The exhibition of works by Mladen Veža, organized by the Croatian Museum of Tourism, was opened on Thursday, July 14th of 2011 at the Juraj Šporer Art Pavilion in Opatija.
Paintings of the Mediterranean landscape are more than mere interpretations of a real or partially imagined scene. Many have accepted the challenge of this sparkling picturesque landscape, but relatively few have responded with authentic expression. Mladen Veža is certainly one of the latter. His hometown of Brist, halfway between Split and Dubrovnik, was a constant inspiration for Veža and became an accent to the picturesque southern landscapes in Croatian art. Veža often viewed Brist from without, from the crags of Biokovo, but he experienced it from within, through its narrow streets, olive groves and edifices, particularly the parish church of St. Margaret. With true artistic sensibility, Veža surrenders to the atmosphere of the moment, the particles that create it and the delicate state of conquered beauty present in somewhat ornamental scenes. Veža visited other towns as well (he redressed Zagreb in a series of pre-World War II wash drawings and celebrated Paris in a terrific series in 1950), but Brist remained a constant source of inspiration.
Aside from wide landscapes, Veža also dramatizes interior spaces, filled with flowers and things dear to him. Respect for tradition (particularly in the imposing Impressions of a Childhood series) is evident in the items selected for still-life. Old tools, ethnographic objects of his little part of Dalmatia are harmoniously blended into an intimate space, broken down to the geometrical level. Painting implements, seashells and fruits arranged in pyramids or laid out on a mat are an integral part of these melancholy scenes. Nevertheless, the poetic of landscape remains a leitmotif of Veža’s art. Realistic and somewhat stylized, transformed and true, Brist appears in his paintings as a geographic pearl and a symbol.
The exhibition will remain open until August 21st of 2011.
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