Colour and the Cube – Emilie Jeffreys
Joined together by a single concept, artists Leonie Leivenzon and Mira Krulic have created new bodies of work for their collaborative show Modern Primaries: CMYK. Independently, their work adheres to the CMYK colour model, by combining and mixing only cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y) and key (black/K). Despite working from the same foundational concept, Leivenzon and Krulic’s artworks are notably distinct from one another in medium and impression.
Together in the shared gallery space, at Rubicon ARI, are a series of small abstract oil paintings by Leonie Leivenzon paired with four large-scale photographic prints by Mira Krulic. The artworks dash in single file, circling the four walls of the gallery space. It appears like a stream of consciousness lost in the field of colour. The stream begins with Krulic’s work titled “All There Is”. It is commanding like a single car headlight in the night; the image explodes from a light purple focal point, reverberating rings of richening purple. The rippling effect of Krulic’s work is complemented by the swirling composition of Leivenzon’s oil paintings. The movement continues with a row of small canvases that digress in similar gradients, all uniquely twisted and textured with oil paints.
The dialogue between the artworks continues around the room. The install follows an instinctive emotional flow, marrying two mediums together through tone and colour. Absent are any hints of figuration or object. Only an indulgent smattering of paint on paint and a transcending abstract aura are illustrated.
Referring to the foundational concept, Leivenzon has strictly mixed only cyan, yellow, magenta and key (black) oil paints together. The colours vary from baby blue to army green to deep passionate magenta, all originating from scrap mixed paint, leftover from previous refined paintings. The materiality of oil paint and colour mixing is the work.
For Krulic, it is the opposite exercise of masking the medium of photography. The camera is the tool, but the work exists in the physical print and how the enhancement of light and colour produce an image that transcends our traditional notion of conventional photography. These works are reminiscent of the colour field painting movement that emerged in the mid-20th century. This influence is translated digitally through Krulic’s photography and colour adjustment editing, and then again trustingly translated by print to create these four echoing gradient abstract portals.
It is appropriate that Modern Primaries: CMYK encompasses a white cube gallery space. The surrounding white walls emulate the white base that the CYMK colour model requires to then subtract wavelengths of light by the addition of colour. There are no visual distractions. The gravitating pull of Krulic’s work anchors the gaze. In contrast, the scattered abstract expressive oil paintings by Leivenzon are formally very different. The gaze rests upon these mixed experiments and exerts the human quality of desperation, trying to find any hint of object or subject or instruction.
Modern Primaries: CMYK is a collaborative exhibition celebrating experimentation. Both artists embody the element of experimentation within their independent practice and together they explore the uncontrollable field of colour. Although notably distinct bodies of work from one another, their connection is through the unravelling of process and experimentation.
Emilie Jeffreys is an arts worker and artist in Naarm / Melbourne
