Palm of the Hand Stories
The drawings from this series entitled "Palm of the Hand Stories" are a natural extension of the artwork presented in the "Sweet and Sour" show at the Sarajevo Winter Festival in February 2009.
The ornament, along with some written textual references, is the central theme of my work. While depicting likable and easily comprehensible ornaments, I explore the notion of an artificially created gap existing between "higher" and "lower" forms of artistic productions: the former is usually consumed by only a small (chosen) segment of society, while the appreciation of the latter is associated with much larger social groups. Apart from this, the question of ornamentation contains in itself an underlying suggestion of cultural and geographical determinism. Are certain forms of artistic expression less valuable than others? If the answer is positive, what are the criteria of their classification? To which extent do historical and geographical contexts determine/pre-condition various forms of artistic practice? These questions could appear overly simplistic, but they might reflect certain theses present in the "Lebensraum" theories (living/vital space).
The drawings depict floral and decorative patterns borrowed from fabrics, craft objects and paintings that explore themes usually found in Japanese traditional painting. "Palm of the Hand Stories" as Kawabata Yasunari named them, are short stories no longer than two to four pages long, written in the 1920's. The scripts are so minute - they could fit a palm of one's hand. By naming the works this way, I intended to suggest a feeling of intimacy to the viewer as there is a story to each drawing. Exhibited as a whole, they create a unity in the same way as stories bound together would comprise a single work.
The ornament, along with some written textual references, is the central theme of my work. While depicting likable and easily comprehensible ornaments, I explore the notion of an artificially created gap existing between "higher" and "lower" forms of artistic productions: the former is usually consumed by only a small (chosen) segment of society, while the appreciation of the latter is associated with much larger social groups. Apart from this, the question of ornamentation contains in itself an underlying suggestion of cultural and geographical determinism. Are certain forms of artistic expression less valuable than others? If the answer is positive, what are the criteria of their classification? To which extent do historical and geographical contexts determine/pre-condition various forms of artistic practice? These questions could appear overly simplistic, but they might reflect certain theses present in the "Lebensraum" theories (living/vital space).
The drawings depict floral and decorative patterns borrowed from fabrics, craft objects and paintings that explore themes usually found in Japanese traditional painting. "Palm of the Hand Stories" as Kawabata Yasunari named them, are short stories no longer than two to four pages long, written in the 1920's. The scripts are so minute - they could fit a palm of one's hand. By naming the works this way, I intended to suggest a feeling of intimacy to the viewer as there is a story to each drawing. Exhibited as a whole, they create a unity in the same way as stories bound together would comprise a single work.