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Veiling reality
The concept of beauty has long presented a key category of (fine) art, as a postulate of its universal quality and firm evidence that art is superior to nature. Beauty, as one of the aspects of visual arts, has been written about most probably with the aim to define, standardize, naturalize, and transform it into a neutral and unbiased category, which art is on a par with and/or described by. On the whole, the 20th century art is a miscellany of reviewed premises that "the art is intended simply to exist as the truth and beauty". Over the past few decades, textual production, founded in post-structuralism, affected the definition of the term Culture as a compilation of the best ideas and values of civilization. It also re-defined the very concept of art as the Truth and the Beauty whereby art is the result of complex processes and mechanisms of creation, disappearance, and the acting of various, more or less (non)-homogenous, cultural practices. The art-as-beauty concept is transformed into art as one of the feasible discursive practices which can tackle many aspects of beauty.
The concept of beauty has long presented a key category of (fine) art, as a postulate of its universal quality and firm evidence that art is superior to nature. Beauty, as one of the aspects of visual arts, has been written about most probably with the aim to define, standardize, naturalize, and transform it into a neutral and unbiased category, which art is on a par with and/or described by. On the whole, the 20th century art is a miscellany of reviewed premises that "the art is intended simply to exist as the truth and beauty". Over the past few decades, textual production, founded in post-structuralism, affected the definition of the term Culture as a compilation of the best ideas and values of civilization. It also re-defined the very concept of art as the Truth and the Beauty whereby art is the result of complex processes and mechanisms of creation, disappearance, and the acting of various, more or less (non)-homogenous, cultural practices. The art-as-beauty concept is transformed into art as one of the feasible discursive practices which can tackle many aspects of beauty.
The sublimity of the exotic
In the time of ongoing polemics about the exotics and how it should be re-defined, in fact the time when the criticism of Orientalism (Edward Said) has become a dogma in its own right, it is a bold act to deal with any culture or the art deriving from the Orient that is usually seen as exotic. Thus, the art works by Ivana Popov are worth discussing since she raises question as to whether the transparency, fragility and beauty can still be the categories that concern us. Moreover, the exotic can be interpeted as our facing the sublime.
If we take into account statements by Kant according to which the sublime is something that makes all else small, is incomprehensible and makes us distant from the sublime object then the rituals, the art, the clothes, everything that comes from another tradition and we adore it because of its opaque meaning, can be understood as sublime, the cultural sublime that is irreducible to our faculties of judgement.
And what is wrong with such admiration of beauty that is not anything like our own representation it? Of course, unless its only
In the time of ongoing polemics about the exotics and how it should be re-defined, in fact the time when the criticism of Orientalism (Edward Said) has become a dogma in its own right, it is a bold act to deal with any culture or the art deriving from the Orient that is usually seen as exotic. Thus, the art works by Ivana Popov are worth discussing since she raises question as to whether the transparency, fragility and beauty can still be the categories that concern us. Moreover, the exotic can be interpeted as our facing the sublime.
If we take into account statements by Kant according to which the sublime is something that makes all else small, is incomprehensible and makes us distant from the sublime object then the rituals, the art, the clothes, everything that comes from another tradition and we adore it because of its opaque meaning, can be understood as sublime, the cultural sublime that is irreducible to our faculties of judgement.
And what is wrong with such admiration of beauty that is not anything like our own representation it? Of course, unless its only
"Veiling reality" is an installation, or a temporary ambient
which assumes inclusion, (and/or cooperation), which
generally disrupts the line that distinguishes you-
the-viewer from art-the-object. The special
feature of the installation is the fact that it
functions as a "picture / collage in an
extended field". In other words, pictures
and collage, which Popov worked on
over the past ten years, have "added
space" to their two - dimensional
quality, while the paint from the
tubes, papers of different origins,
glittering powder, gold-foils, flower
petals, have been replaced with
fabrics. Some of the new
"pictures" retained translucency
and transparency found in earlier
works, while in the others,
however, compulsive density and
the horror vacui effect have been
substituted by "thickness", non-
transparency, and the fullness of
large painted fields of the chosen
fabrics. The sensual quality, previously
sensed by watching, now is perceived
by the body. The choice of fabric has
been determined by personal, aesthetic
feeling of satisfaction, individual taste (or
habit if you like), one`s own concept of beauty
which is rooted in an arbitrary selection and
appropriation of elements of the Far Eastern and
Middle Eastern images, as well as the American
aim is to conquer such beauty.
