STONE   WOOD   IRON
 
 

Andrej Grošelj returned to Prevalje after graduating at the
Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana, where he had studied sculpture with professor Slavko Tihec. He began his professional career as an art teacher at the local primary  school. Frequent public orders show that the artist has quickly found his public. The Forma viva sculpture - The Look into Space -(iron) was already shaped in 1973. It stands in front of  Prevalje fire brigade station. After  that other works of arts have followed. Let us mention just some of them: the statue of the National Liberation War at Šentanel (1977, wood), Primož Trubar bust at Laško (1979,
bronze), Josip Broz Tito bust at Peč (1980, bronze), Janez
Trdina statue at Stopiče (1981, stone) as well as others.

Public orders and his regular work with children have occupied a great part of his creative life. In spite of this he has dedicated his work to sculptures of smaller dimensions which we would like to introduce here.

Grošelj's opus can be roughly devided into two periods. The first one lasted though the seventies and finished somehow  in the middle of the eighties. The second period has lasted till now. In his latest works we can observe the synthesis of his previous years research.

Grošelj's creation in the seventies and at the beginning of  the eighties is marked by his work on public plastic arts. Throughout his work we can feel a certain duality between  the  modernistic realism and the interference with the contemporary art problems. The first mentioned is especially reflected in public plastic arts with which the artist has been forced to adjust to the taste of those persons placing orders. On the other hand he has chosen
sculptures of room dimensions to be able to confront with
contemporary artistic streams.

His adjustment to research and searching for new solutions  was already anticipated in his academic works. In that time a fresh wind blew through the Slovenian art space that  among others brought the group OHO with. Of course Grošelj  couldn't  remain indifferent to those phenomena, though he neither then nor later joined any of those movements.

Grošelj works in different materials : iron, stone, clay,  bronze and mostly in wood. Through iron and stone Grošelj has arrived to the material in which he has found himself and his art - namely wood. With its specific round shapes wood permits the sculpturer to achieve extra effects. With the statue of the National Liberation War at Šentanel the author for the first time presented a synthesis of his  artistic path. Here he united his endeavours for realistic
shaping with his original artistic solutions. There is a  multi-storied colossus in front of us made of one piece of wood only. The edges are skimmed and stylized faces grow out of them. On the surface there is a widespread framed  geometric ornament. In its primary experience Constantin Brancusi's statue The  Endless Tower from Targu Jiu, Romania, is echoed here. Brancusi's influences can also be found later, specially with a large group of works, titled  Seeds.

What was that Grošelj has lead to wood could only be guessed. One of the possible answers lies doubtless in the  rich Carinthian tradition of wood carving. We can hardly  find great artistic names around here, but what is more important is the experience permitted and conditioned by people and landscape.