Making an artist “your own”

In my childhood, my mother Tatjana Valić Rudan was still an active pianist (later she was a Piano Professor), so in my early age I discovered that Alexander Scriabin was my favorite classical composer. I enjoyed playing under my mother’s piano inspired by her interpretations, and it is worth noting that she recorded Scriabin’s Two Poems Op. 32 for domestic television. But despite being equally fond of painting and music, and although I adored many of the great names from the history of fine arts, I could not find a painter for whom I could say he was truly “mine.” However, on one occasion, which took place in the late evening, my mother and I accidentally stumbled upon a five-minute BBC show on painting (each dedicated to one artist), and that was the moment in which for the first time I saw the works of a hitherto unknown Russian painter, who lived and worked in Germany and Switzerland. I will never forget how stunned we both were with one of his Abstract Heads, which the narrator knowingly linked to some prominent Russian icon. We immediately both sat down and, until the end of the show, were silently absorbing the canvases of enigmatic beauty that the artist painted in a series as if he wanted to reach the infinity. Since that evening, my favorite painter is to a wider audience unfortunately still not well-enough-known artist Alexej Jawlensky.

Virtual exhibition of Abstract Heads designed during my doctoral research at the Zagreb Arts Academy (electronic music: Robert Selimović)

Art is a longing for God

Alexej Jawlensky (Torzhok, 13 March 1864—Wiesbaden, 15 March 1941) is one of the modern painters to emerge from Russia in the first half of the twentieth century. He spent most of his working life in Germany, where he undertook his painting through Expressionist and Abstract periods. He was associated with Kandinsky from his student days onwards, notably (with Paul Klee and Lyonel Feininger) in the Blue Four group formed in 1924. Nevertheless, he cannot be identified with any particular stylistic movement: he is one of the great twentieth-century explorers of the soul, for whom art was “a longing for God.” In his first artistic period he mostly painted landscapes, portraits and still-lifes; in the second he was preoccupied with painting series entitled Variations on a landscape theme (1914-1921), Mystical Heads (1917-1919), Saviour’s Faces (1917-1923) and Abstract Heads (1918-1935), and his last artistic period he started with Abstract Heads and completed with Meditations. Today Alexej Jawlensky’s paintings can be found in almost all of the world’s leading museums, and his works are part of the permanent art exhibitions of the Museum Wiesbaden (Germany) and the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena (USA).

Sotheby’s Publications

During doctoral studies students usually pursue their passions, so it is not unusual that for my doctoral research I chose the art of Jawlensky and Scriabin, connecting them with my third favourite artist, the pianist Ivo Pogorelich. Subsequently, I published the results of my research at a higher literary level in the book of essays entitled Abstract Reproductive as Productive Art: Chromatic Fantasies of the Composer Alexander Scriabin, Painter Alexej Jawlensky and Pianist Ivo Pogorelich, and the story how my book came to Switzerland and was chosen to be featured on the Official Website of my favorite painter is an anecdote that will keep me smiling for the rest of my life. While I was still writing my doctoral thesis, my brother Igor Rudan gave me three books on Jawlensky by Sotheby’s Publications, so that I would have relevant literature to study from. It was then that I discovered that the painter’s granddaughter, Mrs. Angelica Jawlensky-Bianconi, had written numerous texts, and of course I quoted her in my work.

Encounter with the painter’s granddaughter

I was certain that Mrs. Jawlensky-Bianconi would like to know that someone in Croatia adores her grandfather’s art and writes a chapter of a dissertation on his series painting, but nowhere—neither on the internet nor in the book—could I find any contact information. And when I needed permission to print pictures for the purpose of publishing my book, I contacted Alexej von Jawlensky Archive in Locarno, Switzerland, and kindly asked to reproduce more than a few paintings, explaining that there is no point in publishing a text about a painter without visual examples. Since I had no idea whether that institution would answer me at all, which would make it impossible to publish my book due to the copyright law, I decided to have a cup of coffee with my dear friend Nataša Šakic to get rid of the accumulated stress in her good company, because for me the whole thing was a question of life and death. When we were already in the car to go home, we suddenly heard the sound of an email, and as soon as I opened it I realized that it was Mrs. Jawlensky-Bianconi personally responding with wonderful words of encouragement, expressing her desire to buy my book for the Archive and thus support my work! Natasha and I were screaming of joy, and the car, to the dismay of random passersby, was barely able to keep the balance!

Being featured on the favourite artist’s website—unsurpassed experience!

