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Art Gallery, Neilson Park Creative Centre November 26 - December 20, 2002
56 Neilson Drive, Etobicoke.
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Eli Vranesic has meticulously studied poses and expressions of the anonymous (studio models),
the familiar (portraits) and sacred (icons). Now, with this Vivace series, he turns
his attention from the single depiction of the subject to multiple figures in motion and
interaction. With enthusiastic assertion, he sets these figures into play, capturing the flow of
movement and momentary pause. But this is not only a portrayal of different imagery related
to motion but also a testing out of the visual language. The artist emphasizes the power of line
as expressed in different media; the power of line that seems to derive its inspiration from
music, as Vivace , the title of the exhibition suggests. In this repertoire, pastels skirt the textured surface of the canvas creating soft, gentle, open silhouettes. These human forms seem to be shifting and engaging in sequential poses in the silence of white space. In contrast, with the acrylics, forceful, thick brush strokes dance vigorously on the canvas. Lines multiply and accentuate vertical rhythms, spreading right across the canvas to the limits of the spatial surface. In pictorial language, some of these compositions evoke the concept of musical scores. At the same time they seem to be personal revelations of a specific cultural context. The stance, gesture and interaction of the figures, whether in line or circle formation, or simply standing, relaxing or contemplating, recall the on- and off-stage moments of folk dance that were part of his earlier life. Here the artist draws upon his experience as a musician/dancer/choreographer, positioning himself in different perspectives and analyzing the performance from various angles. He observes the central formations frontally, but his eye is also in the midst of the circle and on the periphery. A faint, schematic self-portrait that emerges in the backdrop of one of the drawings alludes to this cherished remembrance. It is not surprising that one senses here the spontaneity, playfulness and joy of the creative process. |
| Dr. Dunja Hersak Associate Professor, Art History and Archaeology Department Universite Libre de Bruxelles. |
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