čaušić Mario, Deman Tanja, Dračić Sebastijan, Duvnjak Hrvoje, Jurić Ivona, Kardum Ivanišin Katarina, Kozina Zlatko, Lenard Kristina , Matoković Mario, Milić Miron, Milić Zdravko, Ruf Igor, Sanvicenti Davor, Sušac Domagoj, Tadić Marko, Vehabović Zlatan, Vodopija Mirjana, Vrankić Davor, Vrkljan Zlatan

If by landscape painting one refers to the genre of painting dedicated solely to the depiction of landscapes “where landscapes represent the central motif,” then, by following the thought of Lothar Altmann, one could say that its history starts during the Renaissance period. Altmann, however, neglects the fact that during the period of Antiquity, especially in Egyptian art, Minoan and Mycenaean, as well as ancient Greek and Roman depictions, the portrayal of nature was common practice. He sees the problem in the fact that “particular elements of landscape were often placed next to each other, which disenabled the existence of continuity within the depiction.” Therefore, according to this stance, one could assume that the basis for landscape as an independent theme was enabled by the introduction of geometrical perspective in depicted scenes, as landscape in most cases entails movement of the painters eye toward the horizon, as well as their noting of the perceived and experienced reality along the way, where the endpoint (the line of the horizon itself) always turns out to be the point of a new beginning, seen as how the horizon represents an illusion created by the collusion of nature and the human eye to preserve us from the absolute.      

Just as a portrait entails a correlation between the inner and outer dimensions of the depicted figure, the depiction of landscape does also not just represent a mere copy of the perceived but an immersion in the sight, and by means of the perceived an immersion into oneself; connecting to the geography of the perceived and enrooting into the ground from which the depiction that follows sprouts, together with the formation of the depicted sight by the strength of one’s own experience of nature. The space of the landscape is more than just a space in which to live and reside. The connection between man and nature in Friedrich Ratzel’s, the founder of anthropogeography, opinion “results in the creation of a vital living space (Lebensraum) in which all sorts of human activities (…) in languages immanent to them, form different signals of geographicality.” (Jukić/Rem) Those “signals of geographicality” are possible to form, as well as interpret, on different levels, so that the landscape stops being merely a literal scenery, and becomes a world in which the bond between the ground and the artist is reflected. It reads as love they feel towards each other, as well as an indication of happiness, hate, suspicion, passion, or longing to run away, either from the landscape or oneself. Finally, the artist feels the landscape to the extent and in a way that the ground feels the artist, providing them with more or fewer incentives to stay or run away.   

 

from the preface

 

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WORKING HOURS:

Wednesday to Friday: 11.00 AM – 7.00 PM
Saturday and Sunday: 10.00 AM – 18.00 PM
Closed on Mondays, Tuesdays and holidays.