PETAR HRANUELLI AND SLAVKO KRUNIĆ – “SRDELINE”

To commemorate an old fish factory that once provided livelihood  for many families living in the wider  area of Banjole, a sculpture of a fish
can, unusual in its humble existence, is erected in a small cove Paltana  in Banjole, the same cove where the  factory once stood. Now, a hotel stands in its place. Factory employed predominantly women, who manually  packed and welded fish cans, mostly  sardines. Considering the nature of  work, they smelled of fish, so the residents affectionately called them “sr deline”. This exhibition is dedicated to  those women, Srdeline, hardworking  women who provided for their families on top of all the extra housework  they had waiting when they got home. Devoted wives, mothers, heroines, lovers, sinners – a beloved and  somehow never quite unsung motif  that inspired many artists since the  dawn of time.  This exhibition will show the works of two splendid artists who lauded  women in their own unique way. Petar Hranuelli immortalised women in stone sculptures, while Slavko Krunić  gave tribute through original installations, appropriate for the very spot  they are exhibited, paintings framed  in cans.  Krunić’s women are beautiful,  sophisticated observers of the world,  partly hidden in the safe aluminium  cover of half-open fish cans. Silently  questioning the world from a safe distance with their big, wide open eyes.  They appear fragile and delicate, and  yet calm and strong, which makes  them so mysterious and interesting in  their diabolical state. From the stylistic point of view, I  wouldn’t label his installations as baroque nor renaissance, as many art  critics often describe them, although  there are similarities, especially the  renaissance composition of portraits  inside the frame. For me, these portraits remind me of portraits of deceased Egyptians from the Faiyum  period (200 – 400 AD), which formed  the foundation of future iconography.  (Ohrid and Serbia had formidable  schools of iconographic painting.)

It’s interesting to notice that the  main objective of iconography is to  recognize causal relationship between theological (dogmatic) and symbolical meaning of the icon, or to  emphasize that its symbolic concept  and understanding comes from its  theological determination.  We see similar process in Krunić’s  paintings, but in such a way that theological aspect is replaced with idea,  or criticism of the world, that is in turn  transformed into symbolical meaning  of the painting itself through portraits  of women and their roles in society.  Instead of using aura or golden em broidery, Krunić frames his characters  and tentatively frees them through  satirical depiction of half-open can  which he uses as an iconic symbol  of imperfect society in which we live. This heritage of artistic ancestors  instinctively smoulders in the author,  and that is where I see that morpho logical beauty and power of his portraits. His artistic authorship combines eastern and western tradition in  an innovative way.