SI / Včasih se zdi, da se krajina sama odloči, koga bo rodila. Žirovnica je tak kraj – polje misli, iz katerega so vzklili jezik, poezija, znanje. Med njimi Matija Čop, ki je v svoji rojstni hiši pustil nevidne sledi besed. / Danes te sledi osvetljuje umetnost. Barva, linija, odtis – tihi jezik Andreja Jemca, ki prihaja k nam kot sovaščan in svetovljan hkrati. Njegove grafike, slike, keramika in steklo ne govorijo o času, ampak ga prebadajo. Tako kot Čopova misel nekoč, tudi Jemčeva umetnost išče stik z bistvom – z gledalcem, z zgodbo, z občutkom. / V tem srečanju jezika in barve, besede in podobe, preteklosti in sodobnosti, se razpira prostor: ne le za razstavo, temveč za razmislek. O tem, kaj ostaja, ko besede utihnejo – in spregovorijo slike. / V tem istem prostoru, čeprav v drugem času, se danes srečujeta dva izjemna ustvarjalca slovenske kulturne dediščine – Matija Čop in Andrej Jemec. Oba s svojim delom zapuščata sled, ki presega njun čas in vstopa v skupni spomin. / V čast nam je, da se to srečanje odvija pred našimi očmi – v hiši, kjer se je rojeval slovenski jezik in z njim kultura, ki nas še danes oblikuje. — Matjaž Koman
EN / Sometimes it seems that the landscape itself decides who it will give birth to. Žirovnica is such a place – a field of thought from which language, poetry, and knowledge have sprung. Among them Matija Čop, who left invisible traces of words in his birth house. / Today, these traces are illuminated by art. Colour, line, print – the silent language of Andrej Jemec, who comes to us as a fellow countryman and a cosmopolitan at the same time. His prints, paintings, ceramics, and glass do not speak of time, but pierce it. Like Čop's thought in the past, Jemec's art seeks contact with the essence – with the viewer, with a story, with a feeling. / In this meeting of language and colour, word and image, past and present, a space opens up: not only for exhibition, but for reflection. What is left when the words fall silent – and the pictures speak. / In this same space, albeit in a different time, two outstanding creators of Slovenian cultural heritage – Matija Čop and Andrej Jemec – meet today. Both of them are leaving a trace with their work that transcends their time and enters the common memory. / We are honoured that this meeting is taking place in front of our eyes – in the house where the Slovenian language was born and with it the culture that continues to shape us today. — Matjaž Koman
The Language of Colours
trenutek
»Med včeraj in jutri je danes, je ta moj najbolj ‘vroči’ trenutek življenja«. S temi besedami je Andrej Jemec pred časom v kristalno čisti izreki ubesedil razbeljeno jedro svoje ustvarjalnosti. Umetnik stoji med včeraj in jutri ter skuša preroško prevajati pretekli v prihodnji čas. V tem, kar je preživelo svoj včeraj in je sposobno živeti svoj jutri, je namreč najbolj pristen in najgloblji podpis umetnosti. Tak podpis nosijo trije Jemčevi grafični listi, ki so bili leta 1964 na 4. tokijskem mednarodnem grafičnem bienalu (4th Tokyo International Biennial of Prints) nagrajeni z vèliko nagrado (International Grand prix). Tak podpis razodevajo mnogi grafični listi pred in po tem datumu, tak podpis nosijo njegove izbrane slike, njegovi akvareli, njegova barvna stekla in poslikana keramika, ki so tokrat vstavljeni v zgodovinski kontekst Čopove hiše v Žirovnici. In obnovljena starinska kmečka hiša, v kateri veje duh poliglota, jezikoslovca in bibliotekarja Matije Čopa ter poznoantični duh arheološkega najdišča Ajdna, jih z nenavadno naravnostjo sprejema vase. Kot da ni razlike v času, kot da se vse dogaja v neki čudežno sveži sočasnosti visokih vrednot, ki kar trajajo in trajajo in se poleg tega medsebojno navdihujejo. Ko na primer v obiskovalcu likovni jezik vzpodbudi zanimanje za slikovitost verbalnega jezika in ko nas sodobna poslikana keramika ponese proti dragim kamnom poznoantične keramične invencije. / Umetniški opus Andreja Jemca brez