The works of Silvo Šaric examine contemporary art practices in conceptual and experimental art movements. The echoes of Arte Povera, conceptual, post-object and process art, first appearing in his work in the late 90's, undergo further mental elaboration in his recent works, approaching utter asceticism and a reduction of visual arts elements. In twenty years of dealing with visual arts problems, he started with an exploration of elementary forms and materials (stone, wood); and later, of found objects (sand, water, smoke, nylon stocking, cobweb fragments), where he leaves traces with a minimal intervention of the artist. His interest lies in the temporary nature of organic and inorganic formations, in their changing status, in new relations which they establish in the exhibition space, as well as in relations with visitors.

The works displayed in the exhibition titled In the Shadow / U sjeni are a continuation of his exploration in the field of post-object art, interactive site-specific light installations of processual nature, the phenomena of light beams, reflections, shadows, and new spatial relations emerging through artist's interventions. The object is abolished as a means of artistic expression; it is only indirectly present through a projection of his photograph or some detail found in the environment. Created by using a slide projector, the shadows or black surfaces emerging through overlapping processes generate an imaginary space arising from the subtraction of light—by projecting the negative of the light. With minimal interventions, the artist creates new spatial relationships and visual situations that have illusionistic qualities.

In his works, the author makes reference to the found space, which he interprets or uses to create new spatial and visual situations, thus initiating new questions about the role and meaning of a work of art, its relationship with the exhibition space, as well as the relationship between the visitors and the work of art. The work requires the viewer's active mental, and often physical participation. In order that the work can be objectified (a beam of light, a surface treated with a phosphorescent pigment, a projection of black on black), it is often necessary to move through the space, to develop awareness towards the relationship between the body and the space delimited by a white cube. The result is temporary, variable, and artistically impersonal. Šaric's recent works are a continuation of the explorations of his cycle titled Crne slike / Black Paintings. It was in this cycle that Mladen Lucic recognized the echoes of the Suprematism of Kazimir Malevich and pure non-objectivity in art as a result of focusing on basic geometric forms. "[...] Šaric does not use these forms merely to quote one of the most important artists in history, but, using them, he wants to come closer to what Malevich himself was striving for—the absoluteness of the work of art". (Mladen Lucic, in the exhibition catalog for Crne slike / Black Paintings, Building of the Diet of Istria; Gallery Waldinger, 2013).

curtated by Nataša Ivancevic

Courtesy of Museum of Contemporary Art

http://www.msu.hr/#/hr/20396/