When my book was finally published, it arrived to Switzerland as soon as possible, and Alexej von Jawlensky Archive, without previous announcement, published the title on its Official Website, thus revealing the existence of my work to international audience. This is why I immediately translated into English the chapter on Jawlensky’s series painting entitled Music Iconostasis, and I sent it to Switzerland to make my text accessible to everyone interested in the work of this great modern artist.

Music as the beginning and end of my researches

During my childhood, I always thought that once I grew up I would be a musician, but unfortunately (or luckily) life had a completely different path for me—I graduated from the Faculty of Architecture and I received my PhD from the Arts Academy (University of Zagreb). When I was accepted as a doctoral candidate at the Academy of Fine Arts, I thought “it is not music, but at least it is an academy,” and my proposed simultaneous research of the composer Alexander Scriabin and painter Alexej Jawlensky showed that interdisciplinary I wished to return to my first passion: music. My mentor, Prof. Igor Rončević, Fellow of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, told me that my research should be linked to the contemporary context as well, or otherwise I would not step into unexplored space nor create a new tread in the world knowledge. Thanks to that instruction, I introduced one more artist into my research, but not a productive artist like Scriabin and Jawlensky, but a reproductive one—the world-renowned pianist Ivo Pogorelich. I assumed that his art would help me transfer my research into the contemporary highly reproductive era.

Synthesis of five branches of art

It is not necessary to point out that my proposal at the Academy of Fine Arts was considered “a little weird,” but I explained that the visual-art section of my research was applicable to all branches of art in general, thus also to Pogorelich’s pianism, which suited my thesis precisely because his interpretations are known for unusual richness in musical tone colours. Finally, my artwork (which was an inevitable final part of my research and a prerequisite for receiving a PhD from the Arts Academy) was allowed to have a foothold in anything, thus it was not unusual that my multidisciplinary virtual light installation was indeed a synthesis of all researched artists, as many as five selected branches of art (music, painting, literature, architecture and dance) and theory and philosophy of art, which all I successfully linked to science as well.

I have always loved playing the piano, so it was a special experience to promote my first book at the Zagreb Academy of Music

Chromatic fantasies in the new building of the Zagreb Academy of Music

In the period from 2012 to 2014, I have already published my researches at a higher literary level in the award-winning journal for literature, culture and science Riječi (Words). But at one point I realized that I needed to unite my texts, because despite being readable independently, there was an unbroken connection between them, leading the reader to the conclusion of the whole research. As I was taught the writing style by Mr. Andrija Tunjić, the Editor of the journal Riječi and Croatian renowned theater critic at Vijenac (also the author of a series of books), I asked him kindly to be the Editor of my first book.

Search for literary expression

In my book I finally managed to achieve a satisfactory literary expression by my own criteria, adding some new insights and connections between various branches of art and previously unrelated art works and their authors. The main theme were chromatic fantasies of Scriabin, Jawlensky and Pogorelich, and the researched three artists helped me to show that the reproductive artist just like the productive one is capable of achieving abstract expression. Following this idea, it was wonderful to organize the book promotion in the new building of the Zagreb Academy of Music, which has a rainbow-coloured installation on its roof—it is the same colour spectrum I used to “overpaint” the black and white piano keys on the cover of my book. This design showed that Scriabin’s light organ was the leitmotif of all of my researches, while the silhouette of the piano provided a refuge for the very long subtitle of my book.

Speakers provided original interpretations of the same work

My book is entitled Abstract Reproductive as Productive Art: Chromatic Fantasies of the Composer Alexander Scriabin, Painter Alexej Jawlensky and Pianist Ivo Pogorelich, and in it I wanted to show that reproductive artists, just like productive artists, can render the original work unrecognizable, despite being obliged to respect the written work in its entirety. Once artists begin to dissolve the original work, they have endless shades of musical tones at their disposal, and precisely this aspect was followed by Prof. Ljubomir Gašparović while playing Scriabin’s composition Feuillet d’Album Op. 58, at the beginning and the end of the promotion. He managed to show that the same composition could be played to such an extent differently that listeners would almost not be able to recognize that the same piece was performed.

Electronic music composed for this occasion

In addition to Scriabin’s music, Robert Selimović composed electronic music for this occasion, and we listened to it while entering the hall and as an accompaniment to my video-work entitled Music Iconostasis of the Painter Alexej Jawlensky. The audience was greeted by the publisher representative Mrs. Đurđica Vuković, and the Editor Andrija Tunjić was the first to speak about my book, remembering and talking about my beginnings. Prof. Zlatko Kauzlarić Atač was the book reviewer and he followed (he was also the current Director of the Postgraduate Studies at the Zagreb Academy of Fine Arts and the President of my Doctoral Dissertation Evaluation and Defense Committee) and Prof. Gašparović was the last to present my book—it is worth mentioning that his speech was as interesting as his playing the piano was. After all presenters, I could hardly wait for a moment to say something as well, because I finally found myself in the favorite situation when like reproductive artist I could interpret my own work. Prof. Atač’s speech was later published in the journal Riječi, while the news of the promotion was conveyed by the magazine Vijenac.

