2010
Installation
Silvio Vujičić
Cloud is a mixture of calcite and pigment derived from the Japanese oyster (Gofun Shirayuki). This pigment has been used for centuries in Japan for painting, make-up and in bleaching wood sculptures. Four hundred years ago, the Japanese Emperor banned toxic white lead that was invented in Europe and used in theatre. Subsequently, the use of non-toxic white pigment derived from shells became widespread. The white powder was blown on the actors as make-up.
Calcite, which is mixed into the clouds with a white pigment of Japanese shells is commonly found in bottom sediments of caves where it forms stalactites. Here, the artist’s device, with a muffled bang, projects the white pigment in front of a black wall. The wall is covered with the mixture of soot and other black pigments creating a rich black texture, thus enabling a strong contrast with the white projectile. The Cloud piece evolved from the artist’s long-term exploration of the historical ways to create pigment for painting. For instance, Vujičić imported dried female lice in order to create the color crimson, a Native American tradition, and the indigo plant from India for blue paint. After this investigative process, the artist realized several projects with the pigments he made. In the Garden project, he dyed different flowers with those pigments. Alchemical Polyptych was a deconstruction of the iconographic value of different colors in the Ghent altar. And the Cloud is the latest project in the series ascetically reduced on black / white. The attempt to create “a 3D painting” of a natural phenomenon in the gallery space.
Artist bio:
Silvio Vujičić (1978) graduated at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb and at the Faculty of Textile Technology in Zagreb. In his works Silvio Vujicic is dealing with border areas and volatile matters, hybrids of science and art. As a visual artist Vujičić is interested in the cultural position and construction of fashion, process of transformation with crystallization, corrosion, blossoming, viruses, etc. All of these techniques are manifested in clothing, prints, drawings, performances and installations that invert the “natural” position of things and produce visions that are more related to undefined desires rather than to predictable pleasure. He has presented his works in numerous group and solo shows in Croatia and internationally (Platform3, Munich; Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb; Touch Me Festival, Zagreb; Device_art 2004, Zagreb/Velika Gorica; Project Linienstrasse113, Berlin; Aspects of Collecting, Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg; Big Torino 2000, Biennial of Emerging Artists, Torino).
