Author: Eugen

Faces are like books. Life span fills the face, that relentless tide of life, and before the water recedes, I record everything in colour. Eugen Varzić

After a magnificent exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art Dubrovnik where Eugen Varzić presented his rich 2016-2021 oeuvre, the exhibition The End brings an intimate selection of works created exclusively during the lockdown. The COVID-19 pandemic has globally changed the dynamics of the entire world, and life as we knew it has literally been put on hold. But despite the many negative consequences, lockdown forced us to stop and smell the flowers. In the pursuit of big goals and desired accomplishments, we often tend to forget the most important thing – how to live. Lockdown really forced us to stop rushing recklessly and doing things by inertia and encouraged us to look at our own lives, family and friends and that everything we have, material and immaterial, we do not take for granted, but appreciate every moment, fully aware of the fact that under the new circumstances actually everything can disappear overnight. In the context of the fruitful and rich work of Eugen Varzić, the pandemic had a negative impact on the artist’s work by postponing a number of planned projects in Croatia and abroad, but at the same time opened the possibility of developing his own painting story. Namely, in the last two years of his life underchanged circumstances, Varzić did not stop his artistic work, but changed his approach and continued to work with dedication. The new circumstances brought by the global pandemic have formed a new vision of the world, new rules and new ways of communication, interaction, socializing and exchange of information, impressions and opinions. Varzić used lockdown time for everyday painting, while the imposed isolation went to the artist’s advantage, because loneliness is necessary for creation, and the creative process itself helped the author to distance himself from the noise of extremely contradictory and negative news and information we were exposed to on a daily basis. While new technologies and social networks enabled maximum virtual connectivity and networking, Varzić continued to create and communicate primarily through his works. While in the early stages of the cycle presented he selected and painted foreigners he would find through social networks, during the pandemic the artist focused on family, friends and acquaintances whom he would invite to his studio and photograph their faces which would then, in further work, became the starting point for the emergence of a new work. The change in the approach and selection of the model was very much felt in the final work. His paintings from the beginning of the cycle represent a note of often unknown individuals, where the author himself weaved meaning and content based on provided visual and physical guidelines, but by selecting family membersclose and familiar people through socializing and interaction in real, not virtual space, he opened a completely new world in which the artist absorbs energy, remembers the expressive facial expressions and captures the desired frame with a camera, and weaves into the work the personality, story and con- tent that was realized during the socializing in the studio.

It is important to point out that the recorded frame, i.e. the selection of photographs, is only the starting point from which Varzić creates his work. Namely, the author chooses people who can tell his story, but avoiding a literal interpretation. Brave individuals thus become the main actors in the experiment where the artist puts the models in different roles, takes photo of them and through communication and gesticulation receives their energy and gets to know their personal story. The visual starting point develops and becomes more complex during the process of making the work by Varzić weaving his own content into the told story, forming a unique context and thought. Ultimately, the author, as he himself points out, paints life.

An old folk proverb says that ‘knowing oneself is the beginning of wisdom’, and knowing oneself and forming a concept about oneself through one’s own thoughts and beliefs requires a direct turn to property in order to explore oneself from the inside out. One of the rare self-portraits in this exhibition, First Days of Madness, testifies the process of selfknowledge. The self-portrait, which multiplies as the main centrally positioned character with a crown on his head follows a series of other, smaller, vanishing and emerging interpretations with a range of different facial expressions, speaks of a range of emotional and mental states an individual is capable of going through and surviving under extraordinary circumstances. These are the most intimate insights we can reach by plunging into the depths of our own thoughts, feelings and actions, and going through this process through communication with ourselves, but also with models and their personal stories, Varzić really paints life in its sincerity and nakedness with the aim of displacing the observer outside his own comfort zone and leading him to a series of questions that the author too asked himself, and he found the answers through the process of creation.

The portraits are mostly frontally positioned with a direct view of the observer. Even when the head is slightly raised or in half profile, eye contact is present, and a wide range of pronounced facial expressions nonverbally communicates with the observer through embodied emotions, states, and thoughts. The author usually selects close-ups, focusing on a key segment of the face, while the rest continues in the observer’s thought process. Portraits range from an extremely calm face and a focused focus (Yohanan Ha’Matbil, Merjema, Last Nights, Crossfade, Sleepless Angel, Star of the Sea, Rock and Roll) to very often maximally emphasized facial expressions and gestures of the model (Davide, Sirens, Coming back to life, Heroin). A wide range of interpretations continues through achromatic and extremely minimalist depictions (Bella Ciao, Christian, Missed) through almost monochromatic solutions with a single accent in a different colour (Last lights, Testa matta, Crossfade, Star of the Sea) all the way to fully coloristic expressions (Merjema, Sirens, Heroin). The richness of colours, shapes and different textures expressed through clothing, make-up and fashion accessories makes a kind of artistic and semantic complement of the embodied character and the interpreted story. Compared to earlier portraits, the richness of over emphasized make-up, jewellery, tattoos and other elements that enrich the story, move away from reality and build their own world of possibilities and experiences by delving into the subconscious and repressed. While ancient official portraits marked the status, reputation and position of power in society, Varzić’s portraits are free, honest, experimental and show the other side of our personality – not only the decent and polished, i.e. a kind of mask we wear and with which we perform in public, but also the weird, relaxed, silly, funny, ironic, disappointed, sad, resigned, angry, melancholic, thoughtful, rebellious, wiggly, cheeky and playful side… i.e. all faces and all layers of personality that make us unique.

