INSIGHT INTO THE SUBLIME PROCESS OF VISUAL CREATION

The paintings of Bosiljka Zirojević can be interpreted from the vantage point of creation, as a quest for the sequence of layered surfaces of her artistic endevour. The emission characterized by elaborate sensibility, both coherent and harmonious in its nature, appears suggestively, without compromise, and, as such, already produces a strong experience through its visual effect. To take a structural – analytical approach to the cohesion and composition of the picture is valid only when seeking the cognitive context in parellel with its visible content.

Geometrization, a term with which the author entitles a set of her paintings, reflects implicitly the overall artistic work of Bosiljke Zirojević. Its determinants guide the audience through the intellectual context of sublimated artificiality. Geometry is a position of the object found in the well-devised space created by the artist, whose paintings result from calm, steady and throughtful action. The dominant forms are plates, built and marked on selected areas of the picture, fitted in and connected to each other as a symbolic system of keys. The forms generated by the artist are perfect mechanisms of correlated energy values operating in synergy. On the border of two plates, or the very point of their connection, there is a line that we can comprehend as a graphical representation of a mathematical formula from its initiation. The spaces that arise before us are monochromatic and thus create a unique tone – Bosiljka primarily uses two colours – in correlation, in a complementary way, without the conflict and high pitch of contrast.

Dichotomy, as bipolar and binary, is an additional determinant of these connections. Terracotta is the prevailing pictorial material, subtly and systematically built in a unique personal procedure on a light canvas base, which suggests a powerful visual and tactile quality of relief. A dense fluid envisaged by the primary layer of black acrylic paint with an inner bluish note is a visual reflection of metal, reinforced by the graphite. Connecting soil and metal, extracting light from the mud pigment, equals the bravery of an alchemical experiment, making this the painter’s manifesto for the freedom of artistic expression. To experience and understand Bosiljka’s paintings, it is important to be aware of their iconic aspect, the matching of the central area of the picture with one’s line of vision, which introduces the observer into a much broader space where only one fragment has been artistically presented. This reduction guided by a reflective process has not taken away the primary vibration of the image. Rather, the compacted manual sequencing and pasting of materials has sublimated the emanation of structure. The presence of this potential energy is seen as a charge needed for creative work in a different world.

The singularity of this calm, but powerful, sublime artwork is completely in line with the personal qualities of the painter, Bosiljka Zirojević. This is where the essential artistic position is achieved – being yourself and at the same time being honest and communicative.

prof. Ljubomir Vučinić

On “Soft Paintings” by Bosiljka Zirojević Lečić

What Porempski predicted back in the seventies has now become a reality: the dominance of new visual media is manifested as a continuous pulsation of technological images that governs global communication networks and human relations. In a time of accelerated change, a painting (and its technological and digital variations) have become fully incorporated into the everyday life in the first two decades of the 21st century. Lev Manovich, the renowned American media researcher states that these and similar paintings/images are increasingly becoming selected, established, promoted and distributed by a powerful computer algorithm. A new, contemporary visual domain has now been created; a painting is no longer the leading visual language within a culture, nor is it completely dominant in the art of our time, since the sensibility of a contemporary man has first been introduced and later accustomed to some other, different paintings/images.

However, painting is still very present within art practice. In a world of global media, it seeks to preserve its own exclusivity of human origin and meaning. Divna Vuksanović, a Belgrade theorist of contemporary art is convinced that the artist is able to oppose the general process of digitalization with actions that imply a “return to the body / hand”, which calls for the artist’s direct activism in contextual events. In any case, relations have been changed. Today’s painter has lost the aura of excellence that his/her predecessors had in some earlier times and previous social systems, but he/she still remains a creator of integrity and authority. In fact, today an artist is a citizen and no longer just a witness, commentator or reviewer of current affairs; but rather an authentic actor and a constituent of everyday life striving to determine “humanity” (Žižek) in his/her art and contextualize it socially.

