Ida Brišnik Remec & Marjan Remec
IDA BRIŠNIK REMEC & MARJAN REMEC, So near - so farUGM l Maribor Art Gallery, Strossmayerjeva 6
Opening: Thursday, 8 September 2011 at 19:00
The first retrospective exhibition of Ida Brišnik Remec and Marjan Remec presents a selection of works by two contemporary artists who with their creative work noticeably marked the Maribor and Slovene art domain. Despite their numerous exhibitions in the 1970's and 1980's, they have not yet been subject to a thorough review or critique that would provide an integral assessmennt of their contribution and adequately place them within the 20-century Slovene art scene. Next to a review of their opus, this comprehensive exhibition at the Maribor Art Gallery offers an occasion for an appropriate evaluation.
Ever since their student years, Marjan and Ida were closely connected as painters as well as personal partners; they have also mainly exhibited together. They both graduated from the Ljubljana Academy of Fine Arts in 1964. They were married one year before and have lived together since then. During the Academy time, Prof. Gabriel Stupica had a strong influence on both.
Ida Brišnik Remec is a significant representative of the Slovene Late Modernism. Like her husband, she has influenced the visual fine art scene of Maribor especially in the 70s and 80s of the last century and her impact goes beyond the local sphere. Her art work ranges from the early series Portals (1969), over Lamps and Lighting Bodies series which explored the phenomenon of the light in a dark space, to her plant series from the mid-seventies to this day. With her unique plant life she attained broader recognition and even after four decades this theme still inspires her. Ida Brišnik Remec replaced her initial oil works of the 70s by acrylic paintings, however all this time she also painted drawings which for a short time took the lead in her artistic creation. The painter’s unique approach, regardless of the technical implementation in her plant series, is based on the often realistic view of the everyday objects. Her colors, fluorescent acrylic accentuation, unnatural extension, decomposition of the individual units and similar approaches take her art work often into a magical dimension, which is limited by a closed in world of alienation and separation.
Ida Brišnik Remec is an artist closely connected to Maribor where she lives and works. She was also active as a high school professor. Her art work is placed into the broad stream of Late Modernism telling us stories about the world in a unique and unusual way. The exhibition will provide an opportunity for the presentation of her art work and it will place the artist into the broader Slovene fine art scene.
Marjan Remec (1937–2009) is an important representative of the Slovene Late Modernism. He reached his creative peak in the 70s and 80s of the 20th century and has influenced the fine art scene of that time in Maribor as well as the Slovene fine art scene in general. He created paintings, drawings and watercolor paintings. One of his most recognizable themes expressed in his watercolor paintings is the so called figurative inhuman "homunculuses" namely human-like creatures that inhabit cold and alienated but at the same time beautiful landscapes. His technically perfected watercolor paintings often combined with color ink, tell us the artist's apocalyptic narratives. In his exceptional subtleness of almost exclusively blue shades Marjan Remec painted the tragic future of the world inspired by the cosmic dimensions of existence. This water color paintings from the 70s and 80s of the 20th century represent the peak of his oeuvre. His acrylic paintings compared to his water color paintings are more single-layered and two-dimensional. They focus on several parts of the same despairing world however instead of placing the parts into a timeless landscape Marjan Remec put them into an empty space - a vacuum which intensifies the feelings of restriction and helplessness. The viewer feels the coldness and is nevertheless impressed with what he sees. The artist's view is not just a one-dimensional view, it also includes cynicism, allusion regarding political situation of that time, echoes of American Pop Art and more.
The author was born in Ptuj but lived and worked in Maribor all along. He worked as a professor at the High School in Maribor, where he founded the Foyer Exhibition Space and helped many young artists in terms of mentoring them. Since Marjan Remec is a Slovene artist who never had a reviewing exhibition of his own up to this time, this retrospective exhibition will provide a perfect opportunity to highlight the importance of his art work for both the Maribor and Slovene art scene.
curator: Andreja Borin
Text by Andreja Borin.