On the one hand, the works are a kind of nostalgia for the past that we remember by getting to know each other, socializing and gaining new experiences imbued with a sense of carefreeness and freedom. Most mode- ls carry an aura of getting out of the dark, i.e. getting out of the loud and smoky spaces of clubs that no longer exist in this ‘new’ world. Elements such as make-up, jewellery and clothing are a revolt against a major sociological problem that arose during the pandemic, and which mostly affected young people deprived of the most beautiful times of growing up with music, going out, first crushes and loves. Varzić most often takes his daughter as a symbol for today’s youth who grow up closed and deprived of human touch and social interaction. The rage and anger of young people and the longing for life that is blocked overnight is interpreted through a series of works. And while Last Lights artistically evokes the atmosphere of the last lights before morning reflecting on the face of a person coming out of the night, the monochrome Crossfade goes a step further and represents a psychological moment of transition from pure happiness and pleasure in sorrow, i.e. transformation, which occurs when the youth immersed in the night and its magical charms leaves that intoxicating world in the morning with the arrival of light. Although these works refer to the state of the transformed world, they simultaneously speak of humanity, life, youth, old age, hope, aspirations and possibilities. It is worth mentioning the work Future, which, as the name suggests, interprets the vision of the future as seen by the author. A greenish-bluish coldly lit face emerges from the darkness. Eyes like a mirror of the soul mirror our future. It is bloody, fraught and naked, and as such shatters the illusions that we persistently try to build and encourages us to realistically see what awaits us. In addition to a number of portraits and occasional self-portraits, reference should also be made to the ever present landscapes in Varzić’s oeuvre. The landscape in the author’s work most often represents a kind of pause, i.e. a mental pause in the process of completing one and creating the next cycle of works. The night scene of the landscape lit by car lights along the road, as the name suggests, marks the moment of returning home, while Life through extremely muted, dark black-grey tones with only an occasional influx of reddish colour shows a view from the inside out. Through the half-open window, but also the bars, we see nature. It is so close, and yet so far away. The nature we perceive as a return to ourselves in a global pandemic situation and a constant call to ‘stay home’ acts like an elusive dream.

What is intriguing about The End cycle interpreted through the theme of portrait, apart from the artistic features such as the recognizable handwriting and the reflection of the spirit of the time, is the way the artist perceives himself. ‘I do not belong anywhere. At least that’s how I feel, and the feeling is perfect. There is no drawer in which I will be crammed …‘ are the words with which Varzić defines himself, but also the models he chooses for his paintings. They are atypical, characteristic and completely different from each other, which emphasizes the richness and diver- sity of humanity. Just as self-perceptions like the ‘mental mirror’ reflect how we see ourselves, so Varzić’s portraits are not just a mere set of physical traits. They reflect the emotional states, desires and needs, values and roles we hide within. The individual is often torn between reality, desire and expectations, that is, what he really is, what he would like to be and what others expect him to be. Each individual portrait is one story, one page of the author’s intimate diary, and it largely depends on the internal dynamics of the person portrayed – whether it will be shown in the form in which it acts towards the surrounding world or will allow the observer an insight into its own process of self-evaluation.

Varzić’s works are not calming, but they initiate and emphasize movement, engagement and the exchange of thoughts and impressions. They do not provide the final answer, but the impetus for development, movement and relocation from the safe and the known, and the imprint into the unknown. Because every end is also a new beginning.

The exhibition title The End does not literally mean the end, but a change. Each process, including the cycle of works, has its own development course. The End was created under extraordinary circumstances and brought to life and recorded the uniqueness and specificity of the situation in which we found ourselves as individuals, but also as humanity. It will certainly be interesting to reconsider, soak up and view this cycle as the time goes and when we will be able to remotely absorb its content into which we are currently fully immersed.

Sonja Švec Španjol, mag.hist.art.

There are different types of love and passion. In most cases they are oriented towards other living beings. However, we can also be emotionally attached to objects and places that remind us of certain people and events, with passion often being a guiding principle in our work, hobby or career to which we have dedicated our life. Love can be romantic, sublime or obsessive, yet there is an amusing type of love – ludus. We perceive this type of love as play. It is free from expectations, from an extra burden, so it is truly enjoyed. The spirit of ludos can be found in recent works by Eugen Varzić as well.

