Chandax – Fodele

Natalija Šeruga can be immediately recognised by irregular rectangular canvas sewn onto a metal frame, soft structuring of colour tones and unmistakable skeletons that have often represented the Beings as well as less morbid or vanitas connotations in her art. The painting field is designated by positioning the skeletons (painted in egg tempera); in the last cycle they always feature in pairs, facing each other. She continues by gradual (un)controlled layering or pouring or spilling oil paints onto the canvas. Natalija first used this method of painting while creating the cycle of drawings (2008/2009); she consistently applied it when working on the series of paintings Return to the Native / Vrnitev v domači kraj (2009), while in the latest cycle she mastered sophisticated blending and layering of colour tones to perfection. Lighter segments of skulls and bones gradually protrude through the soft transience of spilled colour patches and contrasts which resemble clouds or colour mist. The skeletons, that have never before been so x-ray-like accurate and sculpturally plastic, are connected and emphasised with the whiteness of the veil that opens up like a screen in the first canvas and gives an impression of a safe cocoon in the infinite universe.

Titles of Natalija Šeruga's works and cycles have always been sensible and have resulted from contemplation of a finished work when it is hanging autonomously in the studio, waiting to be named so it can begin its life. In order to fully understand the painter's creative process, besides the art process, it is necessary to know the literature which she reads while working and which gives wings to her associative manoeuvres. These are reflected both in the later titles of works and series as well as indirectly in the final appearance of the painting. The artist was drawn to the book Mislec Neskončnosti Giordano Bruno, which focuses on the philosopher's perception of the universe. In the book she found the phrase Copula Mundi (a link of the world), and used it as the title of the new series which is dominated by an endless space landscape with skeletons and skulls as prominent features. To counterbalance the elements of the universe, she named the paintings after actual places and cities on Earth. When choosing titles for her works, the artist is attracted not only to the meaning of the words, but also to their sound. Occasionally she bows to the old masters, and that is the case in the discussed painting. In the line of random and not necessarily connected visual associations, the skeleton composition on the misty and cloudy background, which guides the look far into the imagined depth, is a reminiscence of the expressive El Greco's clouds that have accumulated over Toledo or around the heavenly activities. Therefore the painting Chandax – Fodele was named after the birthplace of the late Renaissance painter.

Meta Kordiš, 2011

----------------------------