EXHIBITION “FRAGILITY OF FIREFLY” 

Museum of the City of Skopje, 2023

Reviewer: Gordana Velkov

The art of the Macedonian painter Nadja Petrović in her second painting cycle, called “The Fragility of Fireflies”, consists of works in oil on canvas in a large format. They arouse curiosity at first glance and immediately seem to extend their hand and bring you into the story of the reality that seems to be recognizable to you and in which you can find yourself. In this cycle, the young author Nadja Petrović has almost completely built her painting language in strong figurative painting, dominated by man and the human condition as a result of his actions. The contemporary realism of the painting technique and the figuration of its chosen human models is a thorough and studious display of both the act and its violations, accentuated through abstract forms in relation to emotions, identity and environment. The materialistic appearance of the acts of the selected models reminds of a post-production poster of a young man, stylized according to the consumerism of everyday life, with discreet details of high fashion, which are in complete harmony with the postmodern space. The space, which the American literary critic and theorist Fredric Jameson would say reflects the non-existent meaning of the historical story that is lost in a perpetual reality, in which the memories, associated with tradition, no longer exist. The space in the paintings as a state of society and the physicist of the acts in them as a human state, illustrate the culture of modern subjectivism and the social status from which the author does not exclude herself and her personal life. On the contrary, her self-portraits, carefully painted in the contents of the works, indicate her presence not only in reality but also in human philosophy, from which she does not exclude her life. Namely, Nadya builds her life together with her works, indicating her intellectual development through the thought concept “The Fragility of Fireflies”. This concept runs through the various human conditions and situations and again, the context of “The Fragility of Fireflies” as a paradigm and visuality of the acts in the works that pose in the limited moment of the obligations, pleasure or triviality of everyday life, at first glance caused an objective sensation of rather sweet, intoxicating and nostalgic memories, but still, guided by the subjective experiences that illuminate our fireflies on warm summer nights. This modern subjective representation is not an illusion of modernism and its existential and humanistic actions, as claimed by the French philosopher Foucault, on the contrary, it is a reality that is evidenced by the presence of the author in the works. The way in which Nadia manages to convey to us the conceptual episteme of the “Fragility of Fireflies” in human nature and society is precisely through the painted white stripes that trace and illuminate the interspace as a boundary line of the biological and social condition of man, which shines and extinguishes in terms of its action and encirclement, just like the flickering of fireflies in the night. The performance is accompanied by the sounds of the free esoteric jazz music of world-renowned musicians – the brothers Garo and Diran Tavitjan from Macedonia. These are recent compositions by the Tavitjan brothers, composed and arranged in collaboration with famous names from the world jazz scene. In the space filled by the harmonies of the music, together with the contents that follow the order of the titles of Nadja’s works and follow the path of the written slogans on the painted strips, the personal story of the author subtly and poetically appears, especially in the composition “Nadja’s live “. The poetics and emotion created by the fusion of music and painting talent illustrate the imagination of love and passion with which Nadja creates and lives in and outside of art. The “Fragility of Fireflies” paradigm is the diopter between reality and possibilities, between desires and limitations, which helps us to recognize the values through which the path opens up by which we become more sophisticated and a “better person”, morally and ethically, as the Canadian psychologist and cultural creator Jordan Peterson with his 12 rules of life. Although J. Peterson continues in his rules to build the personality, inserting into the will of values the archetypal and religious beliefs as a hereditary order or starting point in the sense of “role model” – a good example, I think, that today’s young man on the way to success should develops awareness and accepts responsibilities at the human level – intellectual, role model or hero.  Or, let me end here with a quote from the American historian Timothy Snyder and his “20 Lessons of the 20th Century”, where in the 12th lesson he says that “Just being cultured is not enough. You should be a citizen, a responsible member of society. This is also a way to be in touch with your surroundings and break down social barriers to understand who you can trust and who you can’t. If you enter the discourse of debunking, then you will really want to know the psychological landscape of your daily life.” This would be a counterpoint to the comfort of the “Fragility of Fireflies” concept. I can’t help but mention that this art-philosophical discourse, which Nadya develops about the life of a modern man with the challenges of the 21st century, is a contemporary trend in realist art, where the English painter Jenny Saville, who creates her paintings in a similar way, also belongs. . With an exceptionally built painting palette of colors, used by Nadia in the solid painting stroke, creates the light and shadow, pierces the act, multiplies and layers the line of its realistic form, stopping the movement in the moment in which it highlights the emotional and social states. of the man. As with the portraits from her first cycle “Behind the skin” (2017), so in the form of the acts from the new cycle “The Fragility of the Fireflies”, Nadja Petrović, as well as Jenny Savilj, are masters who completely control the huge format of fine art. space, both with content and technical skills, as well as with the impressions they create without any painting tricks. They are masters of the classical painting school. The paintings and criticism in the context of the content is clear, as in the works of the Belgian surrealist, symbolist and conceptualist of the last century – René Magritte. The messages that Nadja Petrović’s works send us through the concept of “The Fragility of Fireflies”, be they real or surreal, are clear and readable for those who strive to be better people and overcome the shortcomings in themselves and those around them.