Painting as a way of life. Life in which painting is like breathing. Life in which the answer to external and internal, positive and negative experiences of reality can be found in a painting. Eugen Varzić lives his painting. It is characterized by continuous research, experimentation and development. The sensibility that is constantly questioning, encouraging and pushing the artist forward has resulted in a collection of works under the title of Ludus. Its title reflects the feeling present in those creative moments within which Eugen Varzić’s art reaches a level when painting becomes pleasure and play turns into a process in time. It continues to be thematically linked to the world of figuration, with the motif of the human figure in the form of a portrait or self-portrait, but the approach to the motif and the content changes significantly. Each painting becomes a painting-concept, with its strength enabling it to be displayed on its own, irrespective of other works created in the same period. Each painting represents searching, questioning and taking a stand. Taking into account the experiences of Antonio López Garcia and Eloy Morales, after perfecting the technique, Eugen Varzić focuses on researching the psychological field of an individual. His earlier poetics of silence, present in some urban vedutas and forests like Forest Swords, has been replaced with a loud inner cry. Along with the perfection of technique, the expression without any censorship or restraint emerges as the most prominent feature. In his recent works a portrait is just a starting point for his own interpretation, the basis for the elaboration and creation of a completely new work, in the same way that ludus finds feelings that an individual possesses more important than the person encouraging those feelings. The painting becomes an area of freedom where a physical resemblance to the model is still present but there is a significant transformation in psychological interpretation. The merging of the visually recognizable outer person and the completely new impressed inner person creates a new identity, thereby resulting in the beginning of a painting’s life. The transformation triggers a wide range of reactions and emotions, from enthusiasm to apparent anxiety.

The portraits of close and well-known people such as the works entitled Winter and Slavonia, with stressed, warm ruddy flesh tones, are further highlighted by the captured light that forms the details, thus defining the final attributes of the face devoid of tension and agitation. His earlier portraits gradually give place to nearly achromatic portraits entitled I Woke Up like This and Mirror, where the tonal gradation defines the people that can be associated with the characters from some old films, i.e. those intriguing personalities with a story that is yet to be discovered. As a result, there are some highly expressive portraits, disguised, screaming from their inner selves in order to tell a story of a nation, idea, emotion or love. The key role in the expression transformation belongs to so-called transitional paintings that are created between the cycles. These are urban vedutas or the forest motifs that assist therapeutically in an unknown area of searching and creating something new. There is something intriguing and a bit frightening in those transitional works, especially in Contia and Babina Greda.While exposing the soul of the author, they simultaneously enable direct awareness through the vulnerable and the processual.  Play has resulted in freeing the colours, motifs and symbols in the works of a silent cry, drowning and portraits with closed eyes as well as the motif of arms telling a story and conveying a message in an equally strong fashion. The titles of the works are as important as the works themselves. Their source is real life and they convey messages given by the model. They never have the literal meaning; they rather tell a story or consolidate the impressed content. They can be the first or the final information on the work. As often as not unexpected, provocative or symbolic, the titles are sometimes brutal, but they always leave a glimmer of hope.  

His recent works are a certain diagnosis of our reality. Close scrutiny, great assertiveness and a fertile imagination are the means that help Eugen Varzić record the state of man and time. The first work that was created as a painting-concept was Andragathia. According to the artist, the painting shows the face of Europe today. The Greek and Roman ideals representing the foundations of Western culture, philosophy and art followed by devastation, then moral corruption and the degradation of human beings when all of us have become a kind of commodity to be exchanged or sold are all condensed into a face dominated by a penetrating look with alternating emotions of passion, rage, coldness and sobriety caused by what has been experienced. The portrait is communicating in a direct, focused and sober manner with the viewer, while completely negating the wrinkled and bloodstained face with droplets of pulsating blood dripping off it. The white mask intensifies the sense of coldness and highlights the exposed look as well. The eyes mirror our past and possibly our future of an individual, community, nation or ultimately the whole mankind. A silent cry is present in another disguised self-portrait entitled Asshole. The face embodies a psychological evocation of all the feelings and emotional states of a nation. It is a pain and disappointment of those who are leaving but also severe criticism of the system, society and politics, which is slowly but inevitably leading to the self-destruction of the country. This is not a drama spread all over the place but rather an expression concentrated in the soul of an individual carrying the burden of the entire nation. Being aware of the situation while not being able to alter the reality is worse than any type of physical abuse. When injuries are being inflicted on a person, he/she can distance himself/herself emotionally but when that person is being emotionally injured, mental suffering becomes nastier than any physical suffering. This is confirmed by an incredibly strong expression of the face disguised with a Croatian national symbol.

