INTANGIBLE

The exhibition of Lena Kramarić and the dance artist Martina Tomić was conceived as a project that includes an exhibition of drawings by the academic painter Lena, which visually follows a dance performance of a limited period of time. Leaving the exhibition open, this dance and visual event continues to be mirrored in the installed works that question the human limitlessness of movement and bodily expression of emotions. The suppression of the human mass into a limited drawing format is noticeable, where parts of the body follow the thought of the performer, hovering on the border of controlled movements and the forces of gravity. But they break their limits, in a metaphorical way opening new limits of the mobility of the human body and the feasibility of certain points, but also not respecting the physical limit of paper. In this way, a new view of the depicted character is opened, which continues its life outside the format of the drawing, creating further imaginary worlds. Clear outlines of the female body prevail in the works, the vulnerability and fragility of which is further emphasized by the process of deliberately not completing certain parts of the drawing, leaving room for the observer to supplement the work with his own creative contribution of imagination.

Shading with a paper napkin, which has become a recognizable characteristic of Lena's painting signature, creates spaces of contemplation that embody the artist's thoughts. Whether it was a flower arrangement or the fictional idyllic landscapes of Christmas editions of decorative paper napkins, these environments point to an intangible barrier between sleep and the public, between routine and the creation of new worlds, between the established steps of everyday life and stepping into the creative worlds of dance scenes that represent a separate microcosm.

While Martina Tomić's dance performance continues, in which the children of the artists themselves participate, adding an extra personal touch to the whole performance, they are surrounded by Lena Kramarić's drawings placed in space one above the other, like tapes of public city proclamations. Alterations of dance movements are accompanied by paused moments that celebrate the human body, without its Olympic glorification looking for the most beautifully performed movement, but precisely by glorifying its strength, which we read in the scars, cuts and wounds left by traces of the past or the consequences of motherhood. Here, the human face is hidden from view or otherwise unidentified, emphasizing our intimate moment of connection with ourselves through movement, studying our own body and feeling its being. The resulting introspection of these activities reminds one of a moment of prayer, separating from the environment and devoting oneself to one's emotions and thinking. The world of thought is not chronologically given and rationally set, but rather a confusion of random sentences and interwoven images that the artists conjure up in their media, either by the alternating movements of Martina Tomić or by changing the frames of the human body in the drawings of Lena Kramarić. The common denominator of the exhibits is a tribute to the female body and its strength and endurance interwoven through the story of a woman and her own artistic achievements through creative activity, but also women as mothers whose children continue this thread as active participants in the exhibition process whose creative contribution is encouraged and accepted.

Jelena Tamindžija Donnart, curator

ART BY THE SEASIDE GALLERY, MALTA

July 2023

The artistic association Genijator

Realized with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Media Republic of Croatia, Croatian National Tourist Board and City of Dubrovnik.