INTERSECTIONS
Jelena Bando and Marija Ujević Galetović
Following the dialogue-driven exhibition at the Frank Gallery in Vienna in November 2024, artists Jelena Bando and the late Marija Ujević Galetović (1933 – 2023) come together once again in a shared narrative framework at the Josip Račić Gallery in Zagreb. The two Zagreb-based artists create and open up a space for what the Belgian-French filmmaker and photographer Agnès Varda describes as the landscapes that make up human beings. In her cinematic autobiography “The Beaches of Agnès”, while wandering the beaches of her childhood, Varda remarks: “If we opened people up, we’d find landscapes. If opened me up, we’d find beaches.”
In her new series of oil paintings on canvas, Jelena Bando searches for her “beaches,” deeply personal spaces she discovers in Vlaška Street in Zagreb, where her studio is located. As she traverses the street daily, she views it as an extension of her own creative space. In an effort to portray the true life of the street, its residents, its history, and its present state, Bando begins researching the histories of specific buildings while also getting to know the people and their flats, which represent the most intimate spaces and reflect the individuals with whom she is just beginning to connect. The result of these parallel dialogues is a depiction of interiors intertwined with stories and anecdotes from the lives of their inhabitants in a specific space. The artist blends images of the interiors with the exterior of the building housing the flats, resulting in symbolic elements that form a kind of virtual collage, introducing an element of abstraction. The paintings, grouped under the series title “I don’t look at nature anymore”, reveal multiple layers, as the series aims to emphasise the complexity of both the building and the life of an individual within that space.
The first phase begins from the outside and progresses inward, towards the interior of each flat. After noting the structure of the façades and their forms, Bando focuses on depicting motifs and their symbolism within the private spaces. The paintings are named after the building address numbers 51 / 74 / 99a / 103 / 105, which Bando interprets through both an architectural and symbolic lens.
It is essential to highlight that in all of Jelena Bando’s previous series, her dedication to exploring the themes in each body of work is evident. In this particular series, the artist engages in conversation with the residents of the documented buildings, weaving together the broader history of the housing culture with their personal narratives. The colour combinations she uses in her medium-sized works are not merely the result of observing the chromatic compositions of individual interiors. Instead, the colours take on a psychological dimension, reflecting the tone of voice of the speakers, that is, the building residents.
This theme is also explored through an installation, created on almost six metres of paper painted with ink and pastel. Bando once again incorporates abstract motifs, drawn from the everyday view through her studio window: the Zagreb façades that shift in front of the studio, witnessing the evolving fabric of the city. In her work titled “Fractured Horizons”, Bando continues her exploration of space, creating a new kind of space within the painting that combines elements of the real world with an imagined one.1 By opting for the installation format, Jelena Bando’s distinctive style remains consistent, staying true to her signature approach and, above all, the high quality of execution.
The sculptures of Marija Ujević Galetović emerge amidst Bando’s abstract fragments. Ujević Galetović’s work titled “You Silly Goat”, loaned from a family collection, encapsulates the essence of one of Croatia’s most prominent sculptors, reflecting humour, sculptural precision, and a thoughtful cultural and philosophical message characteristic of her work.
In her distinctive style, Ujević Galetović starts from the principles of classical figurative sculpture, highlighting the monumentality and strength of the depicted figure, following the tradition of her mentor, sculptor Frano Kršinić. However, the process gradually shifts towards refining and polishing the forms, showcasing her unique contemporary approach to sculpture, treating it as a medium for exploring the relationship between form, function, and its role within a particular space and society.
Animalistic-female sculptures become her visual language, conveying messages about the position of women in society, a theme further emphasised by her pioneering role as the first female professor in the Sculpture Department at the Academy in Zagreb. In this particular piece, however, Ujević Galetović transformed a pejorative expression, typically directed exclusively at women, into a work laced with sarcasm, accentuating a woman’s ingenuity and a formed, or in this case, modelled, stance. This fusion of two figures may initially confuse the observer, but Ujević Galetović clearly underscores an element of surprise or a sense of wonder, which is a defining feature of exceptional sculpture. The sculptor has always openly acknowledged that she found more vitality in female bodies because “they encompass many more facets of life than men.”2
The dialogue between the young Zagreb artist and one of the key figures of the Zagreb art scene invites an examination of intertextuality in artistic creation, approaching the artwork as a text that is never fully isolated. According to semiotician Barthes, every text is inherently intertextual, as it contains references to previous texts and elements from the cultural and historical context. Julia Kristeva examines intertextuality as a process of ongoing interaction between texts, where continual transformation or absorption of other texts takes place. Whether consciously or unconsciously, the creator of a new work incorporates motifs and structures from texts or artworks, as well as elements from the repertoire of ideas they encountered during their education and upbringing in a particular milieu.
The often-emphasised territoriality in their work, which affirms the urban nature of their surroundings, the city of Zagreb, forms a bond between the two artists, who find themselves at this intersection: both physical and metaphysical. By positioning the two artists in a dialogue across different media, generations, and approaches, the aim is to create a unique experience that brings the legacy of one of Croatia’s most prolific sculptors to the forefront. The significant imprint she has left on the development of contemporary sculptural expression in Zagreb compels us to continue building upon and recontextualising her work. In direct conversation with Jelena Bando, whose recent work focuses on examining the contemporary reality of Zagreb, Marija Ujević Galetović’s art is articulated within a new context. This alternative perspective on her work reinforces the lasting impact of her artistic and social gesture, which boldly introduces new discourses into the city’s infrastructure, continuously shaping new Agnèsian landscapes.
