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But unlike the story of Christ’s Passion, there is little overt drama in Lapuh’s works. Although there are more than 14 paintings in this exhibition, one thinks of the stations of the cross - the mood is that elegiac. Noel Fine Art is a long, narrow gallery, and the way the paintings march down the wall on either side has something purposeful about it. The fact that the artist caresses his figures sends a strong message of compassion. His painting style is very soft and transparent each brush stroke is clearly visible and seems to have been laid down like a gentle wave.
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Likewise with Lapuh, the figures that embody hope for humanity seem to emerge out of, and be a part of, the barren, rocky landscape that surrounds them.īut unlike Magritte, Lapuh isn’t interested in trompe l’oeil. A painting of his might be rendered so that all the elements in it seem to be made of the same stony substance. Magritte is famous for practicing a sort of visual sleight of hand, for making the universe improbable. It is another strong European influence, that of Magritte, the Belgian Surrealist. These wall paintings have a simplicity and directness that can also be found in Lapuh’s paintings along with hints of the sweetness that make Fra Angelico a beloved painter.Ī third force enters the mix. In 1436, Fra Angelico embarked on painting about 50 frescoes for the cells of the friars of his Dominican Order in Florence. Fra Angelico (1387-1455) seems to be the most pertinent to the works here because of their extreme simplicity. The Zagreb catalogue brings up the Italian Renaissance painters Fra Angelico and Piero della Francesca. It results in something original because it is tempered by another unexpected historical Italian strain.
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But Lapuh’s taking over of DeChirico’s metaphysical idiom is indirect. DeChirico’s style is a sort of proto-Surrealism, and it fits the mood of unease that now inhabits the former Yugoslavia very well. He set them in uninhabited cities in which the buildings cast long shadows. In 1917, during World War I, DeChirico began to paint mannequin figures with blank faces, sometimes in togas, to suggest a glorious past. The seated angel, oil on canvas, 1993-1994 These faces are the strongest indication that Lapuh has immersed himself in DeChirico’s metaphysical period. When a regular face occasionally appears, though, it is like an evolutionary leap and therefore startling. Many of the figures in his paintings have faces with abstract grooves in them, and fencing masks come easily to mind. And it is Italy that appears to furnish him with much of his artistic inspiration. Lapuh was born in 1951 in Split, which is on the Dalmatian coast across the Adriatic Sea from Italy. But though the characters that star in Lapuh’s canvases might look placid, it is soon evident that they are well armored. It is also very quiet painting, which is a disconcerting trait in art made where a notoriously brutal war is ongoing. It is an art of nuances and subtle modulation. Each person has the pleasure and the challenge of adding up the parts and discovering what Lapuh’s art is about. This is his first exhibition in the United States, and the only available writing on him is a short essay in a catalogue from a Zagreb gallery. “AT Noel Fine Art here viewers become acquainted with a Croatian painter, Zeljko Lapuh, who goes by his last name only. Photo Credit: MUO-031899: Željko Lapuh I: fotografijaįrom The New York Times, June 12, 1994, Section 14WC,