Lucija Jelić / Echoes of Existence
Solo exhibition
FROM THE PREFACE OF THE EXHIBITION
"Only in silence can true cognition be realized", Romano Guardini pointed out, writing about silence as a concept of complex spiritual meaning, a silence that is not only the absence of speech, but through which it reaches "the deepest interior". However, man can come to silence that seeks its own form of expression because it is not freed by the passage of time. So, not only because of contemplation, but because he is caught off guard by the social context, for example by a collective delusion and a totalitarian regime, but also by a private relationship and event. Reflecting on the roots, as well as on the silent nature of the transient, sculptor Lucija Jelić simultaneously provides incentives for identification with space and architectural signs of the past and culture, in reminiscences of the Mediterranean city close to her. She bases her work on sculptural figurative form and processing of mass, as well as on concept. A well in the ashes, a reminiscence of a triumphal arch made of a skeleton made of wires, wood and string, then painting reliefs of the city space in jute, clay and plaster and the installation of classicizing figures of heads in plaster complement each other, standing out with their form and content.....
....Lucija Jelić is not interested in documenting reality, confessing experiences and presenting biography, let alone basing her works mostly on verbal explanations of what are so common forms of expression today. Reflecting the world close to her from the archive of memories, she points to the shortcomings of speech, touching on both the personal and the common, as well as the question of the transience of human existence, which are manifested by motifs, forms and the way of using fragile materials. As Romano Guardini wrote, "the one who always talks really does not have himself, because he always slips away from himself and what he gives to another, if he needs to bring himself, are just mere words (...) only those who can speak can remain silent".
Nevenka Šarčević
BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Lucija Jelić was born in 1996 in Zadar. She graduated from the School of Applied Arts and Design in Zadar in 2015 as a painting designer. In the same year, she enrolled in the study of sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, where she graduated in 2022. As part of the Erasmus program, she spent one year of study at the Facultad de Bellas Artes of the Complutense University in Madrid.
Acknowledgments and awards:
Award of the International Festival of Fine Arts in Kranj (recognition of the international jury for an excellent display of an art installation in space), Slovenia, 2022.
"Iva Vraneković – Vladimir Dodig Trokut: Artists to Artists" (36th Youth Salon) 2022
Rector's Award for Team Scientific and Artistic Work: Project – Plastic Sea Turtle 2020/2021
Rector's Award for Team Scientific and Artistic Work: Land Art, Earth Art, Earthworks: z/Earth and the Anthropocene 2019/2020
Commendation of the Academic Council for the best student in the class of ak. year. 2016./2017.
Commendation of the Academic Council for the best student in the class of ak. year. 2015./2016.
You can see the exhibition in the Šira Gallery during the working hours of the Gallery (Mon-Fri: 9-16 h, 18-20 h, Saturday: 11-16h) until 8.1.2024.
The exhibition was realized with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia and the City Office for Culture and Civil Society of the City of Zagreb.