Manuela Pauk / Life Under High Pressure
Solo exhibition
FROM THE PREFACE OF THE EXHIBITION
“… Insignificant, like many sea creatures – until the news comes that they are extinct. The hidden beauty of the seabed here from Mauel's hands in two aspects: in the light to perceive those delicate forms, supple, in the splendor of colors; in the dark to show all enemies how dangerous they are with their shimmer. They arm themselves with the poison of the enemy. Psychedelic thieves of the sea. They touch, taste, smell with their tentacles. The gill plume is like a periscope. Fortunately for them – they are not on our menu, so they are irrelevant. However, we could experience them now through an earthy form shaped, painted by human hand as beings more than a gelatinous mass, either tiny or giant (of a species). They sit perfectly in the palm of your hand: with a "foot" for feeding.
We have come out of the sea, we will return to the sea. We invented ashes in civilization. On two feet. Forgot that we started with one, just like this naked man. Hermaphrodite lonely on the seabed. He will survive even when we destroy ourselves. The wavy edges of the creature smile at us."
Jadranka Pintarić
BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Manuela Pauk was born in 1994 in Zagreb and grew up in Šibenik. In 2018, she graduated in Sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. She is a regular member of the art associations HDLU and HULU. Her solo exhibitions are Frogs at the Gallery of St. Chrysogonus. Chrysogonus in Šibenik (with Tara Beata Racz, 2021), Old World at the Nest Gallery in Zagreb (2020), Turtle Cut in the Jozo Kljaković Memorial Collection in Zagreb (2020), Ludic Assault at the Gallery of Matica Hrvatska in Zagreb (2019) and the Gallery of St. Chrysogonus. Chrysogonus in Šibenik (2018) and Muses in the Marija Jurić Zagorka Library in Zagreb (2018). Notable group exhibitions in which she has exhibited are the Biennial of Ceramics in Aveiro, Portugal (2021), the Youth Salon, the exhibition Situation at the Forum Gallery (2020), 90 days lockdown at the Luxelakes Gallery in Chengdu, China (2020), The Order is Our Art at the Kamba Garage in Zagreb (2019), the 40th Split Summer Exhibition. Split Salon (2018), where she was among the five finalists for the Salon Award and the 19th and 21st Summer Olympics. Miniatures (2016 and 2018).
The exhibition was realized with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and Media and the City Office for Culture of the City of Zagreb.
You can see the exhibition in the Šira Gallery during the working hours of the Gallery (Mon-Fri: 9-16 h, 18-20 h, Saturdays: 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.) until 30.05.2022.