Being a close-up portrait just as two of his previous self-portraits, the work entitled Night, My Love is a portrait of the painter’s wife, but instead of a silent cry, there is a concentration of content within the female character’s mind. By closing her eyes she prevents communication with the viewer, which leads to the contemplative state within the soul itself, while her head slightly erect, a series of tiny but clearly visible details drawn on her face, heavily shaded eyelids, the colour of rotten cherry on her lips and her rainbow dyed hair clearly express a concealed resistance. The sincerity pervading each work of art by Eugen Varzić in visually and emotionally powerful criticisms of the society does not support despair, but rather calls for action, with every action beginning with an idea, reflection or reaction. Otherwise, indifference is the most obvious confirmation of a lost battle.

By remaining faithful to the area of figuration and realistic representations, Eugen Varzić reveals what we have never known or we have never dared see. When recording visible and psychological reality, it is important to have a process that will liberate and encourage new ways of expression. The sensibility that makes him feel restless and constantly pushes him forward, supported by truth and newly gained freedom as well as by self-confidence in his expression, opens up a wide variety of new opportunities. A work entitled Mother was created during the experimentation process. It got its name from a sign expression formed with spontaneous movements of the palms and fingers; actually, the work is dominated by the intensive blue that steers the attention of the viewer to the gesture that forms the said sign expression. A painting entitled Sunday suggests maturity and the beginning of a new chapter. The image of an old woman emerges from the dark, with the dark background outlining the component of humanity. Her soft grey hair, her face illuminated by the sunshine, her arm resting on the table and a pensive look to the side. Every detail on the woman’s face, body or clothes is a piece of the puzzle of the lived life. Paolo Segneri’s statement that a face is a throne on which the soul sits demonstrating its dignity to everybody seems to have been written just for Eugen’s image of the granny. The wrinkled skin reveals her age and her face with a life written on it tells a story that becomes part of collective memory. The thread that links all his recent works is a layered representation as a reflection of the complexity of humans. Such a layered representation and expressiveness affect the viewer, while the emotions and reactions alternate depending on an individual’s experience.

Once the technical aspect has been mastered and the mind is mature, free from all barriers, play begins and gives place to expression, i.e. to the exposure of the soul in all its aspects. All this without any restraint, calculation or hesitation. Works of art created by Eugen Varzić include the things good and bad, beautiful and ugly; they also involve happiness and sorrow, praise and criticism, hope and hopelessness. The artist interprets the world in a sincere, intuitive and free manner.  Through continuous work and development he attempts to stimulate an emotion and reaction that could affect an individual, the community, the world. In doing so, he reaches the boundaries of brutality, while occasionally breaking down moral barriers. To shake up a human, that is to stimulate even the slightest shudder of the soul gives meaning to the overall activity.

Sonja Švec Španjol, art historian

To scratch beneath the surface of the everyday and simple. Doing what you love, loving what you create. Almost ritualistic. For an artist, it is both the beginning and the end. To always pose new riddles of appearance and reality… Agreement with reality in the understanding of art in ancient times was synonymous with truth. One of the most influential concepts of ancient Greek aesthetics, mimesis, denoting the imitative and representational relationship of art to reality, was either understood as an illusion or as a sensory given. For Plato, all art was the shadow of a “shadow”, a senseless copying of something that already exists. Aristotle brought art closer to creation and discovery. Cognitively, the artist does not copy, he interprets with his state of mind. It is precisely one such state of mind that is meditatively focused on aesthetics that acts on the first, that maps emotions, experiences and dreams.

Dealing with a new approach to an old topic, Eugen Varzić creates his own reality with a completely fresh body of (self) portraits. A portrait (French portrait, from Latin protrahere – to bring to light, to disclose and from Old French pourtraire – to draw) as one of the oldest artistic motifs, is not just a transfer of physical characteristics, but also a note of an individual’s identity. In the manner of the American precisionists, Varzić experienced a qualitative upswing with a series of portraits often labeled as hyperrealism. Searching for his own development path, taking tradition as a starting point and advantage, he followed the work of foreign authors such as S. Velasco, A. Garcia Lopez and J. Butler. The rationality of form and shape, the legality of technique, in the intuitive need to create, Varzić perfected in Madrid at the seminar of Eloy Morales. The latest cycle of paintings expresses the artist’s need to establish new emotional levels with people from his immediate vicinity. A turning point in the author’s creativity occurred with the creation of a paradigmatic portrait called Nedjelja, a portrait of his wife Romana’s grandmother. The recent art cycle gets its significant beginning here – a trivial scene is deeply emotionally and connotatively elevated. Life, all the changes and constants of a time are written on the face of a nonna. Deposits that life carries. It is a work that exists, among other affirmed works of young artists, within the new realism on the domestic art scene. There are no limits, reality is multidimensional, constantly changing and completely fragmentary. Varzić’s portraiture is not aimed at satisfying the formal artistic nature of the work, his painting is a visual sensation that seeks curious views. By mirroring his own personality in the self-portrait 45, Eugen Varzić reflects on the loss of the center, personal or collective, on the refraction of reality that is no longer illusory only on the canvas. Self-awareness is not fractal as much as a reflection of one’s own character.