Jelena Tamindžija Donnart
1 The concept of creating a new space that merges the real and the imaginary, is a recurring theme in Jelena Bando’s previous series: Nice to meet you (2020), Real Space (2018), and The Other (2015).
2 Interview with Marija Ujević Galetović (animated-documentary film: A Cat is Always Female, Martina Meštrović and Tanja Vujasinović, produced by: Kreativni sindikat, 2019)
In her new series of oil paintings on canvas, Jelena Bando searches for her “beaches,” deeply personal spaces she discovers in Vlaška Street in Zagreb, where her studio is located. As she traverses the street daily, she views it as an extension of her own creative space. In an effort to portray the true life of the street, its residents, its history, and its present state, Bando begins researching the histories of specific buildings while also getting to know the people and their flats, which represent the most intimate spaces and reflect the individuals with whom she is just beginning to connect. The result of these parallel dialogues is a depiction of interiors intertwined with stories and anecdotes from the lives of their inhabitants in a specific space. The artist blends images of the interiors with the exterior of the building housing the flats, resulting in symbolic elements that form a kind of virtual collage, introducing an element of abstraction. The paintings, grouped under the series title “I don’t look at nature anymore”, reveal multiple layers, as the series aims to emphasise the complexity of both the building and the life of an individual within that space.
The first phase begins from the outside and progresses inward, towards the interior of each flat. After noting the structure of the façades and their forms, Bando focuses on depicting motifs and their symbolism within the private spaces. The paintings are named after the building address numbers 51 / 74 / 99a / 103 / 105, which Bando interprets through both an architectural and symbolic lens.
It is essential to highlight that in all of Jelena Bando’s previous series, her dedication to exploring the themes in each body of work is evident. In this particular series, the artist engages in conversation with the residents of the documented buildings, weaving together the broader history of the housing culture with their personal narratives. The colour combinations she uses in her medium-sized works are not merely the result of observing the chromatic compositions of individual interiors. Instead, the colours take on a psychological dimension, reflecting the tone of voice of the speakers, that is, the building residents.
This theme is also explored through an installation, created on almost six metres of paper painted with ink and pastel. Bando once again incorporates abstract motifs, drawn from the everyday view through her studio window: the Zagreb façades that shift in front of the studio, witnessing the evolving fabric of the city. In her work titled “Fractured Horizons”, Bando continues her exploration of space, creating a new kind of space within the painting that combines elements of the real world with an imagined one.1 By opting for the installation format, Jelena Bando’s distinctive style remains consistent, staying true to her signature approach and, above all, the high quality of execution.
The sculptures of Marija Ujević Galetović emerge amidst Bando’s abstract fragments. Ujević Galetović’s work titled “You Silly Goat”, loaned from a family collection, encapsulates the essence of one of Croatia’s most prominent sculptors, reflecting humour, sculptural precision, and a thoughtful cultural and philosophical message characteristic of her work.
In her distinctive style, Ujević Galetović starts from the principles of classical figurative sculpture, highlighting the monumentality and strength of the depicted figure, following the tradition of her mentor, sculptor Frano Kršinić. However, the process gradually shifts towards refining and polishing the forms, showcasing her unique contemporary approach to sculpture, treating it as a medium for exploring the relationship between form, function, and its role within a particular space and society.
Animalistic-female sculptures become her visual language, conveying messages about the position of women in society, a theme further emphasised by her pioneering role as the first female professor in the Sculpture Department at the Academy in Zagreb. In this particular piece, however, Ujević Galetović transformed a pejorative expression, typically directed exclusively at women, into a work laced with sarcasm, accentuating a woman’s ingenuity and a formed, or in this case, modelled, stance. This fusion of two figures may initially confuse the observer, but Ujević Galetović clearly underscores an element of surprise or a sense of wonder, which is a defining feature of exceptional sculpture. The sculptor has always openly acknowledged that she found more vitality in female bodies because “they encompass many more facets of life than men.”2
The dialogue between the young Zagreb artist and one of the key figures of the Zagreb art scene invites an examination of intertextuality in artistic creation, approaching the artwork as a text that is never fully isolated. According to semiotician Barthes, every text is inherently intertextual, as it contains references to previous texts and elements from the cultural and historical context. Julia Kristeva examines intertextuality as a process of ongoing interaction between texts, where continual transformation or absorption of other texts takes place. Whether consciously or unconsciously, the creator of a new work incorporates motifs and structures from texts or artworks, as well as elements from the repertoire of ideas they encountered during their education and upbringing in a particular milieu.
The often-emphasised territoriality in their work, which affirms the urban nature of their surroundings, the city of Zagreb, forms a bond between the two artists, who find themselves at this intersection: both physical and metaphysical. By positioning the two artists in a dialogue across different media, generations, and approaches, the aim is to create a unique experience that brings the legacy of one of Croatia’s most prolific sculptors to the forefront. The significant imprint she has left on the development of contemporary sculptural expression in Zagreb compels us to continue building upon and recontextualising her work. In direct conversation with Jelena Bando, whose recent work focuses on examining the contemporary reality of Zagreb, Marija Ujević Galetović’s art is articulated within a new context. This alternative perspective on her work reinforces the lasting impact of her artistic and social gesture, which boldly introduces new discourses into the city’s infrastructure, continuously shaping new Agnèsian landscapes.
Jelena Tamindžija Donnart
1 The concept of creating a new space that merges the real and the imaginary, is a recurring theme in Jelena Bando’s previous series: Nice to meet you (2020), Real Space (2018), and The Other (2015).
2 Interview with Marija Ujević Galetović (animated-documentary film: A Cat is Always Female, Martina Meštrović and Tanja Vujasinović, produced by: Kreativni sindikat, 2019)
