The retrospective exhibition of Dragica Chadez entitled The Story of wood and clay presents a cross-section of the sculptor's more than fifty years of work since the mid-60s. the years marked the Slovenian and wider regional cultural space. The guest exhibition was originally presented at the City Gallery in Ljubljana, but the layout at the Bozidar Jakac Gallery will be even more extensive and detailed than the first layout. It is precisely the Bozidar Jakac gallery that houses the largest collection of her works from different periods, in total more than 270 statues.
The exhibition, which will be accompanied by an extensive catalogue in the edition of the City Gallery of Ljubljana, will delve into the analysis of different periods of her oeuvre, focus on the continuities and breaks that have taken place over the years of her work, and draw out the central highlights of her artistic expressiveness and message. Already in the mid-60s. years after attending the International Symposium of sculptors Forma viva in Kostanjevica na Krki, Dragica Chadez chose wood as the material essence of her creation, and in the past twenty years also clay. The exhibition will focus on different periods of her rich career, in which from the very beginning, in the spirit of high modernism, she devoted herself and approached spatial sculpture, which does not focus on the classical centered mass, but introduces a holistic sculptural ambience. In her work, Dragica Chadez was associated with various traditions of modernism, which do not necessarily relate to the ever-appearing Eurocentric classicism in the history of art, but are inspired by the traditions of cultures outside this art-dominant milieu, which in their original form never really stepped on the pedestal of high art.
Dragica Chadez (1940) graduated from the Ljubljana Academy of Fine Arts (1963), after which she also completed her postgraduate studies with Professor Boris Kalin (1965). In 1982 she became the first professor of sculpture in Slovenia and in 1989 she was hired as a full professor at the Faculty of Education in Ljubljana. She works mainly in wood, but more recently also in clay or ceramics, while throughout her creative path she has also worked in bronze, plaster and concrete. He has been creating and exhibiting independently since 1963. During the period 1968-1972, she was part of the informal group neoconstructivists (1968-1972), which produced geometric and minimalist felt art. In 1986, she was awarded the prize of the Preseren fund for the landmark sculptural cycle of association with Pompeii. Mrs. Chadez lives and works in Ljubljana.
Curators: Sarival Sosic (MGML), Miha Colner (GBJ).
Photo By Tadej Abram
Retrospektivna razstava Dragice Čadež z naslovom Zgodba o lesu in glini predstavlja presek več kot petdesetletnega opusa kiparke, ki je od sredine 60. let dodobra zaznamovala slovenski in širši regionalni kulturni prostor. Gostujoča razstava je bila izvorno predstavljena v Mestni galeriji v Ljubljani, vendar bo postavitev v Galeriji Božidar Jakac še obsežnejša in podrobnejša od prve postavitve. Ravno Galerija Božidar Jakac namreč hrani največjo zbirko njenih del iz različnih obdobij, skupaj več kot 270 kipov.
Razstava, ki jo bo pospremil obsežen katalog v izdaji Mestne galerije Ljubljana, se bo poglobila v analizo različnih obdobij njenega opusa, se osredotočila na kontinuitete in prelome, ki so se odvili v letih delovanja, in izluščila osrednje poudarke njene likovne izraznosti in sporočilnosti. Že v sredini 60. let, po tem ko se je udeležila Mednarodnega simpozija kiparjev Forma viva v Kostanjevici na Krki, je Dragica Čadež za materialno bistvo svojega ustvarjanja izbrala predvsem les, v preteklih dvajsetih letih pa tudi glino. Razstava se bo tako osredotočila na različna obdobja njene bogate kariere, v kateri se je od samega začetka v duhu visokega modernizma posvečala in približevala prostorski skulpturi, ki se ne osredotoča na klasično osrediščeno gmoto, pač pa uvaja celosten kiparski ambient. V svojem delovanju se je Dragica Čadež navezovala na različne tradicije modernizma, ki se ne navezujejo nujno na v zgodovini umetnosti vedno znova pojavljajoči se evropocentrični klasicizem, ampak se zgledujejo pri tradicijah kultur izven tega umetnostno dominantnega miljeja, ki v svoji izvorni obliki niso nikdar zares stopile na piedestal visoke umetnosti.
Dragica Čadež (1940) je diplomirala na ljubljanski Akademiji za likovno (1963), nakar je pri profesorju Borisu Kalinu dokončala tudi podiplomski študij (1965). Leta 1982 je postala prva profesorica kiparstva v Sloveniji in se je leta 1989 zaposlila kot redna profesorica na Pedagoški fakulteti v Ljubljani. Ustvarja predvsem v lesu, v zadnjem času pa tudi v glini oziroma keramiki, medtem ko je skozi svojo ustvarjalno pot delala tudi v bronu, mavcu in betonu. Samostojno ustvarja in razstavlja od leta 1963. V obdobju 1968-1972 je bila del neformalne skupine neokonstruktivisti (1968-1972), ki je ustvarjala geometrično in minimalistično občuteno umetnost. Leta 1986 je prejela Nagrado Prešernovega sklada za prelomni kiparski cikel Asociacije na Pompeje. Dragica Čadež živi in deluje v Ljubljani.
Kustosa: Sarival Sosič (MGML), Miha Colner (GBJ).
Foto: Tadej Abram