The facial expression is the main focus of a series of works in which each individual “I” is blamed like daylight, and the question of the identity and status of the individual remains unknown. Naturalistically painted faces are visual extensions of the close, family or friendly relationship between artist and model. The author’s fascination with the painting is not a set of allusive physiognomies in close-up, personalities line up before us, roles line up. The understanding and interdependence of self and the Other in these works is the trigger of stories, states and beliefs. A gallery of differences and similarities at the same time. Completely artistically honest, portraits are records of life. Records of faces that remember everything. Committed and energetic, the artist’s brush manipulates flatness, provokes illusion. With photography as a template, Varzić completely dematerializes the painting canvas. With tonal modeling, he emphasizes incarnate (the color of the human skin), playing with an unrestrained structural line in the representation of hair and different materials. With veristic precision, Varzić provokes a sensory provocation that takes place on the stage of the painter’s canvas. The narrative is hidden, dependent on the observer. About the one who is more than an observer. Which gets involved face to face, eye to eye.

There are no unique truths in art. Seeing the world is conditioned by our (lack of) knowledge, and imitating reality is only one symbolic form of representation. The madness of hyperproduction of images leads to the question of the aesthetics not only of the digital space but also of the aesthetics of contemporary art in general. Despite the fact that contemporary art is mostly oriented towards conceptual works, some authors are returning to the traditional understanding of art as a skill, they are returning to figurative art, paying homage to the old masters of past centuries. Varzić’s painting is not a representation of a new media image, his intention is to create a new, unique given. The constant of the creation process is the true constant of his life. Art is cause and effect. In those moments, thoughts and ideas are directed in a special way, they are directed to the uncertain sweetness of always new challenges.

Martinela Dragicevic

Slikar Eugen Varzić posebna je osobenost hrvatske likovne scene,  jer je svoj likovni razvoj, odnosno istraživački put usmjerio  u drugačijem pravcu. Radi se o izgrađivanju likovnosti suvremenog hrvatskog slikara, na baštini  kurentnih likovnih stremljena američkog slikarstva XX. stoljeća.  Američko slikarstvo oblikovalo se na temelju heterogene likovne baštine nastale na valovima useljavanja.[1]  Suvremeno američko slikarstvo uvijek je bilo usmjereno ka naturalizmu i realizmu likovnog prikaza. Tendencija stvaranja u duhu literalstičkog duha  trompe-l’oeila, nasljanjajući se na američku filozofsku struju – pragmatizma, stalna je konstanta tijekom cijelog XX. stoljeća u američkog umjetnosti.[2] Ovdje se ne radi o opsjeni – magičnoj potrebi reprodukciji stvarnosti, već o davanju novih značenja osobama i predmetima koji nas okružuju u svojoj svakodnevnici.

Isto tako slikar Varzić prati suvremena likovna promišljanja figuralnog slikarstva koja su prikazani na velikoj izložbi Encounters New  Art From Old, održane  2000. godine u The National Gallery u Londonu.[3] Prije svega njegov opus jest dijalog suvremenog slikarstva i ugledanje na tradiciju velikih majstora. Odbacivanja mita kako je moderna umjetnost posve odcjepljena od tradicije, odnosno kako likovna baštine se ne odražava u suvremenosti, Varziću je bila više nego jasna.  Pa zar Rubens nije kopirao Leonardovu Bitku kod Anghiaria i Caravggiovo Polaganje u grob ili rani Manet Titiana, Tintoretta, Velázqueza i Delacroixa. On ne poseže za klasičnim uzorima  poput Malcoma Moreleya Alfreda Leslia, Luciana Freuda, Richarda Hamiltona, Davida Hockneya ili Paule Rego. Njegova empatija za stare majstore je drugačija – oni nisu medij stvaranja suvremene inačice stare kompozicije, on  u njima prije svega gleda velike uzore, visoke produhovljenosti. On nije Encounters, on je sljedbenik spiritualne esencije umjetničkog pregnuća, koji otvoreno pokazuje na potrebu likovne izgradnje umjetnika na tradiciji velikih majstora i podizanja likovne tehnike kako bi se omogućila što veća likovna sloboda. Likovna sloboda postoji samo onda kada umjetnik suvereno vlada svojom likovnošću u misaonom procesu umjetničkog stvaranja.

