Galerija FO.VI / FO.VI Gallery, 25. APR – 28. MAJ 2023
” Vse se je zdelo zlito skupaj (…), videti je bilo ustvarjalno silo, ki jo je vsebovala umetnikova lastna duša. Vse, do zadnjega predmeta, je bilo močno čutiti; v vsem je bilo zaznati zakon in notranjo moč vsega. Povsod je umetnik dojel tisto fluidno zaokroženost linij, zaprto v naravi, ki jo lahko dojame le oko umetnika-ustvarjalca in ki pri posnemovalcu postane robatost. Videti je bilo, kako je umetnik vse, kar je črpal iz zunanjega sveta, najprej zaprl v svojo dušo, nato pa iz nje, iz svojega notranjega vira, spravil v harmonično in zmagoslavno pesem. (..)”
Nikolaj Gogol, Portret
Tako nas preseneti tisto, čemur nekateri pravijo “prekletstvo” portreta: razkroj umetniške zmožnosti. Pravijo, da je edina pot za rast talenta, za razvoj osebnosti, skromno, samotarsko, strastno udejstvovanje. Če je za Gogolja v Portretu to edini način za ustvarjanje pravega umetniškega dela, čistega izraza slikarjeve duše, ki je sposoben posredovati mir in spokojnost, je za Ljubana Cenčiča fotografija človeško in eksistencialno potovanje absolutne izvirnosti.
Ustvarjati umetnost je torej to, kar opisuje Gogolj: zaznati zakon in notranjo silo, ki vse oživlja, dojeti trenutnost v pretočnosti, doživljati stvari od znotraj, v lastni duši, raziskati in predstaviti, kar nas obdaja, ter nato z nujnostjo in predanostjo to sporočiti svetu.
Začenši s sedanjostjo in portretom vsakega slovenskega umetnika, ki je v preteklosti razstavljal v Galeriji FO.VI, fotograf ustvarja edinstven projekt, ki nas ozavešča o intimni identiteti, o umetnikovem obrazu, ki postane kozmos absolutnemu.
Ljuban Cenčic se drži zanimive igre, ki je razširjena v umetniškem polju, in sicer ustvarja portrete drug drugega, saj je fotograf, ki portretira umetnike in pisatelje in obratno.
Fotografski portreti so osrednji vidik sodobne vizualne kulture, ki med umetniškimi zvrstmi pogosto ostanejo nerazložljivo neopaženi, vendar predstavljajo vizualno strukturo, na kateri se gradi pripoved o identiteti vsakega posameznika. Portret, ki ima dolgo zgodovino od antike do danes, ne le v fotografiji, temveč tudi v slikarstvu, je filozofija posameznika.
Pri tem sta subjekta pravzaprav dva: umetnik-fotograf, ki portretira, in model-umetnik, ki s tem, ko se pusti portretirati, predstavlja samega sebe. Ta dvojnost je poudarjena z odločitvijo, da se vsak portret predstavi v zaporedju dveh ločenih, a dopolnjujočih se posnetkov. Prvi je realistična upodobitev osebe, ki je videti frontalno, pri čemer subjekt gleda neposredno v kamero, v osrednjo točko, na opazovalca. Obrazne poteze in izrazi vsakega subjekta so prepoznavni zaradi kakovosti posnetka. Drugi posnetek pa se zdi, kot da ga je modelirala družba. Figura je tu umeščena v osebno vizualno kulturo v lastnem ateljeju, med platni ali s fotoaparatom v roki, na odprtem prostoru, v gozdu ali v pokrajini, ki jo je ustvaril človek.
Njegov še nikoli predstavljen projekt, zasnovan za prostore galerije FO.VI v Strnišču, ni zgolj dokumentaren in ne izraža filozofskih sodb, temveč spretno predstavlja čustvene odtenke sveta okoli sebe in pojasnjuje psihološki opis subjekta, kot ga predstavlja njegova zasebna resničnost. Ni naključje, da je fotograf z ljudmi, ki jih vidimo upodobljene, spletel osebne odnose in za posnetke enega za drugim izbral umetnike, fotografe, kiparje in lokacije zanje.
