Galerija Fotografija

Paul Serrada: et in arcadia ego : 2.10. - 3.11.2009

Date Artist Title

maj 3, 2012
Diana Lui, Euro Rotelli
Milan Image Art Fair

mar 30, 2012
Jane Štravs
American Express

jan 25, 2012
Milan Jaros
In the capital of concrete

dec 12, 2011
Eric Emo
Playing on the other side

nov 17, 2011
Uroš Abram
Recreation

okt 5, 2011
Metka Vergnion
Spiritual Garden

avg 30, 2011
Lottie Davis
Memories and Nightmares

jun 13, 2011
Euro Rotelli
The Body The Soul

maj 4, 2011
Walter Carone
Walter Carone 1920 - 1982

apr 6, 2011

Ira photographing

mar 8, 2011

From the Galerija Fotografija Collection

jan 26, 2011
Andrew Testa
The End of Balkania; Kosovo 1999-2009

dec 13, 2010
Marc Riboud
Huang Shan, Capital of Heaven & others

nov 10, 2010
Janez Pukšič
Polaroids

sep 30, 2010
Jane Štravs
Too much, too little

avg 30, 2010

Montenegro in the magic eye of princess Xenia

jun 17, 2010
Jan Saudek
The Divine Comedy

mar 9, 2010
Herman Pivk
PHOTOGRAPHS

jan 12, 2010
Jaka Babnik
We are dogs! 12.1.2010 - 23.2.2010

nov 5, 2009
Tihomir Pinter
Treasure: 5. 11. - 31. 12. 2009

okt 2, 2009
Paul Serrada
et in arcadia ego : 2.10. - 3.11.2009

sep 15, 2009
Žiga Koritnik
The Lake

sep 4, 2009
Angelika Sher
Twilight sleep

jun 16, 2009
Sheila Metzner
Time Line

apr 24, 2009
Roger Ballen
Boarding House

feb 12, 2009
Wilhelm Heiliger
Wilhelm Heiliger

nov 26, 2008
Galerie Remixx, Graz:
Galerie Remixx, Graz: Fine European Vintage Prints and Photo – Collages

okt 15, 2008
Metka Vergnion
Silence

jun 21, 2008

Museum Summer Night

jun 17, 2008
Sarah Moon
Circus

maj 7, 2008
Euro Rotelli
L’Amour et Psychè

apr 14, 2008
Bojan Radovič
Icon

mar 17, 2008
Igor Andjelić
No Room for Memories

feb 6, 2008
Sputnik
At the Border

feb 4, 2008
Aleš Bravničar
Miniverse

nov 23, 2007
Antonio Spinoza
Forever

okt 8, 2007
Diego Andrés Gómez
Diego Andrés Gómez

sep 14, 2007
Nobuyoshi Araki, Ralph Gibson, Nan Goldin, Helmut Newton, Jeanloup Sieff
Masters of Erotic Photography

avg 28, 2007
Yenny Huber
48stunden / Ljubljana, Vienna, Melbourne

jun 7, 2007
Thijs Wolzak
Real Photographs

maj 17, 2007
več avtorjev
City Art

apr 6, 2007
Tomaž Gregorič, IRWIN, Jane Štravs, Trie in Aleksandra Vajd&Hynek Alt
Not-quite/not-right: histories, bodies and concepts in conteporary photography

nov 28, 2006
Bryan Adams
Portfolio

nov 9, 2006
Milorad Krstić
Budapest

okt 9, 2006
Marjan Pfeifer
Nudes and Saltflats

sep 29, 2006
Elliot Erwitt, William Klein, Ralph Gibson, William Wegman, Diane Arbus, Nan Goldin
American Photography Week

jun 29, 2006
Aleksandra Vajd, Hynek Alt
Manwoman Unfinished 2001-2006

maj 11, 2006
Boris Gaberščik
Ordo ab chao

apr 4, 2006
Diana Lui
Trees, Individuals and Sexuality

feb 16, 2006
Boštjan Pucelj
Granny

jan 16, 2006
Archipenko, Chagall, Christo, Cruz-Diez, Girbes, Kandinsky, Matisse, Miró, Picasso, Rauschenberg, Soto, Vasarely, Warhol, Wesselman, Doisneau, Gibson, Gorman, Klein, Modotti, Newton, Riboud, Taylor-Wood, Sieff, Wegman
Art & Photography

nov 24, 2005
Janez Pukšič
Na oko

nov 18, 2005
Robert B. Haas
An Aerial Vision of Africa - Book Presentation

nov 18, 2005
Janez Vlachy
Sakura Yokohama

sep 22, 2005
Stojan Kerbler, Alenka Vidrgar, Dragomir Bole, Dragan Arrigler, Lado Jakša, Božidar Dolenc
Today About Yesterday

avg 30, 2005
Paul Lowe
Brazgotine

jun 22, 2005
Stephan Lupino
The best of Lupino / book presentation

jun 9, 2005
Franci Virant
Havana-Paris (2004-2005)

