Perspective of absence

Sebastijan Dračić is another one of those younger-generation painters whose work draws plenty of attention lately. His specific artistic expression builds a nearly immobile, quiet frame that captures a mystical atmosphere caused by someone’s recent departure or uncertain presence. His recent exhibition "Interiors" in the "Vladimir Filakovac" gallery in Zagreb served as an excellent insight into this very segment of Dračić’s work – his preoccupation with interiors as a reflection of a certain state, as well as a place of subtle commentary. "The space is dominated by a bewildered moment of festive stiffness: the human figure – in the midst if its transience, mortality, fragility… - cannot be a part of such a privileged situation." Unveiled leopard skin on the parquet, among the naked walls of pastel shades, or a purple couch surrounded by damp walls and the window’s white light, call upon a certain unsure melancholy, and also momentarily recalls the décor of a great American painter Edward Hopper. And while Hopper tries to convey alienation, exposed individuals without the possibility of achieving direct communication, Sebastijan Dračić takes things one step further and conveys "the morning after", which is when the person has already left and all that is found are just traces, perspective of absence.

            His other, also recent exhibit "8 x 8" in the SC Gallery in Zagreb has offered a story that is even more complex. With his eight paintings carrying names that refer to historical personalities, such as "Napoleon’s love life", "Mary Theresa’s social life" or "The old age of Suleiman the magnificent" – which have a completely different content that their names would suggest – Dračić is playing with meanings. The scenes he bestows upon us are reduced, somewhat surreal and filled with symbolism, from a big red room with one single chair, a dog on a cold paved floor, or an empty blue ballroom that has just been abandoned. If we take a closer look at the abovementioned paintings, "we will realize that, even if certain connections really exist, they are completely irrelevant. Historical heroes cease being recognizable, the author plays around with their meaning and our knowledge of them, while the painting substance and the painting itself take centre stage. The sense of the untold is the backbone of the entire cycle. The exhibited oil on canvas paintings shares a combination of azure and pastel coatings, as well as painter’s focus on motifs, their processing and (re)presentation. Sebastijan Dračić creates units from textures he uses to demonstrate the excellent ways to deceive an eye, tromp l’oeil, with realistic versions of parquets or an archaic wall covered in lime. He can, but he doesn’t have to. While paying close attention to the ways light enters the room, it becomes clear that his goal is to create something that resembles reality. All of his projects feature light as an important element that creates distinctive ambiences. Light even defines certain paintings as a clear, almost central motif that enters the painting through various openings, only to bring glimpse of the outdoor space as a symbol of hope, something new and different. "

            The artist uses his works to set the scene for a world of enigma assembled from figures and objects that submit to the principles of mystery. It’s precisely on this point that we get to observe Sebastijan Dračić’s work as a sort of continuation to the tradition of metaphysical painting by Italian artist from the early twentieth century, which was gathered around the founder of this new aesthetics, Giorgio De Chirico. Aspects of this "disturbing oddity" can be found with Dračić as well, along with noticeable referring to the contemporary, if only in slight details. Special weight and disorienting space, the familiar and the close, becomes mysterious and anxious as they are ripped out of their usual context.

            "These days, we consider traditional art and the avant-garde as equal parts of our heritage. That type of possibility of different sources and influences can only encourage creativity, which is free of any programmatic or ideological limitations. We (most of my close colleagues and friends)who belong to the generation that grew up during the eighties and nineties can accompany art with video-games, comic books, TV shows, fashion magazines, IKEA catalogues, photographs, as all those possibilities have influenced our aesthetical judgment and have visually shaped us in a way", the author says.

            Sebastijan Dračić adds this about the process of creating: "It’s very difficult for me to explain where I find my ideas because it often turns out that one "final" idea is actually the combination of several smaller ideas combined into one during the period of time. My work is heavily influenced by out-of-art sources. Whenever I work on a bigger cycle, I always have the entire concept in my mind. It is very important in my work, as I often slowly develop ideas working on some other projects simultaneously. I don’t have the tendency to work quickly and superficially, so I allow my ideas to grow and develop until I’m perfectly satisfied and ready to pursue them. I don’t believe in quick solutions and quick answers. Whenever I paint, that process lasts a long time. I’ve worked for over a year on some paintings, as I like to leave them unfinished for weeks to face the wall without working on them or even looking at them, because frequent work on a painting makes it impossible for me to objectively judge it. With a buffer period of a few weeks, I can be much more realistic in terms of how to continue. I don’t have a large production of paintings; some painters have the need to produce dozens of paintings per month, but I never had that need. Every painting is just as important to me. Within that format, I treat every centimeter in a same way, whether it shows textures of floors or carpets, still life, animals or anything else. Relation among objects, spaces, colors and textures – I use all that to create a certain atmosphere within a painting. "

Nataša Bodrožić, "Perspectives of absence", DalCasa, no/21, January 2008