Wojciech Kilar - Portrait of a Lady
Self-portrait / Cella Anita Celic
Totem / Cella&Wolves
“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.”
John Muir
John Muir
The sole purpose of art is communication between the inner and the outer world. Artists reach within them to extract an idea that is perhaps not immediately visible on the surface. When doing so often are used metaphors, as intermediaries of meaning, sweetening the often bitter pill of exposure. In her sculptured self-portrait the artist Cella (un)folds herself figuratively, presenting to an audience a paper totem pole of self-revelation. The 3D collage is heavily layered with material and meaning building a sort of inner sanctum to be showcased to the world.
Intimate yet very much revelatory, fulfilling its purpose of communication, the pole is consisted of three parts: the wolf, the tree and the raven. This trinity is expanded further with additional symbols contained within the primary totems and then all wrapped in a cloak of whale. As such, the woods are draped in ocean. In search of deeper meaning the artist has come to choose these animals as vessels of human identity. As the wolf contains an additional bird, insect and plants, the central oak part houses the heart, while the top crow is a shell cradling an embedded owl. The entire construct is a mixture of plants and animals inside the gentle giant, the ultimate protective spirit – the whale. An organic subconscious vision filled with elements known to most human cultures delicately and purposefully executed by superimposing paper petals that make up the self-portrait's epidermis, not unlike living tissue cells. The choice of building material makes the pole susceptible to physical interaction symbolising the fragility of our own projections even though the sculpted animals largely represent fauna that are powerful hunters, self-efficient and resourceful. A metaphor within a metaphor. It is faith and not physics that binds this symbiosis together, for believing in myths for long enough turns them true.
Further delving into Cella’s work divulges modern life as both trap and keep of the spirit. The totem pole is meant as a matryoshka doll filled with multiple layers thusly exposing a complex nature of an individual, containing multitudes of meanings and wishes. The fragile paper tower represents hopes, however it is hopes that only ever make us obtain higher ground and not the crude reflection of reality we face in the mirror. The flora and fauna does not emerge from the material but rather grows from it, powerful and vulnerable. The creation ultimately discloses a meditative and meticulous building rhythm which allows the creator time to search for deeper meaning while working, perhaps reminding her that it's a long road to self-discovery and then a long way home.
Lame-O
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