TO THE SEA: TANJA LAŽETIĆ, YENNY HUBER, EURO ROTELLI & BOJAN BRECELJ

17 June - 31 August 2022

TO THE SEA
TANJA LAŽETIĆ, YENNY HUBER, EURO ROTELLI & BOJAN BRECELJ
Nine Swimming Pools and a Broken Glass (1968) was Ed Ruscha’s first colour photography book, the artist better known at that time for his painting. The frames reveal his pop-art background and the influence of graphic art, while spatial relations and specific viewing angles point to the strong influence of cinematography on his work. As many of his works, this series also exhibits an ambivalent relationship between the concept and reality; while reality exists at the edges of the frame, the mythologized American everyday life is placed in the focus. At about the same time when Ruscha created his series, a series of photographs of Yugoslav tourist destinations, regularly equipped with pools, had also been made. These photographs were found in a tourist brochure by Tanja Lažetić, who also refers to Ruscha in her other works (e.g. Twentysix Gasoline Stations Only).
Nine Swimming Pools behind Broken Glass points to a specific aesthetic used in order to successfully launch a tourist product. Pools were a part of a holiday package during socialism, mythologized places imported from other cultures and demands. Especially at the seaside where they were an essential surplus, in discord with the surrounding landscape, they might have been considered a luxury available to guests for whom nature’s beauty did not provide a satisfactory level of accommodation or safety. The broken glass under which photo enlargements are laid is being held together with a red adhesive tape. The visible pattern unveils the latent scare left by the loss of a shared narrative, a frame within which Yugoslav tourism was once formed. Ruscha’s broken glass symbolizes a different kind of an atmosphere which permeates the picturesque parts of Los Angeles; the glass is placed on a smooth surface which reflects the blue sky (and whose colour and position within the frame is reminiscent of a pool). In contrast, the glass that is broken and then pieced together in Tanja’s series attempts to reconstruct the shattered image of pleasure. The red tape symbolizes the downfall of a political utopia (unfortunately bringing down with it numerous hotels and pools); it is like a filter for observing recent history which remains inaccessible and impossible to hold together.
Artworks
Bojan Brecelj
WDV, #2, 2013
digitalna fotografija, pleksi laminirane fotografije / digital print, lace mounting acryl glass
30 x 40 cm edicija/edition 2/5
42 x 63 cm edicija/edition 2/5
67 x 101 cm edicija/edition 2/5
edicija 5 + 2 AP / edition of 5 + 2 AP
The photographic project The Water Dragon of Venice reveals the elementary space levels of the Venetian lagoon as experienced by the author in 2013 and continued until 2015, when he was discovering known but also hidden corners of the lagoon by boat. Brecelj’s Venetian dragon is primarily the water dragon, awareness and energy of water reflecting other elemental and existential levels.
Sea creatures, free to swim among algae and corals, in fast and synchronized choreographies, or to move lazily among the sand of the seabed in solitary exploration. These images capture our attention, attract us to explore the abyss in the company of their inhabitants or, simply, make us curious to follow their movements, on the surface of the water or on the sand. But then, in front of the fishmonger's stalls, we forget the floating of the octopus, the darting of a school of sardines or the slow advance of a crab. The environment has changed, erasing its lyrical dimension. Yet, despite the interrupted life, deposited in those crates full of ice to preserve their freshness as much as possible, they still seem to dance in sinuous and perfect scenographies, communicating in a tragic and mute silence their last breath, their helpless cry, their yearning for life.
EURO ROTELLI
SILENTIUM #6, 2013
Wandering among the market stalls, among the people intent on choosing the type of fish, in front of the calls of the sellers, in the midst of the buzz of the crowd at rush hour, I perceived this invocation of theirs, their invitation to pause, to admire their composed beauty as the ultimate homage to life. The voices around them have suddenly died down, dominated by that mute and desperate cry of an ancient resigned silence. I could not help but grasp their message, frozen forever in those fixed and glassy eyes, in those open mouths in the last call, in that sinuous movement stopped forever.
Artworks
Yenny Huber
Melbourne, 2006
C-tisk / C-print
53 x 220 cm
edicija 6 / edition of 6
48stunden (48 hours) originally started in Sydney in 2005 and phases have since also been completed in Melbourne, Vienna, Barcelona, Monaco, Paris, and Ljubljana. Eventually elements of this project shall be completed in many cultural cities around the world portraying a unique mix of the known and less discovered. 48stunden forms an abstract interpretation, a collective observation and intensive search for the complex character of a city, its people, and its country.

In each participating city, 48 hours are allocated to capture and discover. Each artwork is formed out of a minimum of two overlapping frames up to 15 or more. This technique was developed to truly capture the above-described complexity and is furthermore emphasised by a vibrant and distinct use of colour. Even though the images are scanned and carefully prepared for printing on the computer, everything essential and defining for the image is done in camera. No digital manipulation is used to produce the final large format prints.
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TO THE SEA: TANJA LAŽETIĆ, YENNY HUBER, EURO ROTELLI & BOJAN BRECELJ

TO THE SEA

Bojan Brecelj

EURO ROTELLI

Yenny Huber

READ MORE ON THESE ARTISTS

Tanja Lažetić

Bojan Brecelj

Euro Rotelli

Yenny Huber

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