Maja Maljević -
OBJECTS OF DESIRE

07.10.23 – 27.10.23
Solo Exhibition at
Kalashnikovv Gallery,
Johannesburg

EXHIBITION STATEMENT

Within this body of work, Maja Maljević explores the aesthetic nature of desire, and particular features and signifiers within art-making that capture the viewer’s attention. Maljević’s practice moves between different mediums, working mainly with oil paint and ceramics. This is her first solo exhibition working exclusively with acrylics

Her paintings employ an ordered chaos, containing deconstructed yet still recognisable units and markers - lines, cubes, dots, and the most rudimentary of drawn forms. These forms are then placed in a nuanced fashion to spark the viewers curiosity, and portray sublime, emotive scenes, ones of order, minimalism, and even a restrained effort from the artist to walk the line between minimalism and concise abstraction.

The paintings within this body of work are placed in conversation with several ceramic artworks, which Maljević created in collaboration with ceramist Caroline Schulz Vieira. The vessels, fabricated by Vieira, and finished and painted by Maljević, are Maljević’s interrogation between function and form. The painted vessels have no functional openings, or intended uses. Maljević creates these forms purely as a means of generating meaning through the realm of the aesthetic, and through hers, and Vieira’s choices within the creation of these vessels, they become ‘tongue in cheek’ nods to the almost absurdist nature in which art is viewed, as well as valued.

While Maljević acknowledges that the only value inscribed into these artworks stems from her visual creative output, she does not seem to conclude this body of work with an answer to the question she poses around what informs a desirable artwork. Rather, this solo exhibition serves as her exploration of the psychological, and metaphysical nature within art-making.