Forgotten Conversations

Mojca Grmek

Ana Sluga is a visual artist who works mainly as a painter, but also with video and photography. Her painting borrows from the artistic trends of the second half of the 20th century, particularly Pop Art, which is reflected in the characteristic flat shapes, clear outlines and predominantly pure colours, simplification and synthesis of realistic forms, enlarged close-ups, inclusion of patterns and signs, as well as the use of all-purpose tools such as spray paint and, specific to her practice, wall-paint rollers. The Pop Art form adopts a subjective slant in terms of content as the artist explores themes related to identity, personal history, family archaeology, social relationships and everyday situations in her works. A view through this subjective peephole often offers a glimpse of broader social conditions and problems. She usually approaches these issues with humour and (self-)irony, which is why her works are generally imbued with a sense of ease, vibrancy and light, despite their serious themes.

The exhibition presents the artist's latest paintings, selected works on paper from the Passive Torso cycle and a series of prints created in the Hiša kulture print studio. These pieces represent a body of recent work the artist has been developing since 2021. At the heart of these works is the female figure, set against a neutral background, either monochrome or adorned with patterns created using wall-paint rollers. She is clothed and surrounded by objects arranged in illogical, chronologically incongruous juxtapositions, which is further emphasised by the painted collage that obscures the figure in places. Her face is never clearly defined but communicates through gestures and posture. She is clearly caught in the middle of an action or situation that remains unclear in view of the gaps and inconsistencies in the narrative.

In accordance with the above, the paintings are imbued with an atmosphere where reminiscences of an indeterminate, nostalgic and familiar past are interwoven with references to urban contemporaneity, further contributing to the semantic openness and fragmentation of the image. We are therefore faced with a riddle, a kind of visual anagram that we solve by piecing it together with our own associations, memories and experiences. However, the interpretation that results from this interweaving is never unambiguous – as with an anagram, several combinations are possible. Through the process of assembling different combinations, a portrait gradually emerges of a modern woman entwined in a web of social roles and practices, pursuing her profession and ambitions, following her interests and hobbies while also being a housewife, wife, daughter and mother. And if we consider the title of the exhibition for an instant, we also glimpse along the way the portrait of an overworked, alienated and self-absorbed individual of the times, who simply no longer has the time to cultivate deeper interpersonal connections, starting with conversation.

Translation: Arven Šakti Kralj


Pozabljeni pogovori
Mojca Grmek

Ana Sluga je vizualna umetnica, ki deluje v glavnem kot slikarka, ustvarja pa tudi na področju videa in fotografije. Njeno slikarstvo se napaja iz tokov druge polovice 20. stoletja, predvsem poparta, kar izkazuje z značilno ploskovno formo, jasno obrisno risbo in večinoma čistimi barvami, poenostavljanjem in sintetiziranjem realnih oblik, približanimi izrezi, vključevanjem vzorcev in znakov ter uporabo pripomočkov splošne rabe, kot so spreji in za umetnico specifični soboslikarski valjčki. Popartistična forma ima subjektivno obarvano vsebinsko strukturo, saj umetnica v svojih delih raziskuje vprašanja, povezana z identiteto, osebno zgodovino, družinsko arheologijo, socialnimi razmerji in vsakdanjimi situacijami, skozi to subjektivno kukalo pa pogosto odpira vpogled v splošna družbena stanja in probleme. K obravnavanim vprašanjem običajno pristopi s humorjem in (samo)ironijo, zato njena dela kljub resni tematiki na splošno preveva sproščenost, živahnost in svetloba.

Na razstavi umetnica predstavlja svoje najnovejše slike, izbrana dela na papirju iz cikla Pasivni torzo in serijo grafik, ki je nastala v grafičnem ateljeju Hiše kulture. Gre za reprezentativna dela iz ciklusa, ki ga umetnica ustvarja v zadnjem času, od leta 2021 dalje. V teh delih zavzema osrednje mesto ženska figura. Postavljena je pred nevtralno ozadje, ki je monokromno ali prekrito z vzorci, narejenimi s soboslikarskimi valjčki. Odeta je v oblačila in obdana s predmeti v nelogičnih in časovno neskladnih sestavih, kar še dodatno poudarja naslikani kolaž, ki mestoma prekriva figuro. Njen obraz nikoli ni izrisan, zato pa komunicira s kretnjami in držo telesa. Očitno je ujeta sredi nekega opravila ali situacije, ki spričo vrzeli in nekonsistence v pripovedi ostaja nejasna. 

V skladu z navedenim slike preveva vzdušje, kjer se reminiscence na neko nedoločno, nostalgično in domačno preteklost spletajo z referencami na urbano sodobnost, kar še dodatno pripomore k pomenski razvezanosti in razdrobljenosti podobe. Zato se pred nas postavlja kot uganka, nekakšen vizualni anagram, ki ga rešujemo tako, da ga prešijemo s svojimi asociacijami, spomini in izkušnjami. Vendar pa interpretacija, ki se izvije iz tega prepleta, nikoli ni enoznačna – kot pri anagramu je tudi tu možnih več kombinacij. Skozi proces sestavljanja različnih kombinacij se pred nami postopno izriše portret sodobne ženske, ki je vpeta v mrežo družbenih vlog in praks, saj sledi svojemu poklicu in ambicijam, se ukvarja z zanimanji in hobiji, ob tem pa je še vedno tudi gospodinja, žena, hči in mati. In ko nas hipoma prešine naslov razstave, nekje vmes zagledamo tudi portret prezaposlenega, odtujenega in vase zatopljenega sodobnika, ki za spletanje globljih medčloveških vezi, začenši s pogovorom, preprosto nima več časa.