The Anatomy of Maja Ruznic’s Paintigns

Maja Ruznic’s painting makes you aware that you’re on the outside looking in, and yet drawn into it, compelled to abide to its mysterious laws. Because even if the painting’s surface knows no time, at least not a linear time, no beginning, no end, it can have rhythm. This is what Ruznic herself calls the »visual throb«. It is the painting’s pulse, its vibrations, its movement, a life it leads in front of our eyes, its very own mutter. For this to happen, to be moved and to experience intimacy with the observed, is something psychoanalyst Bracha Ettinger called »wit(h)nessing«, blending witnessing with with-ness. It emphasizes the importance of being affectively present, and of allowing for an intertwinement of the observer and the observed in a shared experience that ultimately transforms both. Ruznic creates this boundless realm where every color and every figure transcends its own limitations, with the only boundary being the edge of the canvas. Within this space, creatures effortlessly blend into their surroundings, emerging and fading as they seamlessly flow into one another, and stretch to the point of formlessness. Ruznic’s thin layers of paint make and unmake these creatures with no origin beyond the painting itself, making them seem as if they were approaching us from far away, or long ago.

Exhibition:
CFA Contemporary Fine Arts Berlin, 13/9 – 26/10/2024