Paintings from Ablon – Marino Baldini

The exhibition and cycle bear the title of the part of Paris where Eugen Varzić spent an extended period with his family in 2005. This particularly fruitful phase of his life gave rise to a very distinctive series, continuing the body of work he has been creating since the 1990s. On this occasion, however, there is a clear shift in themes that give his art a significant personal touch and enhance the expression of techniques that the author has been exploring since his study days.

His pop art approach to embracing and processing the everyday encompasses the urban environment with materials, atmospheres, and impressions that successfully depict the surroundings of daily life. Through constant and thorough work, his perspective on the environment is intricately incorporated into painting, sculpture, and film, with technical prowess, considering different materials but using a classical painting approach with references to monumental, art-historical, and coloristic aspects that draw the attention of keen observers of the city. In this sense, with clear analogies and evocations in the visual memory of significant achievements of modernity, he has created themes that are interpreted as aesthetic and ethical engagement.

Eugen Varzić stands at the forefront of the Rijeka-Istrian art scene with recognizability, skill, and the scope of his work, which exhibits interesting completeness in its creative process and development. Among the especially gifted generation of Poreč, but also within the circle of Istrian artists, he asserts himself with his continuous contributions that, along with his distinctive visual discourse, introduce the idea of visionariness over time. In this sense, one should read the cycle “Ablon” as a turning point, an introspection from which the traditional technique of Eugen’s work, enriched with family themes, contributes portraits whose perception invokes timelessness. The layering of superimposed elements in the painting of faces and the acceptance of thick fillings, with their relief, deeply embedded in a vivid red, draw attention. With this work, the artist has further elevated the level of his recognizability and, through the skillful recycling of the present in his visual language, he stands out as a key figure in contemporary painting beyond city and regional boundaries.