Vjeran Čengić – Bio

Critical Reception

“In the great diversity of the contemporary art scene, artists who remain committed to traditional media, such as easel painting, have gradually been pushed to the margins by the fashionable clamour surrounding new means of artistic expression. Painters face the demanding task of developing a personal poetics that reflects both their talent and a contemporary sensibility.

Although they do not constitute a formal group, the three young artists, through their joint exhibition, defend the possibilities of painting through their own individual aesthetics, deepening the understanding of painting as both a concept and a phenomenon. Their artistic achievements provide ample justification for this approach, evident in the complexity of their explorations and the underlying logic of their final solutions.

Vjeran Čengić is inclined towards a synthesis of geometric restraint in the pictorial surface and the physical materiality of its elements. The abstraction of subject matter, whether derived from objects, possible forms or landscapes, has led to regular blocks of subtle yet precise geometry, rhythmically arranged within the composition.

Solo Exhibition – Three Approaches, 2005–2006

Artists: Vjeran Čengić, Branka Radonić and Gordan Orešić

First venue: Cultural Centre Čakovec, Čakovec, Croatia

Exhibition dates: 15 December 2005 – 15 January 2006

Second venue: Zlati Ajngel Gallery, Varaždin, Croatia

Exhibition dates: 3–19 February 2006

Exhibition text: Branka Hlevnjak

Critical Reception – Three Approaches

“The paintings of the three artists, Branka Radonić, Vjeran Čengić and Gordan Orešić, are distinguished by individual, personal artistic expressions. What they share is the free use of various (combined) techniques, as well as an exploration of painting itself. Paint on canvas, rhythm, light, its texture and that of the underlying surface, marks made with a brush or palette knife, spray, printing matrices, the body or any other means, and its material qualities (gloss, varnish, matte finish, purity, mixing, etc.) exist independently of both representations of reality and surreal fiction. The freedom of form (abstraction) that these young artists have chosen entails a binding responsibility. It may seem contradictory, but creating free painterly forms is the more difficult path. The autonomy of form in painting is an illusory concept. It cannot exist outside discipline, intention and the reconciliation of concept and execution. The mind, the eye and the hand all participate in the making of a painting, and only together do they create an aesthetic expression.

[…]

Solo Exhibition – Notitia Intuitiva, 2018

Artist: Vjeran Čengić

Venue: Galerija Prica at the Bunker Youth Centre, Samobor, Croatia

Exhibition dates: 13 April – 6 May 2018

Exhibition text: Sonja Švec Španjol mag. hist. art.

Critical Reception

Painting born from the deepest inner reality has allowed absolute freedom of expression in Vjeran Čengić’s new body of work. His painting is characterised by energetic brushwork, painterly power and exceptional chromatic intensity. The beauty and richness of nature have emerged as an inexhaustible source of motifs through which the artist delves into the medium of painting, opening it up to the emotions and sensations of colour.

“Every description is also a discovery,” observed Heinrich Wölfflin, referring to the analytical description of works of art. In this process, the painter has complete freedom to transform the motif he depicts while allowing the subject of that transformation to remain entirely recognisable. The emphasis, however, is placed on the pure energy of creation and active participation in the process of producing a new work.

Motifs that possess both strong aesthetic appeal and archetypal symbolism hold the viewer’s attention, as they recognise something close and familiar within them. Yet in Vjeran Čengić’s oeuvre, the motif is merely the starting point for a work, or rather, for a creative process characterised by dynamism, vital energy and the interplay of countless possibilities for interpreting the motif. The artist often expands an apparently completed work into a larger composition consisting of several parts, allowing him to rearrange individual segments like pieces of a puzzle, transforming a figurative motif through quasi-Cubist forms into abstraction. Through this rearrangement, the underlying idea may be preserved, while the work is simultaneously freed from the burden of a final and absolute answer, as well as from the imposition of a single interpretation. In terms of content, too, the symbolism of frequently recurring motifs such as fish, shells and figs is multifaceted.

We understand the fish as a symbol of the soul, birth and cyclical renewal, a symbol of life and fertility, as well as of the human inner world. Like the colour blue, which predominates in defining the backgrounds of paintings in the new cycle, fish symbolise our emotions and an awareness of values that extend beyond ourselves. From depictions of fish on a table, imbued with a pronounced ritual character, to fish in the deep blue of the sea, Vjeran Čengić introduces metaphysical meaning into his works, transforming reality into the imaginary, while the essential world of the painting continues in the viewer’s mind. The unusual titles of his works contain a personal element, yet they also intrigue the viewer and encourage individual interpretations of the images projected onto the painted motifs and their relationships. Depending on a viewer’s experience, origins and upbringing, titles such as Molitva (Prayer), U vrtu (In the Garden) and Ribarov san (The Fisherman’s Dream) may prompt the merging of feelings with desires, knowledge with dreams, the conscious with the unconscious, or awaken memories of childhood. Many of the recurring motifs, including fish, shells and figs, evoke abundance, fertility, happiness and prosperity. However, beyond their literal interpretation, on another level they also signify enlightenment and creative and artistic fertility. In this way, they become the fundamental thread connecting the artist’s inner self with a cosmological principle, forming the essential thematic foundation of his painting.

When painting, Vjeran Čengić enters a world of structure, impasto and colour, seeking to embody primal energy on the surface of the painting. The process is fast and spontaneous, rich in detail and without subsequent corrections, in pursuit of an authentic expression. His paintings directly reflect the artist’s inner state and contain two essential keys to their interpretation. His choice of motifs reveals not only an approach guided by an inner principle and a primordial desire to create, but also an element of a child’s way of seeing the world, in which everything is innocent, pure, alive, bright and open. Meanwhile, the artist’s maturity and character are expressed through the creative process itself and through the shaping of visually compelling material into which he weaves complex, multilayered meanings. The work Povratak majstora (Return of the Master), alongside its personal metaphor for a return to the art scene, explores the eternal struggle of the artist, torn between a hedonistic way of life and the constant need to create, which demands continuous and dedicated work.

While the motifs remain the same, the wide spectrum of extremes in the treatment of the painted surface, from translucent glazes to thick impasto, from tonal modelling to exceptionally bold and vivid colour contrasts, allows the artist to discover a form that becomes the essence of the painting. Periska is a work that perfectly demonstrates just how important the creative process itself is in Vjeran Čengić’s practice. Chromatically exuberant, pulsating, open and richly layered, the material substance of the painting confirms the notion that the motif is merely a starting point. Without its title, which alludes to the riches of the underwater world, the viewer might associate the painting with numerous other forms. The emphasis is on the richness and materiality of colour, which the artist applies directly to the canvas, transforming it into a material palette through which the motif takes shape. The final result is a depiction of a pen shell that appears like a concentrated nucleus of energy on the verge of imploding. Regardless of whether the motif is recognisable or clearly distinguishable, each individual work forms a world of its own, filled with countless details, movement and lines of force that embody a powerful concentration of vital energy.

Through vivid, pure colours, shimmering surfaces, thick applications of paint, scratching, scraping and incising, Vjeran Čengić interprets his own spiritual world through the richness of nature. At a time when everything is subordinated to speed, production, quick profit and the market, and when art is often the first to give way by adapting to market demands and current trends, Vjeran follows a path outside the mainstream, painting according to his own inner impulses. His return to painting is marked by the pulsating vitality he brings to his works as he surrenders to the impulse of active creation.