Emil Shulajkovski “Shadows in the Clouds” as a dialogue of contrasts

Reflecting on Emil Shulajkovski’s latest exhibition titled “Shadows in the Clouds” (2024), which in a certain way commemorates the author’s three decades of work, one cannot ignore the impression according to which he bases and defines his characteristic artistic manuscript through color as a basic painting postulate. As one of the basic characteristics of Emil Shulajkovski’s art, we can start by distinguishing the consistency of the constant, which implies the visualization of experiences through expressionistic expressiveness with paint on canvas, where the author combines lyrical abstraction and abstract expressive gesture in dynamic artistic forms with pantheistic life and art philosophy.

The process of inner experience or urge to create, as an ontological substance or basic motivation, is transformed and channeled using the basic tools of paint and brush. Intimate turmoil during the channeling of emotions in an artwork is spontaneous, without prior thoughts about the compositional setting; on the contrary, the placement of pictorial elements is defined by a l’art pour l’art credo according to which art should be devoid of any utilitarianism, moral message or political content. The trail of artistic spiritual and psychological experience is realized by Emil Shulajkovski through certain aesthetics of opposites in terms of coloristic sensations, through abstract forms presented in a way that motivates different free experiences and feelings.

The exhibition titled “Shadows in the Clouds” is composed of five separate cycles, created between 2022 and 2024 (with paintings from 2023 and 2024 dominating, but several works from 2019 are also presented), with separate titles “Garden of Pleasures” (2019-2023), “Transformation of Symbols” (2023), “Reflections of the Moment” (2023-2024), “Whirlwind in Thoughts” (2023-2024) and “Shadows in the Clouds” (2023-2024), performed in oil and acrylic on canvas techniques, as well as watercolor on paper, which in turn represents an insight into an extensive creative continuum, in which the “states” of emotions and consciousness, i.e. the personal aesthetics of creation, are sublimated in a certain way.

Building on the basic postulates in Emil Shulajkovski’s work, it is confirmed that his central preoccupations are based on color, lyrical expressive gesture and abstract associative landscapes with which the conditional “Holy Trinity” is rounded off as a motif. On the other hand, in his free landscapes, the author metaphorically symbolizes the human reason for existence and the synthesis of man – culture – nature. In this pantheistic painting, the relationship of color as a driving force that initiates creation, also provokes a sensory feeling through its sometimes dense sometimes azure layers of colors that stretch in space gesturally and expressively. Paint is applied in multiple layers, seemingly in multiple compositional planes, suggesting texture and giving the impression of vibrant and rhythmic abstract structures. In certain series with a predominantly warm tonality, in others with a distinctly cold tone, the colors are applied with a wide brush, circular strokes and certain “dripping” accents, and the painter rarely uses a putty knife to emphasize certain parts with characteristics of linearity, i.e. graphism. At the same time, a significant role in achieving vibrancy and mystery is played by the energy of the rhythm, and the dramatic effects are achieved through the contrast of the dark parts against the bright segments, but also vice versa.

Emil Shulajkovski’s imaginary worlds in which the very titles of the individual paintings reflect the poetic sense of the atmosphere range from ethereal Arcadian associations to nostalgically dramatically imagined/invented scenes and reflect the inner feeling of the author who gravitates towards a kind of theosophy that celebrates “la joie de vivre”. Since Emil Shulajkovski’s overall work is dominated by the relationship with lyrical abstraction and abstract expressionism, which are connected by the expressive gesture, it follows that his conception of the image is a trace of spiritual and psychological experience, with a living and dynamic visual form and a spiritual foundation.

In an attempt to formally dissect and analyze the presented series, created in almost the same period, we shall start with the “Garden of Pleasures” in which the various colors are based on pastels and light, in “Reflections of the Moment” the color parties suggest an unconscious whirlwind of forms in different colors and dripping moments, the “Transformation of Symbols” is a dynamic blend of contrasting bold colors, which continue associative forms in the “Whirlwind in Thoughts”, while complete sfumato tranquility is reached in the latest series “Shadows in the Clouds”. It is this latest series that manifests a significant calmness compared to the previous cycles, where the colors are sublimated and brought to the level of simplification and purity at the level of shadow and light, regardless of whether the choice of colors is with a cold or warm background, and the aesthetic experience itself it ranges from associative lyrical abstraction to magical realism.

Regardless of whether Emil Shulajkovski chooses to express himself through watercolor works or in oil technique, the light and shadow, the sfumato atmosphere and the playfulness, indicate an exceptional Turner-like skill in adapting and transferring the watercolor method to oil paintings and the perfected skill for transformation of the color sensations of air, light, darkness, movement, i.e. the playfulness of natural phenomena through a “resonant” painting language. The impression is spontaneously imposed that abstract images directly or indirectly associate with contrasting emotions, from which emerge general landscapes without the presence of a recognizable mimetic motif and call for a sense of presence through absence. If we refer to one of the most important color theories, in this case Kandinsky’s famous theory, according to which “colors are causing the human soul to vibrate and it is a powerful tool to influence human beings as physical organisms.”, we can come to the conclusion that Shulajkovski, experiencing color as a driving force that provokes creation and sensual feeling, conquers the entire space of the painting and dominates the observer’s senses through the dialectic of color contrasts.

Curator, Maja Chankulovska – Mihajlovska

„Light and darkness, brightness and obscurity, or if a more general expression is preferred, light and its absence, are necessary to the production of color… Color itself is a degree of darkness. “

– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Theory of Colours, 1810