U  ovoj neizvjesnoj svakodnevnici, iščekivanju novih vremena, nestanku svakih skrupula pitamo se da li postoje ljudi koji su u stanju da se promjene. Ciničkim osmjehom spominjemo riječ obraćenje. Možda je u ljudskoj povijesti postojalo samo jedno «obraćenje» koje je proizvelo stubokom mjenjanje duhovnih vrednota i pisanja novih stranica povijesti. Umjetničko „obraćenje“, je nešto posve drugačije obraćenje materijalne naravi, ali  razvojem  duhovnosti umjetnik uistinu doživljava svoje „obraćenje“, a novi likovni ciklus je njegova ispovijest. Slikar Varzić koji je svojim snažnim porivom poštovanja materije, slikarske tradicije, ali i traženja novih puteva posvema poštuje nauk sv. Ivana Damaščanskog (676 – 749.):“ (…)Ne častim materiju, već tvorca materije, koji je postao materijom zbog mene i udostojao se prebivati u materiji i izvesti moje spasenje posredstvom materije. Neću prestati stoga štovati materiju po kojoj mi je došlo spasenje. Ali je nipošto neću štovati kao Boga!  (…) Ne vrijeđaj, dakle, materiju: ona ne zaslužuje prezir, jer ništa od onoga što je Bog stvorio nije za preziranje”.[4] Tin Ujević je u jednom svom eseju o umjetnosti napisao: „Umjetnost je, ipak opozicija redu bez duše, i opozicije bez reda (…)“.

Varzić poštujući red i materiju kao rijetko koji hrvatski umjetnik je ostvario zapeženi sakralni ciklus, ali je u svom slikarstvu veliki kritičar suvremenih društvenih kretanja i impulzivno svojim slikarstvom  upućuje kritiku društva u kojem živi. Njegovo slikarstvo nije slikarstvo koje samo sebi razlogom, nego vid slikarskog  otpora društva u krizi. Nije poput ranije spomenutog Alfreda Leslia koji svojim Caravaggesknim realizmom  monumentalnog genere slikarstva  oslikava američko „demokratsko“ iskustvo, bliži je slikarstvu Chucka Closa i dramatiziranih predimenzioniranih portreta.[5]

Svakako, Varzić je u svom likovnom putu nosio razne naplavine likovnog obrazovanja, stremljenja i traženja i okvirno američki usmjerna struja figuralnog slikarstva smisleno ga je dovela do posljednjeg likovnog ciklusa začetog  2016. godine. Sve je započelo s portretom None (Nedjelja), koja se pojavila u ranijem likovnom ciklusu Noir.  No, lik None – osobe s kojom je umjetnik imao posebni emotivan odnos otvorio mu je posve nove svjetove i  poveo ga na nove likovne puteve, vodeći ga poput arkanđela Rafaela malenog Tobiju ka slobodi stvaranja. Budućnost će pokazati, kako je Varzićeva Nona (Nedjelja) postala umjetnina koja je uvela hrvatsko suvremeno slikarstvo u novi poduhvat likovnog traženja na obzorju opće europske likovne scene. Mudrost  žene koja je preživjela sve promjene Istre tijekom XX. stoljeća, od fašizma koji je gušio hrvatstvo istarske zemlje, komunizma koji je ušao u Istru kroz hrvatsku oslobodilačku borbu za slobodu i ugušivši sveopći katolički humanizam kroz umorstvo blaženog Bulešića. Odlazak bez povratka, dolazak novih ljudi, sve je to Nona – personifikacija hrvatske Istre promatrala, naslonjena na perilicu na kojoj se nalazi obična kuhinjska krpa. To je krpa kojom se pokriva prošlost; taložine od  grdosleskog natpisa,  Razvoda istarskog,  kugâ, ratovâ, egzodusa – kodovi su to sječanja  „Svete  Mudrosti“. Nona jest Sveta Mudrost – Sveta Sofija istarske zemlje. Slikar Varzić je poput Grant Wooda sa svojom slikom American Gothic, po pitanju motiva stvorio kultnu sliku stanja hrvatskog identiteta Istre i povijesne bremenitosti XX. stoljeća – kroz oči žene, čuvarice ognjišta i tradicije. To nije umorna Europa iz ranijeg ciklusa, to je kultni lik žene interpretirane suvremenim likovnim jezikom, gdje je banalnost prizora podignuta na tron svremenske duhovnosti.

Ova slika je ključ za razmjevanje novog likovnog ciklusa, koji je nastao kao plod likovnog stasanja kroz likovnu radionicu Eloya Moralesa u Španjolskoj i stalnim samostalnim nadograđivanjem likovnih sposobnosti i promišljanjem trenutka u kojem se živi i stvara.  Za mnoge je figuralno slikarstvo određeni elitizam, ponekad avangarda, ali i izolacija od glavnih struja u suvremenoj umjetnosti.[6] Hrvatska suvremena likovna scena predugo je bila izolirana od brojnih likovnih krugova unutar zapadnoeuropske likovne ekumene, koliko god se hvalili svojom otvorenošću likovnim strujanjima u bivšem sustavu tijekom druge polovice XX. stoljeća. Varzićev likovni put  određeno je svjedočenje traženja ponovnih veza s suvremnom europskom likovnom avangardom i to u krugovima  najkvalitetnijih likovnih umjetnika.