In the audience, family, colleagues, friends and art lovers

It amazed me how many people came to the promotion because I was aware that this was my first book, hoping that the hall would be at least comfortably filled. So I could not believe it when I saw that there were not enough chairs and that a part of the audience would be standing! I had a wonderful time with my family and friends, but also my professors and colleagues; even one Fellow of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts expressed interest in my book by joining us. I thank everyone for coming, I have never felt so much good energy in my entire professional life!

In the audience, family, colleagues, friends and art lovers

It amazed me how many people came to the promotion because I was aware that this was my first book, hoping that the hall would be at least comfortably filled. So I could not believe it when I saw that there were not enough chairs and that a part of the audience would be standing! I had a wonderful time with my family and friends, but also my professors and colleagues; even one Fellow of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts expressed interest in my book by joining us. I thank everyone for coming, I have never felt so much good energy in my entire professional life!

Synthesis of Scriabin, Jawlensky and Pogorelich in a virtual installation

In the part of this web-site dedicated to my doctoral dissertation, it is possible to see that the research of the artistic accomplishments of the composer Alexander Scriabin, painter Alexej Jawlensky and pianist Ivo Pogorelich was an introduction to my practical work, aiming to synthesize knowledge gained from five branches of art (painting , music, literature, architecture and dance), but also from art theory and philosophy, as well as from science. The transfer of knowledge led me to a better understanding of art and numerous artistic practices and helped me build the concept of my own artwork as the final dialectical synthesis and the completion of my research. Thus, in the abstract virtual space a multidisciplinary light installation was created—it was designed for Pogorelich’s performance of Scriabin’s piano pieces, with a simultaneous projection of Jawlensky’s painting series entitled Abstract Heads.

Multidisciplinary virtual light installation designed during my doctoral studies at the Zagreb Arts Academy

Meeting of painting and music at a common platform

I studied these previously unrelated artists (Scriabin, Jawlensky and Pogorelich) and their work together hoping to arrive at a common platform where I think painting and music meet. Thus my installation purports to show the productive aspects in reproductive art and is built as a counterpoint of independent ideas interacting in a common thought structure. It is set up on Lake Lugano, which is not a mere coincidence when we know that all three artists began showing a growing interest in abstraction in Switzerland. Furthermore, my 3D multimedia projection sets up Scriabin’s serialism in music in space, and the pictorial serialism of Jawlensky is presented so as to show how it occupies time. Simultaneously, I achieve a sense of simulated motion through a system of lasers responding to Pogorelich’s changing body gravity. The lasers are my interpretation of Scriabin’s colour system, taking as base the quint circle and Isaac Newton’s optics. As this project will not in actuality be played out so that real people could assume their assigned roles, as a multidisciplinary author I am responsible for the entire creative input. The visual content and computer projection are accompanied by my own performance of Scriabin’s composition for the piano Feuillet d’album Op. 58. Originally, however, the installation was designed for Pogorelich’s performance of Scriabin’s piano pieces.

Screening at the International Experimental Video-Art Festival

After the screening at the Zagreb Arts Academy, I did not want my video-work to end up in an archive room, so I was thrilled when International ArtExpo in collaboration with MECA (Mediterráneo Centro Artístico) selected my installation to be presented during the International Experimental Video-Art Festival Pixels of Identities, held in October 2014 in the Museum of the City of Almeria in Spain. The museum won two awards in 2004 (PAD and ARCO), and in 2005 the museum building was a finalist in the Fostering Arts and Design (FAD) Awards. Also, in 2008 the Museum won an honorary prize in the European Museum of the Year competition (organized by the European Museum Forum), and as a public institution founded in 1934, it celebrated its 80th birthday in 2014. During the anniversary celebration my light installation was projected.

ITSLIQUID interviewed two authors

When I thought there was nothing more to be done to make the story of my light installation the one with a beautiful ending, shortly before the closure of the festival I was approached by the festival partner ITSLIQUID (International Platform for Contemporary Art, Architecture and Design), and asked for an interview so that wider audience would be informed  of my recent work, which their expert team rated as highly interesting.