An exhibition of paintings by Ivo Vukičević opened at the Dubrovnik branch office of the Croatian Heritage Foundation. His paintings radiate love, the enduring tenacity and the dedication required for a lifetime of autodidactic and constant labour, which has finally resulted in an impressive number of paintings and several solo exhibitions
An exhibition of paintings by Ivo Vukičević opened at the Dubrovnik branch office of the Croatian Heritage Foundation January 27th. His creative work is best described in a foreword penned by Marin Ivanović:
“There is something in southern blood that keeps people close to nature, that keeps them bound to the land, making it hard to sunder all that rises from it and all that is given to it. Those who feel its all-pervading energy wish to be as close to it as they can – tilling it, writing about it, dedicating songs to it or painting it. In the pleiad of painters of our cultural sphere (from Prevlaka to Orebić), Ivo Vukičević stands apart by his technical mastery, vibrant strokes, vivid colours, diverse and unusual way of seeing Ston and its environs, and by the number of works that bear witness to his discipline and diligence.
Vukičević flies from places of picture postcard character, seeking the somewhat more obscure vistas of Ston and Malostonski Bay; the gardens bathed in summer sun in which the abundance of life and its fruits grow luxuriant beyond the painting’s frame, as if would pour over them to the viewer, while the bougainvillaea and weaver’s broom bunch together in a profusion of floral motifs and serve as a brilliant foundation on which the painter expresses his impressionist artistry. The is a complexity and vibrant quality to his strokes when painting a marina; the tonal passages from browns and nuances of blue, to white and purple, with interspersed dots of yellow and the reflections on the glassy-calm surface. The most successful paintings are those with gentle transitions through many values, when a thin veil is stretched over the central motif, a haze that – in the formal sense – outlines the planes of perspective, whilst simultaneously acting as a composite component, telling the tale of the place, season and day – of the author’s mood.
This verism is very evident in Vukičević olive groves with the old olive tree (the “nourisher and healer” as P. Matvejević refers to it) in the foreground, while the small houses in the distance are blurred by the fog, painted in soft strokes – painted, that is, as they are in reality. He unerringly applies this eloquence of motifs in other paintings in which depth is pronounced precisely as a means of transferring reality to the painting. An open stroke, fragmentation and precision, whereby a “patina” is achieved on older edifices, are truly the most beautiful expressive media through which the landscapes and vistas of Pelješac may be transposed to the canvas. Those who live alongside the sea will find an entire world of reflections, the shimmering of the sun on its surface, fluidity, flickering, the coexistence of sea and rock, the reflections of trees, houses and birds in the sea, the unattainable range of situations of which only a passing fragment can be brought to life on the painter’s canvas, in constant humility before the grandeur of god’s work.
Ivo Vukičević’s paintings radiate love, the enduring tenacity and the dedication required for a lifetime of autodidactic and constant labour, which has finally resulted in an impressive number of paintings and several solo exhibitions. As such, they represent an excellent contribution to the diversity of southern Croatian painting.”
See the photos from the opening at: http://dubrovacki.hr/clanak/59403/foto-otvorena-izlozba-slika-iva-vukicevica.