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Tina Konec and Maess Anand: Drawing as an Organism
08.06.2019 19:00

Drawing as an Organism
Tina Konec, Maess Anand
KiBela / MMC KIBLA
10 May–8 June 2019
exhibition opening on Friday, 10 May 2019, at 7 p. m.

You are cordially invited to attend the opening of Drawing as an Organism, an exhibition by Tina Konec (Slovenia) and Maess Anand (Poland), on Friday, 10 May 2019, at 7 p. m.
in KiBela Gallery at the MMC KIBLA in Maribor.

The exhibition is conceived as a conversation between two drawing artists who perceive the drawing as a living organism and the subject of scientific and emotional exploration, which they develop to the point of visual culmination. On display is an oeuvre of drawings created in a traditional, analog way, while still retaining singularity of execution.

Both artists work in the same medium, and both engage in the depiction of the microcosm of cells, or crystals. Maess Anand portrays the micro-realm of man fighting death, while the works of Tina Konec represent the contrast of various micro-lives within the natural world. Maess's drawings of malignant tumors are highly expressive, she uses full-toned hues of red, which warn about the potential reality of danger already from a distance. Tina Konec's drawings, on the other hand, are monochromatic, and thereby softer; in terms of execution they create the impression of floating in space.

The exhibiton Drawing as an Organism features the works of two young award-winning drawing artists, who have knowingly chosen a path of "stubborn" persistence in developing and upgrading the traditional drawing. Maess Anand employs modern technology to add to the spatial effect of her works and enable visual access to otherwise invisible microfibers, whereas Tina Konec uses a photographic template to create a minimalist work of art in the traditional line drawing technique.

Maess's work calls attention to the markedly segregational view on life, which is essentially different for sick and healthy people. In the case of cancer patients, this relationship is even more complex, mostly due to the still vague terminology of treatment and consequently the cure rate. The artist's goal is a Cartesian one: it is an attempt at approaching the understanding of an otherwise scary reality by means of applying the power of artistic representation, an attempt at transgressing the earthly by means of an interdisciplinary adaptation of reality.

The works of Tina Konec are marked, on one side, by her enthusiasm over cosmic creation and her sublime realization of the fragmented nature, and thus of the endless possibilities of the shapes of universe. Her creative starting point is represented by forms which may well be versatile (they are reminiscent of tree trunks or widespread treetops), however, it is only beyond their formal delineation (which is achieved by means of the abstract white, or dark drawing base, without frames, freed from any significance) that they truly come alive. Form becomes tangible, so to speak; enhanced with meditative intuition, it altogether establishes an additional social, in most cases intimate, dimension.

Nina Jeza, Artists&Poor's

Tina Konec (1992) graduated in painting from the Academy of Fine Art and Design at the University of Ljubljana in 2015, under the mentorship of Professor Zmago Lenárdič. She is finishing her post-graduate studies in painting at the same institution, under Tugo Šušnik. Since 2017, her works have been shown in several solo and group exhibitions home and abroad, including exhibitions at the Bežigrad Gallery 1, the Ravnikar Gallery Space, Insula Gallery, Kvartirna hiša, and the City Gallery Fonticus in Croatia. In 2018, she received the Grand Prix at the 53rd International Painting Ex-Tempore in Piran, as well as the Grand Prix at the 25th International Painting Ex-Tempore in Grožnjan.

Maess Anand is a Polish artist based in Warsaw. She is a MFA graduate from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and recipient of a scholarship at the Escola Superior de Artes e Design in Porto, Portugal. In 2012, Maess was nominated to the Grand Prix at the FID Prize Paris, and in 2013 she was shortlisted to the Strabag International Art Award in Vienna, Austria. Amongst others, she exhibited at the Plumba Contemporary Art, Porto (2006), Residencia Corazón, La Plata, Buenos Aires (2008), Museo di Santa Cecilia in Rome (2010), CCA Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw (2010), Program Gallery in Warsaw (2011), Wroclaw Contemporary Museum (2013), Galeria Miejska Arsenal in Poznan (2013), BWA Sokól in Nowy Sacz (2013), The Starak Family Foundation in Warsaw, Drawing Center in New York (2014), Polish Institute in Budapest (2015), Kasia Michalski Gallery in Warsaw (2015), Trestle Gallery in New York (2016) and at Biennale de la Biche on deserted island near Guadeloupe (2017). Her drawings were presented in Vice Magazine, FUKT Magazine for Contemporary Drawing and The Lancet Oncology. Residencies include: Leipzig International Art Programme (2014) Virginia Center for Creative Arts (2017) and The Corporation of Yaddo (upcoming). With Alex Urso, Maess curated Biennale de La Biche; the smallest biennale in the world held on deserted island near Guadeloupe. She was event reviewed by The Guardian, Hyperallergic, Artnet, Art Review, Observer (2017).

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