CYAN – IDE 2.0 | Marika Vicari & Jernej Forbici

On Thursday, October 27^th at PUNTO SULL’ARTE second Gallery in the Historical Centre of Varese (Via San Martino della Battaglia, 6) will be held the opening reception of the exhibition Cyan-IDE 2.0, a double solo show of JERNEJ FORBICI and MARIKA VICARI.

Leading artists of the Gallery since its inception in 2011, JERNEJ FORBICI (Slovenia, 1980) and MARIKA VICARI (Vicenza, 1979) exhibit for the first time in the second gallery of PUNTO SULL’ARTE, in the heart of the city centre of Varese, a selection of refined paintings on canvas and on board of various dimensions that fully reflect their respective artistic poetics. 

Nature enters our everyday lives in many different forms, spaces and moments, and art increasingly takes on the task of expressing and recording reality, like a sphere of action on the dynamics of the transformation of the earth, the world and of man. 

The transformation of the landscape, the process of environmental mutation that man has triggered like a point of no return, are not only the fundamental themes of Jernej Forbici’s artistic endeavours, but are, metaphorically speaking, the results of one of the many poisons with which we are destroying the world. Cyanide is rather well-known and powerful. It is already present in nature, in some plants and kernels and if inhaled is capable of blocking cellular respiration in just a few seconds, preventing the release of oxygen.

Paradoxically that oxygen, which is a part of numerous chemical compounds and is by its very nature indispensable for life, regenerates in the small and large tables of Marika Vicari between the cracks, the fissures, the bubbles of cyan coloured water, elevating the trees and the forest upwards.

The colour of fantasy, of travel, Vicari’s cyan is the complementary of Forbici’s anthropic red landscapes, a warm, real and pulsating material. Both refer to a space where man, who is never physically present, leaves a trace, a symbol of the extreme suffering of our planet, which is irreparably compromised.

What appears before our eyes in this strange intricate journey within the exhibition are picture-windows that open or become part of another place, a new sphere of growth that, integrated with new codes and written lines, is to be deciphered.

The exhibition is accompanied by a BILINGUAL CATALOGUE created by PUNTO SULL’ARTE containing the reproduction of the text written by the Artists.

JERNEJ FORBICI was born in Maribor (Slovenia) in 1980. He graduated with honours in Painting (chair Prof. Carlo Di Raco) at the Academy of Fine Arts of Venice, then specialising in Visual and Performing Arts. He devotes his painting to landscapes and big formats, thus narrating the story of his hometown, Kidričevo, a small town surrounded by forest who have been damaged by aluminium factories. The core theme of his artistic research is the one, always current and controversial, of pollution and the central role that man plays in it. Since 1999 his works were chosen for many solo and group exhibitions in Europe, USA, Canada, Argentina and China. He was invited to Biennials: Hicetnunc, Pordenone (2003), IBCA International Art Biennial in Prague (2005), 51° and 53° Biennial of Venice (2007 and 2011). In 2009 the Academy of Fine Arts of Venice dedicated him a retrospective of his works at the Magazzini del Sale and in 2012 he won a scholarship from the Slovenian Ministry of Culture and was invited in London, where he studied the English masters. In 2019 his works were exhibited, for the first time, in New York for the important solo show Long Gone. Since 2005 he has been Artistic Director of ART STAYS, the International Festival of Contemporary art held in Ptuj, Slovenia. With his work Jernej Forbici has gained the interest of the contemporary art market and his paintings are exhibited in important shows, art fairs, private and public collections all over the world. He lives and works between Kidričevo, Ptuj (SI) and Vicenza (IT).

MARIKA VICARI: She was born in Vicenza (Italy) in 1979. After graduating in Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice in 2003, she then graduated in 2005 in Design and Production of Visual Arts at the Faculty of Design and Arts at the Venice University of Architecture. She has studied and worked on site-specific projects with international artists, curators and photographers including: Hans Ulrich Obrist, Lewis Baltz, Mona Hatoum, Antoni Muntadas, Antonio Arevalo, Armin Linke, Cesare Pietroiusti and Angela Vettese. Since 2000 she has exhibited in various solo and group shows in Europe, United States, Mexico, Brazil, Canada and China. Her works are permanently exhibited in public and private collections in Europe, Canada, USA and United Arab Emirates. For years her works have been presented at Art Fairs in Europe and Canada. She paints and draws small and big artworks made of graphite on paper or board. The subjects of her works are filiform trees suspended in indefinite and dreamy mountain landscapes. Her technique, which is constantly evolving, has involved the production of works on poplar boards while, starting from 2019, she began experimenting on cotton paper with an increasing watercolour presence. This new medium adds grace to the forests she portrays by feeding the metaphor with the human being and its fragility, transience. Since 2005 she is independent curator and Creative Director of ART STAYS, the International Festival of Contemporary art held in Ptuj, Slovenia. She lives and works in Creazzo (Vicenza).