SLIKA V VRTU - VRT V SLIKI
Le redko se zgodi, da ta miren in umetniški ustvarjalnosti namenjen vrt sredi mesta doživi slikarsko intervencijo. Resda je sam po sebi v prvi vrsti izziv kiparskim projektom in ambientalnim postavitvam, toda v kontekstu narave nedvomno nudi možnost tudi sliki. Vesna Čadež, ena vidnejših (poleg J. Zakonjšek in K. Sudec) slikark mlade generacije, je ena tistih, ki je uspela prepoznati ta tihi klic. Prepoznala ga je kot odkrita privrženka vseh starih dobrih vrednot likovne umetnosti - slikarstva, navdiha narave in pokrajine ter barv - za katere pa verjame, da jih lahko prepleta na napreden način. Avtoričin poseg v vrt dokaj kompleksno nadgrajuje njeno dosedanje delo, saj se neposredno sooča z naravo, ki je sicer eno osrednjih raziskovalnih polj njenega slikarstva. Prek motiva narave se lahko intenzivno ukvarja s problematiko vmesnega polja med konceptom človekovega realnega okolja in mentalnega prostora. Narava ji namreč prav z dvojnim značajem omogoča takšno slikarsko razmišljanje, saj je po eni strani naša vidna resničnost, po drugi pa je v svoji
barvitosti, spremenljivosti in atmosferičnosti dovolj abstraktna, da udisočasenmeditativen pobeg vase in v svet sublimnega (kar lahko opazimo še pri slikarkah, kot so K. Sudec, J. Zakonjšek, M. Štirn, K. Čerče, M. Skrinar, M. Zlokarnik, M. Sever, A. Jerčič).
Slike Vesne Čadež so običajno podložene z nepreglednimi plastmi, ki kot tančice transparentnih barvnih slojev mečejo na podobo vtis meglic. Te ustvarjajo pridih vzvišenih, brezčasnih arkadijskih pokrajin, kjer se tu in tam kot privid ali senca prikazuje človeška postava. Ali bolje, njen odmev, sled oddaljene človekove navzočnosti. Tu so pomembne predvsem barve, ki jih avtorica rada preliva, kot se preliva barva tudi v naravi, v zraku, v svetlobi, subtilno, mehkobno, vodeno - odtod tudi zanimanje za akvarel.
Kot raziskovalka pa Vesna Čadež svoje slikarske izkušnje v zadnjem času išče tudi v alternativnih praksah. Zlasti intenzivno jih prenaša v medij videa, saj ji omogoča udejanjanje elementov, ki jih slikarstvo ne; predvsem princip sinhronega prehajanja in spreminjanja, ki ga omogoča prav gibljiva slika. Še vedno pa se tudi do te podobe vede kot slikarka. Zanimajo jo slikovno polje, struktura, kontrasti med abstrahiranimi nejasnimi podobami in ostrimi, določnimi podobami. In tako kot avtorica obravnava sliko v kontekstu klasičnega prijema ali v polju videa, tako jo zdaj “preizkuša” v razširjenem prostoru, v polju vrta. Vanj jo seveda umešča v prilagojeni obliki. Uporabi predvsem posnetke svojih slik, saj na tej stopnji ni pomembna slika kot original, temveč predvsem njena navzočnost kot posnetek dane naslikane podobe v “novem” okolju oziroma v okolju iz katerega motivno pravzaprav izhaja. Se pravi, da se po eni strani s tem projektom podoba vrača nazaj, v svoj pravi izvirnik. V novem kontekstu lahko ta dela razumemo tudi kot slike v sliki, naravo v naravi. Razpostavljene spominjajo na okna s pogledom na skrivnostne vrtove s pridihom skorajda “alamutovske” rajske lepote. Tu se na nek način vzpostavlja tudi zanimivo vprašanje odnosa med lepoto narave in lepoto slike kot umetniškega dela. V tem kontekstu pa se posledično lahko dotaknemo celo primerjave med umetnostjo in naravo, ki je na primer po mnenju D. W. Crawforda prav zaradi nekakšne skupne lepote zelo možna in legitimna. Zaradi postavitve v naravo so avtoričine slike oplemenitene prav s tisto iskano zračnostjo in atmosferičnsotjo, ki jo je tematizirala že v videu. Njene slike pa, nekako paradoksalno, po drugi strani hkrati pridobijo značaj zamrznjenih pogledov, spominov, mimo katerih teče zunanji/notranji čas. In kje, v njem ali zunaj njega, stojimo mi? Je potemtakem slika vrt, ali je vrt slika? Je pred nami lepota slike ali slika lepote? Vprašanja ostajajo, ne da bi pričakovala, zdaj ali kdaj pozneje, dokončen odgovor.
Barbara Sterle Vurnik

