Lora Elezović / Cabinet of Miracles
Solo exhibition
FROM THE PREFACE OF THE EXHIBITION
If we recall the thesis that theatre is a mirror of every society, then in a contemporary context, Lora Elezović's travelling stage reflects a pessimistic note of questioning human action. Cabinet of Miracles (2020) is a work in which different techniques are combined, and which, due to the clarity of the author's vision, forms a harmonious, well-developed and detailed whole with the aim of confronting the observer with an artificially created version of the real world.
Starting from classical techniques such as etching, or lava ink, and in order to draw a parallel with the past and create her own hybrid world, the author assembles a bulky closet-suitcase, visually rich and clear, which functions as a traveling habitat of specially collected animal species divided into three categories: extinct species, endangered species and hybrids. Like a Renaissance researcher, the artist graphically records animals in detail on papers of various sizes and creates hybrid species, questioning the boundary between fiction and reality. A pennant-shrimp, a horse-seahorse, a tropical poisonous frog-hummingbird, or a sheep-rabbit, are just some of the strange combinations. Terrifying visions derived from the author's imagination, in reality, may already exist due to technological progress and scientific research. The observer becomes aware of the absurdity by studying the skill of meticulous strokes in the depictions of these astonishing species, and they evoke an intense sense of reality. Namely, the author does not find any justification in the artificial creation of hybrid species for man's own benefit, and she emphasizes the inappropriateness of such ideas by going back centuries to the past and evoking cabinets of wonders – spaces in which extra-European curiosities were once freely interpreted, moreover, incredible and mysterious discoveries such as objects of other cultures or previously unknown animal species.
In the presentation of the collected data through various media, in addition to the clearly exposed problem of neglecting one of the primary ethical issues – interference in the life of another, the fear of molding the artist is also read. Partially referring to the works of Eduard Kac or Steffen Dam, in the idea of collecting and publicly presenting the formed collection, Lora Elezović looks at the selected issue from different perspectives, trying to approach it as comprehensively as possible in order to confront man with what he deliberately turns his head away from because it does not pose a threat to his existence. Unlike the former cabinets of miracles that delighted with specimens of the unexplored world and the future possibilities of experiencing them in their original "habitat", this contemporary specimen gives a pessimistic vision of the future and testifies to the fascinations of human activity of a different kind, however, with the same goal of leaving a strong impression on the observer on the one hand with a strong message, and on the other, with the technical quality of the performance.
Ivana Završki
BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Lora Elezović was born in 1995 in Toronto, Canada. In 2014, she graduated from the School of Applied Arts and Design in Zagreb and enrolled in the undergraduate university study of Fine Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. In 2017, she enrolled in the graduate university study of Fine Arts, majoring in teaching in the class of Professor Igor Čabraja and co-mentor Professor Ines Krasić, with the main art subject Graphics and Applied Graphics at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. In 2020, she graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts, graduate university study of Fine Arts, Department of Graphic Arts, and obtained the title of Master of Art Education. She has exhibited at three solo exhibitions and about 40 group exhibitions in Croatia and abroad. She has been actively involved in leading art workshops since 2017. She has been a member of the Croatian Association of Artists since 2020.
The exhibition is financed by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia and the City Office for Culture of the City of Zagreb.
The exhibition can be viewed during the working hours of the Gallery (Mon-Fri: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m., 6 p.m. – 8 p.m., Saturdays: 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.) until July 1, 2021.
