Janez Bogataj: Bagatelles

 

The series Bagatelles, the name of which denotes a short, light piece of music for the piano or a chamber ensemble, comprehensively builds on Bogataj’s opus and represents a logical continuation of his landscape series Sonata for Sun and Fog, with both series taking the inspiration behind their names from the music world. The compositions in the photographs from Bagatelles are utterly subordinate to the colours and patterns from which they are made of. In front of the viewer and through the frequent absence of prominent depth, a single two-dimensional surface unfolds, with the main role taken over by the pointillistic interlacement of natural pigments and shapes of flora. The rare appearances of the horizon cause our gaze to first take in the flowering of the forest in the foreground before undisturbedly gliding into the boundlessness of the sky we can sense in the background. More commonly, the detailed growth of vibrantly coloured bushes and trees fills every corner of the photograph, in which the artist contrasts patches of vivid warm colours, especially hues of yellow, orange and red, with complementary nuances of green. With regards to composition, Bogataj’s photographs are perfect – they are balanced to the point where each photograph is well proportioned on its own, while the compositions of nature complement each other and go together even when viewed as small selections or when we take in the entire series as a harmonious whole.

 

The key to the diversity of the photographer’s distinctive features lies in natural light, which Bogataj captures with his lens. Due to the changeability of time in the day and weather conditions that affect the final result, the colours in which the plant species radiate are slightly different practically in every single one of the exhibited artworks. The skill of the artist is being in the right place at the right time, not just capturing the mere image but also the atmosphere. Be it the morning waking of the world under gossamer clouds, gentle sunrays playing among the spring’s buds and blossoms, the strong summer sun pouring down through the canopies in beams of light, or the diffusing, almost gloomy light of the autumnal evening, each photograph testifies of a chosen moment in time and is absolutely unrepeatable. During his hikes around his native Gorenjska, Janez Bogataj stumbles upon the motifs, which capture his attention and speak to him, coincidentally. In spite of that, his principal characteristic is that he takes his time to study them thoroughly. From the standpoint of the motif and the composition, the final result is thus completely deliberate and polished to perfection, which grants Bogataj’s artworks a clearly visible authorial mark.

 

Without a single exception, the motifs in Bogataj’s photographs come from the natural environment, showcasing to the viewer a world untouched by humans. The unlimited sprawl of plant species is only bound by the internal evolutionary principles – some species take up each other’s space, others enable it. In the fragile balance of ecosystems, in which time is not measured by hours and workdays, but rather by lunar phases and seasons, everything is constantly metabolising, circulating, adjusting and balancing out. Janez Bogataj is the silent observer who doesn’t change nature in any way while allowing it to speak to him. The autonomy of the natural world is thus absolute, just like the autonomy of the artist – accepting each other wholly, they expect nothing in return. Only in coexistence, recognising their co-dependency and interconnectedness as an indivisible whole, the two gain another and a much larger worth.

 

– Vida Jocif