Presse
GALLERY&STUDIO -Review from exhibition in December 2003 at Montserrat Gallery, 584 Broadway, 10012 New York The Phenomenal Visions of Branka Moser |
Branka Moser, a painter and sculptor from Croatia who lives in Switzerland, eschews the dusty props of traditionel surrealism for her own unique lexicon of personal symbols, employing them to "test the boundaries of existence". She
is quite adamant in expressing the primacy of subject matter over the more
formal aspects of picture making, declaring, " I express inner,
personal emotions in the form of art. The subject is more important to me
than the use of color." Nonetheless,
Moser exhibited considerable skill as a colorist and an impressive command
of form in the group of canvases that she exhibited recently at Montserrat
Gallery, 584 Broadway, in Soho. Indeed is her ability to organize a
picture and create a unified atmosphere with subtly harmonized hues that
enables Moser to make even her most fantastic visions appear vividly
believable, not to mention poetically plausible. All
of Moser's paintings, executed in oils on canvas, are untitled. This
leaves more imaginative leeway for the viewer than if the artist were to
provide hints and specific meanings. One of her recurring motifs is
refered to as "the man with the cloud", and often consists of a
figure who traverses an imaginary landscape with stylized cloudlike form
attached like a kite of a string. The terrain itself is perhaps more
accurately described as a "dreamscape". In that its components
are more fanciful than anything we find in nature. Limned predominantly in
delicate ochre, pink and blue hues blended in smooth, light-kissed strokes,
this terrain is as unique in its own right as the surreal realms of Yves
Tanguy, with their enigmatic forms mimicking but not imitating the organic
shapes of the natural world. Moser's unique grasp of what she calls
"emptied out space" imbues her compositions with a sense of
infinite expanse which serve as stages for her visual dramas. In
one such composition the small, blue, figure of a man is seen in silhouette,
running along a pink shoreline with a blue-cloud form attached to a string
floating above his head. In the foreground, the severely simplified figure
of a woman site near a reflective body of water with a structure behind
her that could resemble a jagged ruin. The scene exudes an atmosphere of
limpidity and melancholy that lends the painting an unusual psychological
power, as though the world that the two figures inhabit is permeated by a
climate of bittersweet emotionalism. Three
somewhat anomalous paintings depict a dancing figure in whiteface wearing
what appears to be a false nose and a flamboyant costume of long red
feathers cavorting in a theatrical setting. Boldly composed in vibrant
colors, these three powerful canvases seem to comment symbolically on the
extremes of human vanity. The
central figure of yet another striking oil (possibly a self portrait),
painted with skillful realism, is an attractive young woman. Holding a
large white dove bird, she sits on a simple wooden wagon from which four
characteristic cloud-forms on strings flap like flags, casting their
shadows on the landscape. Like
all of Branka Moser's paintings, it is a strikingly surreal vision from
the fluid brush and fertile imagination of an artist whose remarkable
ability to translate subjective feelings into universal images has won her
considerable acclaim and numerous awards. Maureen Flynn
|
Bieler Tagblatt 2. Juli 2002 «Jede Kraft erzeugt eine
Form» |
Branka
Moser “I
express inner, personal emotions in the form of art.” The
Academic painter, sculptress, glass painter and restaurateur from Croatia
lives and works since 2001 in Switzerland. A
peculiar power emanates from Branka Moser's oil paintings. The
observer is, so to speak, drawn into the picture where s/he enters an
“emptied out” space, whose entire volume is exclusively at her/his disposal.
The space in the picture becomes the object of observation. Only the “man
with the cloud”, recurring in many pictures as symbol of happiness in
life, or the dominating arch as a motif symbolising balance indicate the
kind of movement within the pictures.
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Das Thema des Opus ist nur das Wesen, Ich und die Welt, wo sich das Wesen gegenüber quer stellt aber auch identifiziert und distanziert. Branka Moser ist mit dem Phänomen Existenz des Wesens auf dieser Welt beschäftigt. Ihre Bilder sind ein Versuch des Prüfens der Grenzen dieser Existenz. In Ihren Visionen stellt die Kunstmalerin den Raum mit dem Volumen dar. Dabei versucht sie dem Volumen eine gewisse Taktilität und Expansivität zu verleihen. Den Raum selber probiert sie “auszuräumen” und gleichzeitig aus diesem Raum einen “Gegenstand der Betrachtung” zu machen. Die Kunstmalerin kann sehr gut mit Farbe umgehen. Sie kann ihre psychovalenten Tendenzen betonen. Wichtig ist zu erwähnen, dass Branka Moser kein bestimmtes Idol in der Kunst hat und auch keine bestimmte bekannte bzw. populäre Kunstrichtung repräsentiert. Ihre Kunst ist selbständige Untersuchung der Existenz des Wesens und künstlerischer Ausdruck ihrer Bekenntnisse. Sole
theme of the work is existence, the world and I: the world where the being
obstructs itself but also identifies itself and distances itself. Branka
Moser is preoccupied with the phenomenon of existence in the world as
a physical entity. Her pictures are an attempt to test the boundaries of this existence. The painter presents in her visions an empty space, while trying to give the empty space a certain tactile, expansive quality.
She tries to “empty out” the space itself while at the same time making
this space into an “object of observation”. The artist is a very capable manager of colour.
She is able to emphasise her psychological tendencies. Worthy of mention is that Branka Moser has no single idol in Art and does not represent any defined, well-known, popular artistic direction. Her art is an independent analysis of existence as a physical entity and artistic expression of her findings. Dr. Petar Bosnic Petrus |