Prije svega, Varzićeva dva pejzaža:  Odlazak  grad  i  Običan dan, rađeni su u maniri američkih precizionista, naslonjenih na kubistički realizam. Ovaj američki likovni pravac  bavi se urbanim temama, reducirajući i analizirajući formu monumentaliziranih posve uobičajenih likovnih tema. Pripadnici su ovog likovnog pravca: Charles Sheeler, Charles Demuth, Morton Schamberg, Preston Dickinson i Rolston Crawford.[7]Poput pop art – umjetnika, precisionisti  su dvadesetih i tridesetih godina XX. stoljeća slikali skromne objekte, ulice, kao metafore moralnog integriteta. Linija realne skromosti, poniznosti i likovne iskrenosti trajna je konstanta Varzićeva slikarstva. Kroz likovne teme iz svakidašnjeg života možemo razaznati samopronalaženje na tragu armeričkog slikarstva Andrew Wyetha, koji je iznimnom vještinom prikazivao svijet oko sebe, u osamljenosti i izloiranosti, stvarajući svojevrsnu poetiku samoće.[8] Slikar Andrew Wyeth, slikar koji je bio u harmoniji sa svijetom koji ga okružuje, s cjelovitom vizijom svijeta,[9] blizak je po svojem istraživačkom nervu slikaru Varziću.  Isto tako: Šumski mačevi ,Običan dan, Contia, Babina Greda, Slika za Romanu/Materada, slike su statične atmosfere i unutrašnje poetike koje nalazimo kod brojnih američkih likovnih škola, poput pripadnika Keitha Jacobshagena i njegovih smirenih pejzaža.[10] Američko pejzažno slikarstvo u svojoj lirici samoće Ferdinada Lungrena  ili Georgia O’Keeffea podsvjesno je usvojeno u Varzićevoj tišini slike.[11] Smirujuća tišina, bez jeke, uvodi nas u jedan drugačiji svijet bez zbunjujućih osjetila, kolorita.Slikarstvo Andrewa Wyetha moglo se ponajviše povezivati s ranijim likovnim ciklusima u Varzićevu slikarstvu, svojom zagasitom gamom i stilizacijom pejzaža.[12]

Eugen Varzić naslonjen je na tradiciju američkog slikarstva i kroz  američku likovnu dinastiju Wyeth možemo pronaći misao vodilju kroz koju svoju likovnost izgrađuje Varzić. Prije radi se tu o Andrewu sinu  Jamesu Wyethu (1946.), koji je svoju karijeru likovnog umjetnika započeo s posthumnim portetom Johana F. Kennedya (1967.), nastalim procesom temeljitim izučavanjem J.F.K.[13]

Valja ponoviti, kako Eugen Varzić spada u skupinu slikara koji nadilaze nacionalne granice i koji je najbliži fenomenu  novog realizma  i novog portretizma u američkoj umjetnosti poslije II. svjetskog rata, kako smo već istaknuli čiji je najznačajiniji predstavnik Jamie Wyeth. Oboje su imale i ratno iskustvo. Jedan u Vijetnamskom, a drugi u Domovinskom ratu.  Sličnost u karakteru, umjetničkom nervu je više nego očita. Varzić je umjetnik koji osluškuje svijet uokolo sebe, te želi zabilježiti stvari koje ga interisiraju, jer je za njega  slikarstvo način bilježenje svijeta –  to je njegov svijet. Slikarstvo je njegov osobni dnevnik. Slikar Jamie Wyeth u jednom od intervjua je jasno rekao kako je slikanje njegovo razmišljanje, kao što je pijanistu sviranje. Umjetnik po njemu treba svaki dan se  vježbati, boriti se s prazninom platna. Isto tako za slikara Varzića možemo reći da je slikar istine, poput teze koje je iznio Romain Rolland u svom romanu o Michelangelu. „Znanost istine i umjetnost istine, postojala je uvijek i postojati će uvijek!“.[14]

Isto tako Eugen Varzić kao i Jamie Wyeth trajno je u traženju novih likovnih tehnika, te okrenut eksperimentu. Eugenov autoportet 45 spada u same vrhunce tog žanra u suvremnog hrvatskoj likovnoj umjetnosti.  Poput Jamiea Wyetha koji u portretu Andya Worhola iz 1976. I Johna F. Kennedya iz 1967. postavio američko slikarstvo na istaknuto mjesto portetistike kao slikarskog odgovora na društvena pitanja, Varzić je iznimnom likovnom tehnikom u svom portretu prikazao zabrinutost za sutrašnjicu. On svojim pogledom sugerira promatraču da su mnoge stvari još nerješene, mnogi procesi nacionalne katarze neokončane. Slikarski autoportreti od razdoblja renesanse, baroka do naših dana su najzanimljivi, jer umjetnik kritički promatra sebe u odrazu zbiljnosti.

