Maja Ruznic: Mutter

The anatomy of images by Maja Ruznic

Maja Ruznic's painting makes you realise that you are looking inwards from the outside and yet are drawn in, forced to abide by the mysterious laws that prevail within it. For even if the surface of the painting knows no time, at least no linear time - no beginning, no end - it can still have a rhythm. This is what Ruznic calls the "visual throb". It is the pulse of the painting, its vibration, its movement, the life it leads before our eyes, its very own murmur. The fact that this happens, that we are moved by what we observe and develop an intimacy with it, is something that psychoanalyst Bracha Ettinger calls "wit(h)nessing", a blending of witnessing (wit-ness) and being together (with-ness). She emphasises how important it is to be affectively present and to allow the observer and the observed to become intertwined in a shared experience that ultimately changes both. Ruznic creates this boundless realm in which all colours and all figures overflow and the only boundary is drawn from the edge of the canvas. In this space, the creatures merge with their surroundings as if of their own accord, appearing and fading, merging seamlessly into one another, expanding to the point of formlessness. Ruznic's thin layers of colour allow these creatures to emerge and fade away as if they had their origin in the painting itself, making it seem to us viewers as if they are coming towards us from far away or from times long past.

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