Lena Franolić

Artist statement


Within the scope of my artwork, I’m concerned with the permeation of the sensory with the intangible and the spiritual, as well as with interaction at the level of artist – (active) observer. I’m striving to achieve this through research of biomorphic sculptural forms in my graduation thesis Forms of Clothing as Body Extensions and during their interaction with the audience throughout the work p_32… play, in a loop that never ends in which I try to evoke the notion of autopoesis and feedback loop systems of information through an atmospheric exhibition with an interactive projection.

Uncovering the same principle during a recent painting endeavor in the manner of abstract expressionism (Transpersonal Landscapes) in which, through the technique of automatism and publication of concurrent paintings on social networks, I explore the relationship between the Self and the collective (sub)conscious, as well as the technological impact on the subject’s sensory experience of the environment. The meaning here is ambivalent and multilayered, it changes from moment to moment, depending on the perception of reality of artist and/or observer.

The theme of transience imbues all the works, manifesting through the processes of growth and decay – embodiment and dematerialization. This is most pronounced in the work Vibration of Stillness, displayed through the fragile dispersion and dissolution of form, contrasted with forms in which a continuous tension prevails, reverberating with a certain vitality and potency.

In pursuit of balance, the works are always based on the forms that precede them.

Lena Franolić

 

Take a closer look at Lena’s portfolio

Biography

Lena Franolić was born in Munich in 1982. She graduated at The School of Applied Arts – direction: sculptural design in 2000 mentored by prof. Damir Šegota. During her education she participated in school group exhibitions in galleries Filodramatica and Kortil in Rijeka.

That same year, she enrolled in the study of fashion design at the Faculty of Textile Technology in Zagreb where she graduated with work on topic of Forms of Clothing as Body Extensions mentored by prof. Ante Tonči Vladislavić in 2007.

From 2004 to 2006, she published analytical essays in the art section of Re – a journal of art and culture based in Rijeka, in which she worked as editor of visual identity.

She lead a creative workshop in The Home for the Elderly Mali Kartec from November 2005 to April 2006.

In March 2008, she introduced herself to the Decumanus Gallery in Krk, participating in the project D6, which featured young artists based in Krk & Rijeka during a one-month program. There she presented herself in collaboration with Marin Dlaka through an atmospheric and interactive exhibition that includes sculpture (Lena Franolić), photography and audio (Marin Dlaka), graphics (Lena Franolić) and an interactive application written in Processing (Lena Franolić) called p_32… play, in a loop that never ends. She also showed the same application at a new media event Creative Clusters at ULUPUH Gallery in Zagreb in April 2008.

Along with Igor Gržetić and Marin Dlaka, she is one of the founders of [KUL •], or Art & Culture Laboratory, an association founded to explore and promote different segments of contemporary art. As part of [KUL •], together with her aforementioned colleagues, she organized group exhibitions of the activist art festival Prvomajski Incubator, group exhibitions [KUL •] emerging and D2 which promoted works of young artists, as well as The Festival of Experimental Film and Video which was in addition to Krk also organized at Art Cinema Croatia in Rijeka in 2012. Within the association, she worked throughout the period of its activity from 2009 to 2013, mainly through curating exhibitions, graphic design of catalogues and posters, and correspondence with foreign exhibitors and authors.

In 2009, at [KUL •] emerging, she exhibited a series of sculptures made of consolidated wood called Vibration of Stillness, and wooden reliefs called Fragments of Time. In 2010, she participated in the exhibition 8 + 8 + 8 / for the city at the Decumanus Gallery in Krk with a computer graphic and a sculptural paper object – a necklace Work Mantra, and at Islander Artists for Haiti exhibition, a charity event at the Decumanus Gallery, Krk / Rector’s Palace Gallery, Rab / gallery Lapidarium, Omišalj with the textile sculpture The Guardian of Aspiration, and at the 2010 exhibition [KUL •] emerging in gallery DAGMAR in Krk as well as with sculptures and art jewelry during the exhibition Angelic Jewelry at The Museum Night in Gallery of Sv. Nicholas in Malinska. In 2014, she graphically edited a collection of fairy tales Up to the Knees in Gold, Up to the Elbows in Silver and The Flying Rug by eskadrila publishing from Zagreb. In 2017, at the Decumanus Gallery in Krk, she exhibited the project Transpersonal Landscapes, which included paintings and drawings created through research of techniques of automatism. Several works from the exhibition were later presented in 2017 during the charity exhibition Artists of the Island Krk for Teo, at gallery Šilo in Šilo and in 2018 at group exhibitions K.O.Z.M.O.G.O.N.I.J.E in gallery PIKTO in Zagreb, and at Overview of Artistic Creation of the Island of Krk in Gallery of St. Nicolas in Malinska.

List of exhibitions:

Group exhibitions

  • 2008 D6 – p_32 … play, in a loop that never ends (sculpture, graphics, interactive application/projection), Decumanus Gallery, Krk
  • 2008 Creative Clusters – p_32 … play, in a loop that never ends (interactive application), ULUPUH Gallery in collaboration with Multimedia Institute (MI2), Zagreb
  • 2009 KUL •] emerging, Vibration of Stillness (sculpture), Fragments of Time (sculpture), gallery DAGMAR, Krk
  • 2010 8 + 8 + 8 / for the city, Work Mantra (sculpture, graphics), Decumanus Gallery, Krk
  • 2010 Islander Artists for Haiti, The Guardian of Aspiration (sculpture), Decumanus Gallery, Krk / Rector’s Palace Gallery, Rab / gallery Lapidarium, Omišalj
  • 2010 [KUL •] emerging, Firmament (sculpture), Root (sculpture), (art jewelry), gallery DAGMAR, Krk
  • 2012 Museum Night – Angelic Jewelry, (art jewelry), Gallery of St. Nicolas, Malinska
  • 2017 Artists of the Island Krk for Teo, Essentials (drawing), gallery Šilo, Šilo
  • 2018 K.O.Z.M.O.G.O.N.I.J.E., Bindu (painting), Essentials (drawing, triptych) gallery PIKTO, Zagreb
  • 2018 Overview of Artistic Creation of the Island of Krk, Essentials (drawing), Breakthrough of Magnesium Rose (painting), Sun Corona (painting), Gallery of St. Nicolas, Malinska

Solo exhibitions