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Review

Different Viewpoints - a five year opus

by Neda Starac

The Budgeon's display case in the Richmond Library foyer

415 Church Street, Richmond (Melbourne)

30 December 2015 to 30 March 2016

Review by Cressida Fox

Neda's 9 paintings, accompanied by examples of some of her favourite art materials, sits colourfully and attractively in The Budgeins glass display case in the foyer of Richmond Library. These particular works are in oils, acrylics, solver paint and water-colours, however these a just a few of the many media that she is accomplished in and enjoys using, including crayons, oils, acrylic, ink, pens and pencils, using numerous techniques and tools, such as painting knives, wood, twigs, brushes, toothbrushes, newspapers, rags and sponges. As she says in her Artist's Statement with the display, “….. the possibilities are endless.”

Display Case Detail - front view - works by Neda Starac

Neda uses a wide spectrum of subjects, including social comment, human forms depicting emotions and in everyday life and other circumstances, plants and animals in their habitats, landscapes and seasons – many within the Australian context but also from her original home in Croatia. In Enchanting Garden I and Enchanting Garden II, she expresses her love of nature, her garden and all things that inhabit it. Similarly, Planet Earth Australia comes straight from the Australian bush.

Display Case Detail - Enchanting Garden I and II, solver paint, each 39 x 31 cm, by Neda Starac

Of her work, she writes: “It is important to me to work all the time, experiment and find new ways to express myself. I am a prolific artist, I paint things and places around me, more often from memory, inspiration and imagination. Working from memory makes the painting a voyage of discovery. My works are almost always contemporary and experimental. This is what I like in my art, being able to express outer and inner feelings, and there is nothing better to do that than colour (all the colours of life).”

Display Case Detail - Octopus, oil, 28 x 43 cm, and Planet Earth Australia, oil, 21 x 36 cm, by Neda Starac

In her varied styles and techniques, Neda produces colourful, painterly works, with her subject forms in bold, thick antipasto applications of paint, such as Octopus, others with softer abstract forms, as in Landscapes and Summer. In some of these works, you can see influences from some of her favourite artists, on which she writes: “The artists I love and who have probably influenced me the most are Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Henri Matisse, Marc Chagal, Max Ernst, Vasilli Kadinsky, all contemporary masters who I like to try and emulate because I find it agrees most with my personality.”

 

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