prekinitve nastaja že več kot 70 let. Obsežen je in raznolik, poln transformacij in variabel. Ima pa dve konstanti. Avtorjevo intenzivno vpetost v vsakdanji življenjski tok in njegovo stalno potrebo po izrekanju sveta »v izbranem jeziku oblike«. Oba aspekta, v življenje družbe in kulture odprto prizadevanje in neumorno raziskovanje arhetipičnih potencialov likovnega jezika sta korenini Jemčeve ustvarjalnosti. Vse, kar vidi gledalec na njegovih grafikah, slikah in akvarelih je iz življenja in je del življenja. Le da v koncentrirani obliki, oluščeno prividov in olepšav ter stalno usmerjeno k horizontom izvornosti in unikatnosti, katerih reprezentant je avtorjev rokopis. Ali kot v pesmi, posvečeni Jemčevi sedemdesetletnici, zapiše akademik Milček Komelj: »Roka v barvi zaigra / zlat preludij iz voda, / dvigne se v format neba / k luči večnega Boga«. In je res tako. Ko Jemčeva roka »v barvi zaigra«, se običajno življenje in dogodki v njem dvignejo »v format neba«, in nas iz njega, čeprav iz našega spomina sproti odtekajo barve, intenzivno nagovarjajo noč in dan. — Jožef Muhovič
Čajnik, krožnik in kozarca/ Teapot, plate and two glasses 2003, poslikana keramika/ painted ceramics
»Between yesterday and tomorrow is today, is the ‘hottest’ moment of my life«. With these words, Andrej Jemec some time ago articulated the red-hot core of his creativity in a crystal-clear utterance. The artist stands between yesterday and tomorrow and tries to prophetically translate the past into the future. For in that which has survived its yesterday and is capable of living its tomorrow is the most authentic and profound signature of art. This is the signature of three of Jemec’s prints, awarded the International Grand Prix at the 4th Tokyo International Biennial of Prints in 1964. This signature is revealed in many graphic sheets before and after this date, in his selected paintings, his watercolours, his stained glass and painted ceramics, which are this time inserted into the historical context of Čop’s house in Žirovnica. And the restored antique farmhouse, where the spirit of the polyglot, linguist and librarian Matija Čop and the late antique spirit of the archaeological site of Ajdna reside, welcomes them in with an unusual attitude. It is as if there is no difference in time, as if everything is happening in a miraculously fresh simultaneity of high values that last and last and, moreover, inspire each other. When, for example, the visitor’s interest in the picturesque verbal language is stimulated by the visual language, and when the contemporary painted ceramics take us towards the precious stones of the late antique ceramic invention. / Andrej Jemec’s artistic oeuvre has been continuously produced for more than 70 years. It is vast and varied, full of transformations and variations. However, it has two constants. The author’s intense involvement in the everyday flow of life and his constant need to express the world “in the sophisticated language of form”. Both aspects, the endeavour, opened into the life of society and culture, and the tireless exploration of the archetypal potentials of visual language, are the roots of Jemec’s creativity. Everything the viewer sees in his prints, paintings and watercolours derives from life and is part of life. Only in a concentrated form, stripped of appearances and embellishments, and constantly directed towards the horizons of originality and uniqueness, of which the author’s handwriting is a representative. Or as the academic Milček Komelj writes in his poem dedicated to Jemec’s seventieth anniversary: »The hand in colour plays / a golden prelude from the waters, / rises in the format of the sky / to the light of the eternal God«. And it is true. When Jemec’s hand “plays in colour”, ordinary life and its events are lifted “into the format of the sky”, and night and day speak to us intensely from it, even as the colours flow out of our memory. — Jožef Muhovič