Če je res, da je genij vsakega umetnika v tem, da zna razkriti dušo za obrazom, torej identiteto človeka in sveta, kulture in zgodovine, fotografije Ljubana Cenčica ne prikazujejo zgolj obrazov, temveč tisto, kar se skriva v njih. Portreti, ki nastanejo s preseganjem meja obraznih potez, prostora in trenutka, da bi sestavili novo zgodbo, sled in pričevanje o zvenu duše. (iz besedila v katalogu: Marika Vicari, Duša in obraz)
” All seemed united in it: the art of Raphael, reflected in the lofty grace of the grouping; the art of Correggio, breathing from the finished perfection of the workmanship. But more striking than all else was the evident creative power in the artist’s mind. The very minutest object in the picture revealed it; he had caught that melting roundness of outline which is visible in nature only to the artist creator, and which comes out as angles with a copyist. It was plainly visible how the artist, having imbibed it all from the external world, had first stored it in his mind, and then drawn it thence, as from a spiritual source, into one harmonious, triumphant song. (..)”
Nikolai Gogol’, The Portrait
Here we are thus surprised before what some call the “curse” of the portrait: the dissolution of artistic ability. It is said, that the only way for the growth of talent, for the development of personality, is the humble, solitary, passionate exercise. If for Gogol in The Portrait only in this way is the true work of art born, a pure expression of the painter’s soul, capable of communicating peace and serenity, for Ljuban Cenčič, photography is a human and existential itinerary of absolute originality.
So creating art is this as Gogol’ describes: to perceive the inner law and force that animates everything, to grasp its instantaneousness in fluidity, to experience things from the inside, in one’s own soul, to investigate and represent what surrounds us and then with urgency and devotion to communicate it to the world.
Starting from the present and the portrait of each Slovenian artist who have exhibited at FO.VI Gallery in the past, the photographer, realizes a unique project that makes us aware of the ‘intimate identity, of a face – that of the artist – that becomes cosmos to the absolute.
Ljuban Cenčic adheres to an interesting game that is widespread in the artistic field, making portraits of each other, being a photographer who portrays artists and writers and vice versa.
Photo portraits are a central aspect of contemporary visual culture that often go inexplicably unnoticed among the genres of art, but provide the visual structure on which the narrative of each individual identity is built. Portraiture, which has a long history since antiquity and to the present day not only in photography but also in painting, is a philosophy of the individual.
Here the subjects are actually two: the artist-photographer who portrays and the model-artist who by having himself portrayed is self-represented. A duality this, emphasized then by the choice to present each portrait in a sequence of two distinct but complementary shots. The first is a realistic representation of the person seen frontally with the subject looking directly into the camera, at the central point, at the viewer. Of each subject, facial features and expressions are recognizable because of the quality of the shot. The second shot, on the other hand, appears as shaped by society. The figure here is placed within the personal visual culture in his own studio, between canvases or with camera in hand, in open space, in a forest or in a man-made landscape.
His unpublished project designed for the halls of the FO.VI gallery in Strnišče, is not only documentary and does not express any philosophical judgments but skillfully represents the emotional nuances of the surrounding world, explicating the psychological description of the subject as it is represented in its private reality. Indeed, it is no coincidence that the photographer forged personal relationships with the people we see portrayed here, choosing one by one artists, photographers, sculptors, and locations for the shots.
If it is true that the genius of any artist is to reveal the soul behind the face, the identity of man and the world, culture and history, then the photographs of Ljuban Cenčic show not just faces, but what is hidden within them. Portraits that are created by transcending the boundaries of gesture, space and moment to compose a new story, a trace and a testimony to the sound of the soul. (from the text in the catalogue: Marika Vicari, The Soul and the Face)
