Circus – Marino Baldini

Eugen Varzić is a painter who constantly expresses himself by working on a variety of themes, united by a profound awareness of the visual moment and a postmodern leap that uses figures and inserts of various figurative episodes to express sequences or parts of individual scenes from which his compositions are built. It is not particularly difficult to understand the author as a figurative artist whose foundations are visually constructed from significant experiences rich in art history. However, his work is far from being mere imitation. The artist engages with themes that, through his approach and elaboration, acquire a completely new and distinct character related to his thoughts, life, and present.

In this present moment, which is already traditional for Eugen’s painting, the themes and motifs that depict the artist and the people around him in various ways also contain visual narratives that have been previously interpreted as prophetic. This element, which is present to a significant extent in the artist’s larger-format compositions, especially since the time of his solo exhibition at the Zuccato Palace in Poreč, should be noted as a continuous coloration that is inherent and connects the artist’s themes. Eugen belongs to the generation of the new image painting (nuova imagine), and he is recognized as such in both the local and wider painting community.

The diverse experiences that the artist utilizes in his creative process prevent us from defining him more precisely. Nevertheless, his painting in this cycle contains many elements significant to the contemporary visual moment. From new expressionism to neo-baroque, many elements of different styles can be recognized in the artist’s work, including those of the transavantgarde movement, which, due to the nature of Eugen’s creativity, could be referred to as post-transavantgarde. Among all these influences, what is considerably more essential is the artist’s inclination for exploration, allowing a continuous enrichment of his repertoire and figurative visions within an impressive visual language. One of these elements is the significant icons and moments of modern mass culture that leave their imprint of meaning in contemporary social context. Furthermore, as an artist like Eugen is traditionally interested in the relationship between figurative and non-representational, ethics and aesthetics, and particularly the relationship to kitsch. In this sense, this cycle is highly significant as it encompasses issues that visual artists rarely tackle, but such aspects can be crucial for understanding the deterministic chaos that surrounds us.

Eugen Varzić’s Visual Circus is not chaos itself but, among other things, speaks about chaos. Everything, even the smallest heads that are necessary in the visual narration, have a tale to tell. From this background, figures of heroes and heroines rise, who personalized bear witness to the intimate and relevant social value of the artist’s work.