Maljevic Maja: November 2012

“I don't know what a painting is; who knows what sets off even the desire to paint? It might be things, thoughts, a memory, sensations, which have nothing to do directly with painting itself. They can come from anything and anywhere.” – Philip Guston

The term ex nihilo, most commonly used in association with concepts of creation of the universe, is a Latin phrase meaning “out of nothing.” In theological and metaphysical contexts, the term comes up against opposing theories of creation ex materia (from some pre-existent, eternal matter, or chaos) and ex deo (from the being of God). Outside of these frameworks, the term is often used to describe anything – a topic of conversation, a solution to a problem – that appears to have sprung from nothing, or that seems to have no referent or antecedent, coming into existence independently. In this sense, the term is appropriate to the paintings and drawings of Maja Maljević.

Often, the temptation in a viewer of abstract work is to look for clues that can unlock the ‘meaning’ of the painting, or point to the experiences or aspects of the world that served as the source of inspiration. An inclination toward narrative leads us, as viewers, to search for objects and concepts to which we can relate. While we may be comfortable with abstract painting’s rejection of representation, and we understand that an appreciation of surface and materiality are essential in understanding abstract painting as a field, we struggle to avoid analysing shapes and lines that appear in a painting in terms of their similarity to things recognisable in this world. Perhaps if we can correctly recognise and connect a number of elements within a painting, we will have access to the intellectual process that brought the painting into being. We will know then what the artist is trying to say, what she thinks about the world.

However, in the case of Maljević’s work, these attempts are quickly frustrated because the work, ultimately, doesn’t ‘mean’ anything at all. This is not to say that the work does not have content that in some way derives from the world. The old adage, ‘no man is an island’, applies to Maljević as much to any other person and the experiences she has had, the memories she draws on, the dreams that haunt or inspire her inform particular impressions of the world she lives in. However, she is a unique filter of this material, and expression of it does not rely on intellectual processes. Rather, her act of creation is experiential and emotive, governed by aesthetic concerns and a sense of balance and proportion that is unique to her.

Although the universe that Maljević creates appears referentially disconnected from the world she inhabits, there exist common threads between the two. Investigations of the notion of beauty are carried out through faithfulness to Golden ratio proportions and balance of line and colour, for instance. The importance of symmetry, in Darwinian terms, is also revealed as a factor – what role does a search for perfection play in the production of work? Evolution itself is evident in the progression of Maljević’s work over time as new configurations are born in each body of work, fed by previous imagery, and some shapes and structures are carried over from one body to the next while others disappear.

Hence, although we think we may recognise a television test pattern, a chess board, an aeroplane or a snow man, following conventional associations with these things would ultimately lead nowhere. Maljević is not concerned that the shapes or drips or blocks of colour might resemble things in the world outside the painting – the work is a world in and of itself, appearing to have sprung up ex nihilo.

Jacqueline Nurse

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