Umjetnikova supruga Romana, uz njegovu djecu i poznanike stalni su modeli i bivaju transformirani u nove imaginarne svijetove. Zasigurno,  dva portreta  Romane kao Romane orans (Prizivanje) i  Romane  femme fatal  (Zima) tvore zaanimljiv diptih u njegovom novom ciklusu. Romana očiju uprtih u nebo, sklopljenih ruku u maniri suvremenog armensko-američkog slikara Tigrana Tsitoghdzyana, gdje se ističe realnost majke i supruge u surovoj realnosti, poput svoje none je odraz istarske Hrvatice – čuvarice ognjišta. Ova pop-artovska impostacija je nadogradnja suvremene sakralnosti nasljeđujući velike majstore ranih razdoblja koji su stvarali novu ikonografiju. Poput antipoda fatalna Romana biva promatračicom svijeta kojemu je izložena svaki dan, od korumpiranog državnog aparata, borbe za obitelj, te u prividu glamura biva kraljicom svoga svjeta. Bravuroznom likovnom tehnikom, na kojoj mu mnogi zavide, slikar Varzić je postavio nove kanone postomderne ikonografije svojim totalima  portreta.

Serija portreta (Joel, Ljeto, Vatra, Blizanci, Lisboa) svoje obitelji, poznanika, sugeriraju trajno zanimanje u procesu propitivanja intime, jer umjetnik u razgovoru s modelom može ostvariti kreativni suodnos. Isto tako američki slikar Jamie Wyeth prolazio je isti proces šezdesetih godina XX. stoljeća slikajući svoga oca Andrewa. Za Varzića slikarstvo je njegov dnevnik, stalna borba s bjelilom platna i traženje novih izazova, koji su otvorili jedno novo poglavlje hrvatskog suvremenog slikarstva, u svojem posve odvojenom tijeku koje ga je odvelo u američke likovne tijekove samostalnim razvojem koje je nosio u sebi, te okruženim prijateljima i upijajući najbolja europska iskustva postigao slikarsku tehniku dostojnu starih majstora.

Umjetnički čin uvijek je akt velikodušnosti, tako je i Varzićev svijet jedan hortus conclusus iskrenog poimanja umjetnosti kao mjesta čuvanja likovnih vrijednosti na suvremen način u duhu suvremenog lirskog figuralnog realizma. Jednom u budućnosti bilo bi zanimljivo vidjeti zajedničku izložbu portreta: Tigrana Tsitoghdzyana, Eloya Moralesa i Eugena Varzića. Ovo pitanje za budućnost jest i okvir u kojem slikar Eugen Varzić stvara, platformu istraživanju poetike ljudskog lika, kao vječne enigmne, trajnog izazova koje bilježi sa lica obitelji, poznaninka i svojih junaka – „Junaka našeg doba“ kako je posao ruski književnik  M. J. Lermontov.

Vinicije B.Lupis

[1] Jules David Prown, American Painting From Its Beginnings to the the Armory Show, Skira/Rizzoli, Geneva, 1987, 7 – 9.

[2] Barbara Rose, American Painting The Twentieth Century, Skira/Rizzoli, Geneva, 1986., 7.

[3] Richard Morphet, Katalog izložbe: Encounters New Art From Old, London, 2000., 1 – 336.

[4] Contra imaginum calumniatores, I, 16, izd. Kotter, str. 89-90

[5] Barbara Rose, o.c., 136 – 138.

[6] Briony Fer, David Batchelor, Paul Wood, Realism, Rationalism, Surrealism, Yale University Press, New Haven&London,  1993, 1.

[7] Barbara Rose, o.c., 34.

[8] Barbara Rose, o.c., 48 – 49.

[9] E.P. Richardson, Painting in America From 1502 to the present, Thomas Y. Crowell Company, New York, 1965, 420.

[10] Skupina autora (Jules David Prown, Nancy K. Anderson, William Cronon, Brian W. Dippie, Martha A. Sandweiss, Susan Prendergast Schoelwe, Howard R. Lamar), Discovered Lands Invented Pasts, Yale University Press, New Haven & London, 1992, 190 – 192.

[11] Joan Carpenter Troccoli, Painters and the American West, Yale University Press, Singaopre, 2003.187 – 188.

[12][12] Betsy James Wyeth, Wyeth at Kuerners,  Press of A. Colish, Inc., Mt. Vernon, New York, 1976, 1- 324.

[13]J.  Duff,  An American Vision: Three Generations of Wyeth Art. Boston, 1987, : Little Brown & Company,  57.

[14] Romain Rolland, Michelangelo, Zagreb, 1940., 17.