Ivana Popov is infatuated with the unknown
combination of forms and colours that bring her in
the realm of Japanese culture and gender
differentiating tradition without the wish to
possess them. On the contrary, she
creates collated objects, paintings and
installations that can easily be added
to the treasury of Japanese culture.
Combining different herbs makes her
collages, leaves reflecting papers,
glittering powder that all provoke a
reminiscence of the other culture.
Especially putting small pieces of
transparent foil evokes reflection
as an attempt to establish an
identification relation with the
Other. The positive aspect of it is
the exemplified presence of
flowers - the innocent and pure
feeling of the nature that is not
contaminated by any culture.
The haptic quality of the interwoven
transparent colorful paper gives way
to interpretation of the works by Ivana
Popov within a framework of gender
subjectivization: taking into account
similar codes it seems at first that gender
codification does not affect art differentiation
in different cultures. Nevertheless, a traditional
kimono dress, usually associated with short steps of
Japanese women still reminds us of a different cultural
patchwork kilts. Tendency towards, or longing for, sophisticated forms that are part of some other cultures may be interpreted as escapism, this actually being
so to a large extent. However, it should not be confounded with a "non-sentimental" global-local stocking and mixing of the selected
items during which the traditional distinction line between the production and the consumption, the creation and the copy-marking, the ready-mades and
the originals, and pictures and installation are fading, eclipsed by the shadow of the event and the meaning which ensued.
The use of geometric and/or abstract language outside the convention and the concrete quality of illusive painting, but within the framework of the religious or the so-called high art, has been referred mainly to its spiritual context. Or, the non-mimetic, concreteness of the medium itself has been created. Meanwhile, in the so-called applied art this type of language served to indicate sadness, personal, political or religious stands, social communication and the relations that lived for the History of anonymous authors and authoresses of these artefacts. Geometric patterns in the "pictures" of Ivana Popov maintain basically the same/similar references out of which predominates the one pointing towards the dynamics of the imaginary, symbolic and the real. Evident is also the intent whereby these "pictures" ought to create a space which would be filled with the silence of unwritten prayers.
The use of geometric and/or abstract language outside the convention and the concrete quality of illusive painting, but within the framework of the religious or the so-called high art, has been referred mainly to its spiritual context. Or, the non-mimetic, concreteness of the medium itself has been created. Meanwhile, in the so-called applied art this type of language served to indicate sadness, personal, political or religious stands, social communication and the relations that lived for the History of anonymous authors and authoresses of these artefacts. Geometric patterns in the "pictures" of Ivana Popov maintain basically the same/similar references out of which predominates the one pointing towards the dynamics of the imaginary, symbolic and the real. Evident is also the intent whereby these "pictures" ought to create a space which would be filled with the silence of unwritten prayers.
stratification pertaining to the relationship between different sexes. The smell of flower covering the floor thus creating ephemeral installation for Ivana Popov means creating a site for meditation that overcomes cultural differences and gives way to admiration of the sublime no matter which culture it belongs to and without fear that she will be blamed for exoticism that is usually the privilege of the imperialistic and dominating cultures.
By focusing on the process of creation, the selection and the original treatment of the materials, the artist enables the small, fragile and fragmented to become sublime in a baroque manner, not astonishing us with its colossal quality but with its different beauty, maybe incomprehensible yet adorable.
By focusing on the process of creation, the selection and the original treatment of the materials, the artist enables the small, fragile and fragmented to become sublime in a baroque manner, not astonishing us with its colossal quality but with its different beauty, maybe incomprehensible yet adorable.