Category: Nika Zupančič

My life in Leeuwarden moves very fast. There are too many impressions to absorb and not enough time to put them onto the canvas. I will definitely re-visit Fryslan one day. I would need few months to immerse into this landscape which perfectly resonates with my painting.
It’s flat but full of subtle relief and nuances, it’s silent but full of music of winds and birds, it’s so dynamic within its seeming tranquility.
I will continue with my square paintings (2 x 2 metres), paysages attached to the wall. The motifs are different landscapes, real as well as imaginary.
One painting is inspired by Slovenian genius loci.
The newest one is a representation of my immersion in this countryside, an imprint of images of Fryslan genius loci.
The third one is imaginary landscape.
So, all these paintings are characteristic of me, a painter of multiple horizons, as Slovenian critic Andrej Medved labelled me.
I feel an atmosphere here like I would step into my imaginary painting. An absolute painting.
To summarize, three poetic categories which define, according to my vision, this landscape are following one’s :

• bucolique / pastorales ;
• horizons – as a place for endless reflection – « oublie de soi » ;
• the sound of silence – tranquility.

This is also what defines my painting.
I am certain that Fryslan genius loci will be reflected in my further work.

Further info regarding my biography and work you may find through my two websites :
www.nikazupancic.si – work from 2002 till 2017
www.nikazupancic.com – new site with latest work

3rd June 2018 – Aldtsjerk – village by Leeuwarden – Man

The cultivated garden. Thoughts flying  from « Hortus conclusus » to Botticelli’s flower encyclopedia and, of course, to Voltaire’s « il faut cultiver son propre jardin « .

Room in the attic. Two horses passing my window parralelly stepping into the frame  from morning till night, entering it once from the right side, next time from the left. White horse followed by the black one or inversely, always moving parallely towards window plane, fluidly, like in a slow motion movie. Eating grass for all this muscular force, curving their necks into the ground, and then, at the falling of night, their elegant silhouettes, their necks erected towards sky,  move into their stable.

4th June – road  pictures   – Animal

Bucolic paysages. Sheep with a golden line along their back at 20 o’ clock at night remind me on Millet’s  paintings from Muséed’ Orsayin Paris. « Les pastorales ».

6th June – Museum Belvédère Friesland –Art

Tinus van Doorn – northern Chagall – what a « découvert » !

Great modern painting collection. For my eyes so essential, so close to my perception of painting. I feel grounded again. Everything happens on the surface, all depth is encompassed within tiny floating layer of paint. Like Dutch horizons. As if you would cut off a piece of a painted canvas – like conservators and restorers do in order to analyse the painting’s layers with a microscope – and observe stripes of different colors built one upon another, similar to archeological remains, suggesting passing of time and evoking silent symphony of endlessness. Horizons.

7th June 2018 –  Schiermonnikoog island – Locus

The unimaginable experience. Like I would step into my imaginary painting. Absolute painting.

But I got sunburned in the seemingly gentlest sun I remember. Nature touches and strikes unexpectedly, so the sublime image of the unreachable horizons showed its teeth and let painful marks on my skin showing concretely its dark side by imprinting and penetrating my vision and skin. The old Romantic poets and painters have proved their thesis here in life, on the margin of endlessness. I am struck by beauty, and yet,  I feel hidden brutality of nature again.