Starting from her early works created in the prelude period, Bosiljka Zirojević Lečić, a Novi Sad painter has understood and treated the painting as a field of possible reconsiderations of her ontological postulates, but also as a possibility of exclusive action in the “extended field of a painting”. At the turn of the century, this young artist managed to form works of simple, precise and minimalist lapidary plastic characteristics. Applying the principle of less is more and renouncing narrative, Bosiljka Zirojević Lečić uses pictorial (but also non-artistic) elements to organize a flexible whole whose message is read at the level of representative formal principles. Solid geometric linearity, construction, materialized structure and combination of different materials act as a clearly defined counterpoint to the chaotic social relations, destruction and chaos of today’s world. Therefore, Bosiljka Zirojević Lečić creates her own flexible system as a model for the reorganization of society in crisis and the reestablishment of order and harmony. This solution is based on geometric rationalism, precision and clarity i.e. on the evocation of principles that have been used by artists since the first half of the 20th century thanks to Russian constructivists, Malevich, Mondrian and De Stijl, Bauhaus and many other proponents of rationalist painting after them who sought to modernize art and the society.

In such rich history of geometric painting, it is not easy to establish one’s own authorial uniqueness to which a true artist pleads. Bosiljka Zirojević Lečić is too serious an artist to be satisfied only with “facade” effects. Through continuous action, she comes to her own solutions, to completely unconventional and unusual paintings, to a unique opportunity to express her own sensitivity and personality. In the series of works “Soft Forms, Sharp Forms” named after the predominant soft textile materials and precise geometric drawings, she does not make any linguistic concessions. The minimalist drawing is drawn with “ruler-precise” lines or the linearity is achieved by stitching and sewing sharp and straight edges of the fabric; the color reduction is monochromic and is in the tones of selected textile-woven materials. The result is concrete, tangible; even the line reaches its reification, geometric fields are made of unconventional material (wool, textile canvas) in a way that it erases the impression of illusoriness, making the painting a real phenomenon. With this rational and precisely “made” painting, the artist leads us to the essence of her artistic thought, which she subtly opposes to the world crisis: she opposes her personalized idea of ​​soft and sensitive construction to the destruction, calmness and rationalism of geometry to the chaos of the world…
In fact, Bosiljka Zirojević Lečić contrasts her own sensitivity brought into every inch of her paintings with the brutalities of our times; she confronts the uneasy feeling of threat imposed on us by the ruling ideology of “angry capitalism” which, together with the accompanying philosophy of profit burdened the social relations with dehumanization and lack of emotionality, endorsing the ruthless use of people and a permanent feeling of existential insecurity …

Bosiljka Zirojević Lečić is one of those artists who, with her dedicated and continuous work, manages to create unusual solutions. The artwork cycle “Soft Forms, Sharp Forms” is indicative because this painter managed to create a “conventional” painting through uncustomary features of her creative work in quite an unobtrusive, discreet way. However, in this uncustomary process, she found a clearly personalized means of expression. No matter how unexpected and unusual the elements of a painting might appear, this artist continues to rely on the primary effects of the fine arts elements: a clear and precise line; a color most often reduced to minimalist surface; an interesting material or combination of materials (color, terracotta powder, terracotta, aluminum strips, plaster, fabric, etc.). They all sovereignly redefine the principles and meanings of the fundamental patterns in painting or object-painting. On the other hand, perhaps the most precious feature of Bosiljka Zirojević Lečić’s painting is her true respect for the aesthetic and ethical principles of painting and its corresponding effects. Currently, in the time of global medialization, digital technology, machine and spiritual automation, at the doorstep of humanoid and intelligent robotics – in other words – in the time rushing towards further dehumanization, she strives to preserve the humanity of creators and spectators by synthesizing aesthetic and ethical message and reach the authentic human features and values ​​of her work. Such art seeks to preserve our human integrity; it is a shelter for the eternally afflicted human soul. That is why the paintings of Bosiljka Zirojević Lečić are a true contribution to current art, our culture and the time we live in.

Novi Sad, August 2021

Sava Stepanov