the line – 1996
text ana razuk (english revision felipe schilling) . grafic project with ligia pedra . 2010
china ink on paper . 2009
Many, innumerable, infinite worlds…
Ana Kesselring*
To get into the works of art made by Ana Razuk is like undertaking a long journey. But one can not think in any sort of linear narrative trip in ordered events, neither in an epic voyage, but rather in a trip to Alice´s land, the wonderland or, maybe, the trip to the gardens of forking paths*. Like it happens in the short story written by Borges, the task involves stepping into a labyrinth. Once you are in it, nothing is guaranteed anymore. It is not worth looking for any sense or directions which could indicate de exits or which could give us any clues about where we are. On the other hand, amusement is also provided: gladness and surprising which is not frightening or causes any kind of pain..As in a wonder dream the work of Ana invites you for a walk. On the road you’ll find plenty of pleasure, colour and joy. It works like a counterbalance to the hard real world, the gray metropolitan world. It is pure fiction which develops itself in the most abundant and profuse way, or in a sort of abundance worthy to be compared to the worlds created by Picasso. In any way, if one wants to brig her near to anybody else, by the joy and Mediterranean colors, by the joie de vivre, by her enchantments, I could say that she is a close relative to Matisse. Her work approaches to those of thepainter of pleasure, in their spirit. We could also think of the times Matisse spent in Morocco, in his love to the western patterns. In Ana´s works the existence of those patterns is strongly shown, as well as, her abilities and patience to draw them. Those patterns have the capacity to dissolve the solid pre-existing world; at the same time they invite one to keep an eye on the details and the fragmentation. When I look closer to the drawings ant paintings made by her and I see the squares which spin-off in thousands of other ones, and those, by their time, to million of other ones, I have to remember Borges again, once these are worlds in worlds, inside worlds. However it would be nonsense to explain this strange kind of time frame in such an intellectual way. It is just a fairy tale, a delight, or Ana’s personal version of Tales from the Arabian Nights Any try of rationalization one could do would be an effort against the greatest qualities of her work. No coherence should be search in it, but delight. One does not have to explain it, just enjoy himself with it. Which of the door should be opened? One leads to a cat dived into leaves; another, to a pretty girl; another one, to a woman with a long neck, maybe a native of a Thai tribe? The unity of Ana’s work is to be found in its discontinuity, in its generous diversity Her patience and dedication in weaving different worlds and times turns out in a sort of exercise of learning without any effort, but just by a singular lightness. One could easily apply to Ana Razuk’s art what Calvino says concerning a poem by Lucrécio : ” it is the sort of work in which the knowledge of the world changes itself into the dissolution of the density of the world, in the perception of what is infinitively tiny, movable and light”**. * Jorge Luis Borges, “The garden of the forking paths”. ** Ítalo Calvino, “Six Memos for the Next Millennium”
*Ana Kesselring is an artist and an art researcher.
Translated by Chico Fleck and Ernesto Lima