A Grotesque of Our Time
A Grotesque of Our Time
UGM Studio, Trg Leona Štuklja 2
opening: Friday, 7 April 2017, at 19:00
artists: Eva Mlinar, Vladimir Leben, Nenad Cizl, Eva Lucija Kozak, Luka Uršič, Sašo Sedlaček, Zora Stančič, Matej Stupica, Mark Požlep, Silvester Plotajs Sicoe
curator: Taja Toplak
The word grotesque is a derivative from the Italian expression grotta, meaning cave, and originally denoted wall paintings of Ancient Roman palaces, which were discovered and given the name grotesque no earlier than the 15th century. The principal characteristics of the grotesque include mixing heterogeneous elements based on free imagination, merging things that are considered incompatible, moving away from the rules of the everyday world or worldview as we know and accept it, breaking traditional laws of space and time, and deliberately breaking away from the mimetic model by means of visually exaggerating certain physical features and character traits. With hybrid creatures, size and symmetry distortions, interknitting garlands, and rich ornamentation, grotesques create a proper fantasy world, which stands as a sort of attack against the rationalism of the world and its logic. W. Kayser, as well as the greater part of contemporary art theory in general, have linked the occurrence and rise of the grotesque to various societal or spiritual crises. Most present-day theorists consider the grotesque as an expression of man's complete and utter alienation from the world, an expression of the unbearable hardship caused by our individual and common problems, which at times appear unsolvable, or even as an expression of the decay and ruin of the world in which we live.
The grotesque discomforts and impresses us, as it evokes inside us thoughts, feelings, ideas about the existence of a different kind of world, and about our reality being just one of many. Such feelings challenge the generally accepted values and theories, partly because they fail to render the grotesque elements comprehensible, and partly because they elicit in us a mythical sensation that these elements are hiding something. In the grotesque, wholes and parts of reality are separated, disjointed, and dispersed. Even fantastical creatures and exotic images often undergo this same process, but it is not quite as relevant, because the viewer is unable to perceive the discrepancy of something that is already unconventional by nature. The separate elements are then combined once again into new wholes, which appear absurd at the first sight.
The definition of grotesque is an elusive category, and contemporary theorists have interpreted it in very different ways. An important element of the grotesque is definitely humor, since grotesques use a mocking, ironic manner to portray the everyday reality. The exhibition is a selection of contemporary artists, who all address this topic in direct and indirect ways. Their works are grotesque either because of the motifs of fantasy worlds inhabited by hybrid creatures and other fantastical characters, or because of the collage technique and the use of full-toned, intense colors, which are typical of this genre, or they can be labeled as grotesque in terms of the wider socially critical context.
