Gallery Decumanus, Krk 2001
How much marvel and color lies in a water-drop, the watercolor artist knows best. Elusive and flaring, smitten by brush, the paintings of Dagmar Franolić compose a world woven by color and light, translucent and fresh.
The depictions of citadels lit by sunlight, or of the foggy winter mornings, carry within themselves a scent of salt and wind from the sea that conquers and initiates us into the vastness and the islands landscapes. The flaring of the vedute, old churches, cisterns and stairs that lead to depths, is attained slowly and inconspicuously, but still with a recognizable spirit of the Mediterranean citadels. Woven by undertones that reach from lightest to darkest and mutually complement each other, the watercolor is affluent, while the composition is calming, at some places aided by drawing.
Unique and sufficient, the paintings carry the symbolism of an abundant tradition of the ground they are inspired by, with the glagolitic script as an authentic mark of this area, that as a strong and irreplaceable visual element embeds into the surfaces and embellishes them by reminding us of the history and traces of time.
The particularity of the vistas is manifesting in the gentle luminescence of the urban ambient that emerges illuminated above the open sea, imposing an almost unreal and light metaphysics and strength of belief as churches in solitude are permeated by, with cypresses and the early Christian symbol of fishes. Fishes are a frequent motive and constitute a modest foundation for the citadels and houses, that as scales surface on them living their own silent life. Altogether, the motives and the background, compose an inseparable whole.
The people are rare on the paintings of Dagmar Franolić, barely noticeable, almost mythical, non-existent. The paintings are a kind of auto-portrait of the artist, that finds her own individual and recognizable art gesture in them identifying herself with the shapes, colors and nature that surrounds her.
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