Maja Maljevic does not abhor a vacuum
'Bold, intense and chaotically colourful' are just some words to describe Maja Maljevic's paintings.
Known for works in which every inch of canvas is filled with detail, the artist’s new exhibition, Horror Vacui, places the emphasis on her working methods.
“The size of the studio is, and always has been, a factor of where I live and what space is available to me in my place of residence,” said Maljevic.
“Until recently, the nature of the studio space has not consciously affected the way I think about my work, but it has always had an impact on the way in which I process and produce it.”
In the studio, a 3m x 4m room in her Westdene home, the artist’s paintings loom over her, “competing for her attention”.
“This creates a… claustrophobic but charged atmosphere that I am not only comfortable with, but inspired by,” she said.
Maljevic described her use of colour as “instinctive” and said it was something she had always responded to and understood.
“I enjoy the way [colours] can blend and clash together, and how a harmony can be created out of the chaos… My work is not made to blend in to the background,” she said.
“Every colour, line and mark is necessary for the work and to what each work is trying to say.”
The exhibition title, which borrows from the Latin phrase meaning “Nature abhors a vacuum”, is an appropriate description of this body of work, but does it mean that Maljevic abhors a vacuum?
“I do not abhor a vacuum. Blank spaces are invitations to fill. Studios need to be filled with work and canvases to paint,” she said.
“It is the vacuum around a thing that differentiates it from others and makes it into a thing, rather than a part of the emptiness.”
While studio size has a direct influence on Maljevic’s work, indirectly influencing her is life in Joburg.
“[It] finds its way into my paintings through the pace and energy of the city, rather than through… direct depiction. The busy-ness of Johannesburg and the emotional feeling one gets from living here certainly [is] an indirect influence,” she said.
Horror Vacui is at David Krut Projects, 142 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood until 21 June.
Details: 011 447 0627; www.davidkrutprojects.com
