The exhibition Superficies Aquae (Akvatorij) of two Croatian artists from Pula, Roberta Weissman Nagy and Sanja Simenuovic Bajec in the organization of Pula’s Serb Culture Centre at Belgrade’s Gallery 73 showcases how water is utilized as a metaphor for metamorphosis, spiritual journey, renewal, birth and rebirth, also rather generalized, and amazing artistic inspiration. The images of water here are eye appealing, enduring and even threatening while the installation of Roberta Weissman Nagy presents very ambitious lyrical as a visual event, where water is considered as the universal symbol for change: it is forever flowing, and can take any course. Water is also used to symbolize purity and cleansing, although, this is more apparent in historical, ancient or renaissance pieces than in modern art pieces. Roberta’s art videos may represents one contemporary expressions, it may also fell into a category of unrecognized enough mix of lyrical story, history and politics, as a results of rather poetic and meditative art video.
In the history of Renaissance, water represented purity such as Botticelli’s “Venus” emerging from the sea. In the 19th century, water surface was the central motif for maritime power and also political chaos, as in Gericault’s “Raft of the Medusa”, or just as a mighty example of power in nature. Today’s artists owe more to the complexity and haunting nature of water than they are really aware. Water isn’t only a feature in art to be purely representative, how much it is a symbolic landscape, often seen at the foreground of the scene. It provides the viewer with a focus and works as a tool to draw the attention of the viewer onto the artists.
There is something about water that draws us to it. It has a sort of power that has rather mysterious hold. It is earthly element that has attracted the attention of artists throughout time, and continues to do so.
Lately, in contemporary art scenes, one often sees artworks that use “water” either as a theme, or used as the medium itself. Water, however, focused specifically on works that explores links to practical issues, such as capitalism, life of death situations, faced by communities worldwide. Here too, water flows, on paintings of Sanja Simenuovic Bajec or in videos of Roberta Weissman Nagy. In the other words, approaches to water who connects the fluidity of water to that of identity, it is the art work that utilizes the transcendental effect created by water. In the framework of this exhibition, this included works of two different artists who uses different methodologies and are not easily reduced to any specific frame.
Roberta Weissman Nagy and Milan Rasula
In effect, in this case, this exhibition points the interest of how the ‘politics’ are differently presumed in each work, as well as what are the political messages proposed by the artists themselves. Roberta’s work is focused on swimmer, on herself in video, underwater and above. Using vague yet consuming memories from maybe childhood summers her attempts to recreate the quiet tranquility of water and nature, days spent sinking and floating, so still and peaceful. Video includes the viewer, the body of the viewer and the movement of the body of the viewer. It is meant to be an experience, maybe a physical experience as well as an emotional, also for some, intellectual one.