maj 9, 2005
Edi Šelhaus
60 Years of Victory Against Fascism

apr 14, 2005
več avtorjev
Hasselblad Masters

mar 10, 2005
Stephan Lupino
My Angels

jan 31, 2005
Jane Štravs
Road Movie

nov 26, 2004
Helmut Newton
Original Photographs

nov 19, 2004
Joco Žnidaršič
Lipizzaners

okt 28, 2004
Tomo Jeseničnik
Skeletons

okt 14, 2004
več avtorjev
Vodan

sep 16, 2004
Jože Suhadolnik
NSK 1984-1999

avg 24, 2004
Sibil Slejko
Iz konjske duše

jun 17, 2004
Matjaž Krivic
Silent Spaces

maj 6, 2004
Marko Jamnik
Biomasa

apr 8, 2004
Bojan Brecelj, Saša Petejan
Palestine

mar 31, 2004
več avtorjev
Art of Jack

mar 15, 2004
Neca Falk
Photographs

jan 23, 2004
več avtorjev
Opening Exhibition

forest 9, 2008/09

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Digital print on mesh
130 x 195 cm
Edition 2

et in arcadia ego : 2.10. - 3.11.2009

Exhibition catalogue

... "et in arcadia ego" (even in arcadia i exist) is a Latin phrase that is usually interpreted as a ‘memento mori' (remember you must die) - a reminder of man's mortality. This phrase has come down history as if spoken by Hades personified. Such phrase then is meant to set up an ironic contrast between the shadow of death and the usual idle merriment that the nymphs of ancient Arcadia were thought to embody. Art is an answer of humankind to the shocking discovery of mortality. However, death's claim to rule even Arcadia is challenged by all that art, which survives ourselves at least up to the present time. The duty of art in the face of death, and her ‘raison d'être' (purpose of being), is to represent life, console anxieties, evoke emotions, balance feelings, break isolation, and allow communication about the unutterable.

Paul Serrada's present photographs prove that Arcadia is a poetic ideal that still resonates in the visual arts. Having professionally lived and travelled in many countries, Serrada has the chance to capture eclectically the spirit of places he experiences around the world. Serrada began the present project in 2003, and the images presented herewith are a careful selection amongst dozens of photographs of the

virgin forest Kočevski Rog in southeast Slovenia, which ranks amongst the most forested countries in Europe.

In European tradition the forest is a magical, religious and mythical place. Be it as it may, the forest has another dimension to life that feels ambiguous - soothing and frightening; homely and strange; attractive and repulsive. Finding oneself alone in the forest, one may perceive an amazing array of experiences

- noises, shadows, metaphysical feelings and emotions beyond reason. This creates the profound and overpowering experience of the sublime. Suddenly, the scales change, nature grows enormously, while one grows powerless and becomes insignificant. It is such a feeling of awe that Serrada captures in his photographs. What is more, the absence of man in these forests takes the scale of nature away. The large size of the prints also accentuates the dominating sense of nature.

All of Serrada's forest photography reminds its viewers the everlasting mystery in nature. He brings to the present aspects of the lost Garden of Eden as it was inhabited by the ancient Satyrs and Centaurs and encountered by the medieval Knights in search of the Grail. In one group of photographs he presents actual pictures of thick and dense forests. These photographs are printed on mesh that allows light to seep from the rear, thus dissolving the picture. One feels that on these prints nature is at work and that old

things dying give way to new life. Serrada's art is a reflection on nature's composition - decomposition -- recomposition, which reflects the life - death - rebirth cycle. The energy for the pictures' transformation originates from beneath appearances, the dark premises of the roots, the fallen logs and dead leaves, which is the realm of the underworld. Amidst the picture's darkness one may see the new shoots of nature, light and life emerging.

In another group of photographs Serrada suggests something beyond the romantic view of nature. The observed decomposition is interiorized and taken on the level of new patterns: "nature reconstructed".

Paradoxically, technology facilitates Serrada to reintroduce nature in art, which is something parallel to the act of creation. He digitally manipulates a photograph by recycling an endogenous pattern. The way he reproduces a pattern is not mechanical, but rather organical. There is a variation that follows a formula akin to nature. At first glance the viewer does not notice it. As soon as the repetition is noticed, the viewer begins to feel lost in the woods - the nausic feeling of disorientation. This makes the viewer

wonder where he is and why this picture relates to him, and finally what this picture suggests about his existence. The repetition of patterns also evokes the phenomenon of rebirth. In one instance Serrada builds the repetition diagonally, creating an oblique perspective. In another he arranges the repetition in a spiraling fashion. In either case Serrada's photography is invested with movement, which is life. The repetition that Serrada employs brings to mind fractal asymmetric diffusion, as actually found in nature.

Even though such pictures have been arrived at artificially by means of digital technology, nevertheless, they look organic and natural. Paul Serrada's "et in arcadia ego" is evidence of the fact that art can blend well with psychology, philosophy, and phenomenology. With his photographs Serrada momentarily mimics the role of the Creator, in a way that is too focused to go down as hubris. He takes a picture of a detail of God's creation and suggests that there can be seen the ‘raison d'être' of existence. In this respect Serrada is like Prometheus, offering a secret that nevertheless requires of the viewers their eternal attention.

Ó Megakles Rogakos

Art Historian & ACG art curator *

*The American College of Greece