Small Soft Form 5. From Soft forms series, 2023

Bosiljka Zirojevic Lecic  

Geometric precision meets tactile softness. This painting explores the tension between structured form and organic fluidity. A deep charcoal grey dominates the composition. It folds like heavy fabric across the canvas. Sharp lines intersect to create a sense of architectural depth. These folds suggest a three-dimensional volume emerging from a flat surface. 
A vivid streak of cerulean blue pierces through the darkness. It provides a sudden electrical contrast. This cool tone defines the edge of the composition. It guides the eye through a landscape of light and shadow. The artist leverages her academic expertise in visual media to investigate the boundary between internal and external space. The result is a minimalist study of abstraction. Each fold feels deliberate. Every shadow adds weight to the visual narrative. The artwork balances the rigidity of geometry with the grace of a soft drape. This interplay creates a meditative atmosphere. The composition concludes with a sharp diagonal edge meeting the saturated blue field.

The dominant material used in the work is textile - indastrial fabric, which in the very process of creation becomes the material that "makes" the image, that is, translates it into an object. By using textile as a building element, the material itself becomes the primary surface of the object - representation, with certain specificities and qualities - softness, elasticity, tactility... The very organization of the space of the image - object is dominated by geometric shapes, which are marked by joints (seams) and which fit together. In some places the joints are subtle and slightly indicated, and in some works they are robust and emphasized - thus creating a relief drawing that emerges from the surface into space. The softness of the material itself, which makes up the image and builds the composition, is contrasted with the hardness of the linear system of the drawing, which appears as a network of lines with certain dynamics. The basic premise of her artistic expression over a long period refers to the need for constant experimentation with the very construct of the painting and the material from which it is made. Within the established system of geometric, reduced forms that make up her artistic language, the surface of the painting and its pictorial value impose themselves as another field of action and possibility for expression. Positioning the material as a building element of the painting provides the opportunity to work and explore within an expanded field, where the characteristic properties of the materials used offer potential for the development of a specific artistic expression. By using unconventional painting substrates like aluminum, plush, PVC material, foil, and woolen fabric, the painting becomes part of a process that translates it into a painting-object, moving beyond the established plastic system of surface organization. This sculptural processing of the painting as an object provides a wide range of new modalities in positioning its visual and spatial effect. At the same time, the selected material, with minimal interventions, forms the basis of a system of geometric images and shapes that are consciously devoid of color. The materials used are most often achromatic, and in such a reduced order of all formal elements, a relationship is established between rhythm as a state and rhythmicity as a process. Her architectural approach of combining and composing reduced forms, which she treats as plates that fit together, gives her the opportunity to analytically connect with the essential elements of the plastic system: surface, line, color, matter, and material. By emphasizing composition and building structure through the relationships of forms, she strives for a compact whole in which all relationships are carefully thought out. 

Industrial wool fabric, sewing, and oil pastel on acrylic-painted canvas. From the Soft forms series. Signed on the back by the artist.