PAINTING IN THE GARDEN - GARDEN IN THE PAINTING
It rarely happens that a quiet garden in the centre of the city, dedicated to art, sees a painter’s intervention. Despite the fact that it primarily offers a challenge to sculpting and ambient layout, it definitely provides numerous opportunities to the medium of painting. Vesna Čadež, one of the more prominent painters of the younger generation (besides Zakonjšek and Sudec), is one of those who was able to recognise this discrete call. She recognised it while remaining true to all the old good values of fine art - painting, inspiration drawn from nature and landscape, and colour - which she believes she can progressively intertwine. The artist’s intervention in the garden builds upon her previous work in a complex way, as she directly confronts nature, which is one of the main fields of research in her painting. Through the motif of nature, she can engage the issue
of the intermediate field between the concept of a human real environment and mental space. Nature’s double character permits such artistic thinking, as it presents visible reality, while at the same time being abstract enough with its colourfulness, variation and atmospheric character, to provide an opportunity for a meditative escape into oneself and the world of the sublime (the same applies to several other female painters, such as K. Sudec, J. Zakonjšek, M. Štirn, K. Čerče, M. Skrinar, M. Zlokarnik, M. Sever, A. Jerčič).
Čadež’s paintings usually have multiple layers, resembling colourful transparent veils which cast mists over the image. They create a sense of elevated timeless Arcadian landscapes where, here and there, a human figure appears as an illusion or shadow or, as it were, as its echo, a trace of a distant human presence. In all this, colour effect has a particularly major role, because the artist likes to play with iridescent colours, like they do in nature, air and light, subtly, gently, guided - this is where her interest working in acrylic stems from.
Lately, Vesna Čadež has examined her experience as a painter and also sought it in alternative practices. She has been transferring them particularly in the medium of video, as it enables her to employ elements that painting does not support, particularly the principle of the synchronised traversals and changes which the moving image offers. However, she take a painterly approach to this image as well - she is interested in the visual field, structure, and the contrasts between abstract blurry images and sharp, definite ones.
Just as the artist explored painting in the classical context or in the field of video, she is now examining it in its broader space, in the garden. Naturally, she employs an adapted version of paintings, mostly photographs of them, as in this context it is not the painting as an original which is important, but particularly its presence in the form of a recording of a painted image in a “new” environment, which is actually the environment from which it originates. So in some respect this project takes the image back to its true original. In a new context the works can be understood as paintings within paintings, nature within nature. When they are exhibited they resemble windows overlooking mysterious gardens, with a touch of an almost paradisal beauty. This also poses an interesting question about the relationship between the beauty of nature and the beauty of paintings works of art. The wider framework of this issue consequently leads even to a comparison of art and nature, which according to D. W. Crawford is possible and legitimate due to their having a certain shared beauty. The context of nature imbues the painting with an airiness and atmospheric quality, which the artist has already thematised in video, while becoming frozen gazes, memories which past which exterior/interior time flows. And where, inside or outside, are we? Is the painting the garden, or the garden the painting? Are we seeing the beauty of the painting, or the painting of beauty? The questions remain without ever expecting a definite answer.

Barbara Sterle Vurnik

VESNA ČADEŽ

Rojena leta 1976 v Ljubljani. Leta 2004 je diplomirala iz slikarstva na Akademiji za likovno umetnost in oblikovanje v
Ljubljani pri prof. Zmagu Jeraju. Od leta 2004 do 2006 je obiskovala tudi magistrski študij slikarstva (mentorica: prof. Metka
Krašovec) ter videa (mentor: prof. Srečo Dragan) na ljubljanski ALUO.
Ustvarja v polju slikarstva in videa. Razstavljala je na več skupinskih in samostojnih razstavah ter festivalih.
Born in 1976 in Ljubljana. Graduated in painting from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design (AFAD) in 2004 under Prof
Zmago Jeraj. From 2004 to 2006 postgraduate study of painting (under Prof Metka Krašovec) and video (under Prof Srečo
Dragan) at AFAD.
Vesna Čadež paints and makes videos. She has exhibited at several group and solo exhibitions.

