Under the Free Sun: Duša Jesih, Rear Window
Are you at home due to the current situation? Are you bored or don’t know what to do with yourself because of stress and self-isolation? Would you like to try your hand at and keep busy with an art activity? Would you like to keep your children busy? The artist Duša Jesih has prepared a series of colouring sheets, basic compositions for paintings-in-progress during the time of self-isolation. It is part of the preparations for the upcoming group exhibition at the City Art Gallery Ljubljana entitled Free Sun, which will open on 11 June.
From the provided colouring sheets, you can choose one or more templates, print them or copy them on any format. You will need a piece of paper, canvass or cardboard and black paint (a pencil, a marker, acrylic paint…). You can also do the colouring on your computer. Colour – fill in – the geometrical composition as you like. The number of entered works is unlimited. The black-and-white composition illustrates the oppositions between the internal and the external, the play of shadows that appear on the facades of residential buildings and the balance between light and darkness.
The cycle of paintings-in-progress is titled Rear Window. As usual, the artist tackled the first part of the process of creating an art work by sketching on her computer. She thus created a series of templates that serve as a basis. Sometimes, the templates serve as sketches for paintings and sometimes she develops those “sketches” to the point where they result in a series of prints or a GIF animation. This time, she reworked them into bare line compositions in the form of colouring sheets.
With its architectural character and in its graphic language, the networking in the form of facades, windows, balconies and tower blocks, which is currently very familiar to most people around the world – the scenes of “socialising”, singing, toasting and neighbourly relations in the #stayathome time, appeals to symbolic connection, both in general and in the form of support for the cultural spheres, without which we cannot live.
By sending your colouring sheet to Duša Jesih’s e-mail dusa.jesih@gmail.com or via messenger, you can cooperate with us “hand in hand” in creating a contribution to Free Sun. In the form of a video animation, your contributions will be presented at the exhibition itself. The artist will choose three of the received sheets, which she will then paint. The winner will receive the painting based on their sheet.
Roll up your sleeves, colour and co-create with the artist.