Portraits in relief
As it is in the life of other people so in the life of cities, each of us leaves a trace. Like an impression in moist clay, this touch of existence can be felt in parks, on the streets, in songs and it gets larger and richer by the day. It is visible only at the end, when every crest and wrinkle get their logical position in the context of the whole.
Tatjana Kostanjevic dedicates her work to those people whose work left a deeper and stronger trace. Her sculptures, set in Opatija, Požega, and Volosko remind us of them by speaking of the secrets of life and the continuous tapestry of history. The sculptures set outdoors let the sun cast their shadows, let the rain bathe them, and the children play around them and touching the cold surface of bronze as the work by hand after the clay and travertine got its true shape in bronze.
The sculptures (for this occasion busts and reliefs), rustic or abated textures, place their documentary character in the background, making us imagine music through the motion of the hands (B. Papandopulo), the calmness of the sight (F. Supilo), or the wink of creation (A. P. Chehov). The portraits are a reflection of personality, and they carry the strength of the spirit and the anxiety of feelings more than it does that of physical similarity. A slightly tilted hat (M. Peić), a firm look behind glasses (J. Glax), a high forehead (H. Von Littrow), spek often of the character of these people because the observations of the artist are almost always deeper and more penetrating than the figure itself.
The busts have an impressionist, restless, and sometimes even an unfinished surface. The shadows finish off their appearance by opening them towards the light. The reliefs are calmer, treated almost as if they were paintings, clear, but with specific individual spacings.
There is a feeling of being natural and polite as well as of some indescribable closeness between us and the people we didn't know, but have experienced through art. We always pause a little when passing by the statues of Tatjana Kostanjevic. We are not surprised by their presence or peace they radiate, we just feel the need to greet them as some good friends and wish them a good day.
Jasna Rodin