Kontakt / Contact:
Vesna Čadež
gsm: 031 736 972
vesna.cadez@gmail.com

Skupinske razstave
2005 - Maribor, Razstavni salon Rotovž, 11. mednarodni festival računalniških umetnosti
- Ljubljana, Bežigrajska galerija 2, 2.Video festival Narave
2006 - Dunaj, Slovenski znanstveni inštitut, razstava Generacija XX, razstava podiplomskih študentk slikarstva na ljubljanski ALU
- Ribnica, Miklova hiša, razstava Generacija XX (razstava ženskih ustvarjalk, podiplomskih študentk slikarstva na ALU)
2007 - Ljubljana, 4. Video festival Narave, Bežigrajska galerija 2
- Rim, Italija, Muzej Vittoriano, mednarodna razstava „L’ Uomo del Mediterraneo“ (Človek Mediterana)
- Ljubljana, Križanke in Ljubljanski grad, udeležba in razstava na 10. Mednarodni likovni koloniji v okviru Festivala Ljubljana
- Benetke, San Servolo, izbor videov “Od digitalnega do analognega” v projektu Beneški, atmosferičen, v slovenskem paviljonu
2008 - Maribor, Kulturni inkubator, Video dela mladih ustvarjalcev. Video večer ob kulturnem prazniku 8. februarja
- Ljubljana, Bežigrajska galerija 2, 5. video festival Narave
- Lendava, Galerija lendavskega gradu, Majski salon 2008
Samostojne razstave
2003 - Maribor, Galerija Media Nox
2004 - Ljubljana, Galerija Hest35
2005 - Koper, Galerija Zapor
2006 - Ljubljana, Galerija Kresija (razstava Podobe-vidnosti-mediji)
2007 - Ljubljana, Galerija Srečišče, Hostel Celica, razstava Prehojeni mostovi
Štipendije, rezidence
- v letih od 2004-2006: štipendistka Mestne občine Ljubljana za podiplomski študij na Akademiji za likovno umetnost in oblikovanje v
Ljubljani
- avgust 2007: umetniška rezidenca v slovenskem ateljeju v Cité des Arts v Parizu
Group exhibitions
2005 - Maribor, Exhibition Salon Rotovž, 11th International Festival of Computer Art
- Ljubljana, Bežigrad Gallery 2, 2nd Video Festival Natures
2006 - Vienna, Slovenian Science Institute, Generation XX, exhibition of work by postgraduate students at AFAD
- Ribnica, Miklova hiša, Generation XX (exhibition of work by female postgraduate students at AFAD)
2007 - Ljubljana, Bežigrad Gallery 2, 4th Video Festival Natures
- Rome, Italy, Vittoriano Museum, international exhibition L’ Uomo del Mediterraneo
- Ljubljana, Križanke and Ljubljana Castle, participation at 10th International Fine Arts Colony and exhibition within
Festival Ljubljana
- Venice, San Servolo, included in the selection of videos From Digital to Analogue included in the project Venetian,
Atmospheric in the Slovenian Pavilion
2008 - Maribor, Culture Incubator, Video works by young artists. Video night commemorating the culture holiday on 8 February
- Ljubljana, Bežigrad Gallery 2, 5th Video Festival Natures
- Lendava, Gallery at the Lendava Castle, May Salon 2008
Solo exhibitions
2003 - Maribor, Media Nox Gallery
2004 - Ljubljana, Hest35 Gallery
2005 - Koper, Zapor Gallery
2006 - Ljubljana, Kresija Gallery (exhibition Podobe-Vidnosti-Mediji - ‘Images-Visuals-Media’)
2007 - Ljubljana, Srečišče Gallery at the Celica Hostel, exhibition Prehojeni mostovi (‘Bridges Crossed’)
Grants, residences
- 2004-2006: scholarship by the City of Ljubljana for post-graduate study at the Academy of Fine Art and Design in Ljubljana
- August 2007: art residence in the Slovenian studio at Cité des Arts in Paris

Izdajatelj in organizator / Publisher and organization of the exhibition: Društvo likovnih umetnikov Ljubljana / Ljubljana Fine Artists Society,
Zanj / On its behalf: Jožef Vrščaj; Besedilo / Text: Barbara Sterle Vurnik, Lektura in prevod v angleščino / Lecture and english translation:
U.T.A. Prevajanje; Oblikovanje vabila in zloženke / Design: Dušan Muc; Priprava in tisk / DTP and printed by: Mat-Format d.o.o.;
Naklada / Print run: 300 izvodov / Copies; Ljubljana, Slovenija, 2008

Razstavo je podprl Oddelek za kulturo Mestne občine Ljubljana / The exhibition has been supported by the City of Ljubljana