Istaknuti hrvatski umjetnik Đorđe Jandrić već je niz godina prepoznatljiv po različitim manifestacijama svoje Hrpe, koja danas već predstavlja njegov svojevrsni heteronim. „Hrpe“, začete u devedesetim godinama, prvotno su bile realizirane nasipavanjem ili istresanjem materijala u poluamorfne stošce. Vrlo su se brzo transformirale, između ostalog, u dvodimenzionalne prostorne tlocrtne projekcije piramide ili stošca, najčešće kao grafitni crteži koji su predstavljali kvadrat u kojem su upisani krug i istokračan trokut. Jandrić ih radi skicozno i namjerno nesavršeno, a svevši hrpu na crtež uspostavlja eklatantan znak kojim svodi volumen na dvodimenzionalan iskaz.

Takvi crteži, točnije njih deset, čine polovicu izložbe u Galeriji Flora u Dubrovniku, dok drugu polovicu čini identičan broj crteža QR koda. Obje grupe crteža, formata 51 x 51 cm, Jandrić je prostoručno iscrtao grafitnom olovkom. Nulti crtež prve serije gusto je iscrtan crni kvadrat, te potom u pravilnom nizu slijedi niz ranije opisanih linearnih projekcija Hrpe. Inicijalna ideja je bila da se nacrta devet crteža Hrpa posvećenih prirodnim brojevima (od jedan do devet) s pridruženim (ne)brojem nulom kao simbolom početka i kraja. Prvi crtež je cjelovit format Hrpe kakve je Jandrić radio u nizu varijanti u zadnjih dvadesetak godina; drugi crtež dijeli format po visini i širini s brojem dva, dakle na četiri kvadrata od kojih su dva s projekcijom Hrpe, a dva su prazna; treći dijeli format na devet kvadrata, tri s Hrpom a šest praznih. Tom matematičkom logikom stiže se do posljednjeg, devetog formata koji se sastoji od osamdeset i jednog kvadrata od kojih je devet ispunjeno Hrpama, a sedamdeset i dva su prazna. Drugu seriju čine, također grafitni, crteži QR kodova, od kojih (premda se to ne vidi na prvi pogled) ni jedan nije isti. Možda bi bilo ovdje važno napomenuti da je Jandrić nakon srednje škole, između ostalog i stoga što su mu geometrija i matematika urođene, upisao arhitekturu, te sada, više no ikada ranije, ta svoja znanja obilato koristi u ovom svom novom umjetničkom eksperimentu. Boris Greiner zapaža da se ta serija… na prvi pogled doima šahovskom, jedino što se ne miču figure nego polja, te je autor odigrao gambit kojim dovodi u vezu geometrijski pravilnu i postojanu tlocrtnu konstrukciju hrpe (u kvadrat upisani trokut i krug) s također geometrijski pravilnom ali posve nepostojanom konstrukcijom QR (quick response) koda…

Kako smo u zadnje vrijeme navikli, kad vidimo QR kod, snimimo ga svojim nerazdvojnim smartphoneom te na zaslonu pogledamo što nam on kazuje. U ovom slučaju aplikacija će pokazati približno identične crteže prve serije samo što oni sada nisu u negativu (bijelo na crnom), već u kolorističkom spektru. Stvarnost postaje drugačijom jer je prekoračila prag vlastitog narativa i prepustila se volji tehnološki inovativnih računalnih programa koji predstavljaju Jandrića kao vrsnog kolorista. Možda je to i autorova pomalo sarkastična metafora – da živimo u svijetu koji ćemo u svoj njegovoj punoći (boja) sagledati jedino ako se služimo suvremenom tehnologijom, što i nije daleko od istine, a i da ono što radiš zapravo nije to što radiš, već je onako kako to zadani algoritam odredi, a to otkrivamo pomoću tehnološkog alata kojeg treba kupiti. Komparacija s 3D filmskim projekcijama nameće se sama od sebe, jer ako u Cinestaru ne uzmemo posebne naočale, bit će nam uskraćena punoća doživljaja. Ili neće? To još uvijek ovisi o tome kako smo kalibrirani. Linijom manjeg otpora, odnosno potpadanjem pod sve prisutniji utjecaj rastućeg konformizma, velika nas je većina ovisna o tehnologiji koja nas odvaja od vlastitog razmišljanja i dirigirano vodi k distopijskom svijetu koji iz dana u dan sve više postaje realnost. Analogni svijet pripada prošlosti, kao što su i prostoručno izvedeni Jandrićevi crteži anakroni. Ili nisu? Veći dio svog bavljenja skulpturom Jandrić teži njezinoj transcendentalnoj projekciji. Naravno, radi se o mentalnom procesu koji je u Jandrića podjednako uvjetovan umjetnošću i teorijom, odnosno fizikom i metafizikom, te se po svom konačnom (ne)obliku približava aristotelovskim i arhimedovskim razmišljanjima, kao i Einsteinovoj teoriji relativnosti. Takva duhovna nadopuna ne postoji u virtualnom svijetu kroz koje nas vode QR kodovi pošto oni samo proširuju najčešće nepotpunu, a često i netočnu informaciju uskraćujući objektivnu stvarnost u korist nepostojećeg – virtualnog. Jandrić ovim ciklusom propituje i diferencijaciju tih dvaju svjetova, ali nas nesmiljeno i suočava s činjenicom da uskoro na galerijskim zidovima nećemo gledati artefakte nego isključivo njihove virtualne inačice. Ipak, još nije sve otišlo k vragu. Jandrić crta prostoručno te nacrtani QR kodovi nisu savršeni, odnosno jednaki, što rezultira time da raspored, kakvoća i proporcionalnost boja virtualnih Hrpi nisu uvijek isti. Autor nam time govori da unatoč današnjoj nevjerojatnoj tehnološkoj ekspanziji konačni rezultat i dalje ovisi o ljudskoj ruci. Onoj koju je još Henri Focillon u svome eseju Pohvala ruci uzdignuo kao savršen alat koji kreativno prenosi umjetnikove misli i osjećaje. Serija QR kodova završava praznim bijelim kvadratom koji odgovara početnom crnom kvadratu prve serije, čime je krug zatvoren. Maljevičevo savršenstvo redukcionističke umjetničke misli i ruka umjetnika i danas su, unatoč računalnim algoritmima i sve češćoj uporabi umjetne inteligencije, ono što pokreće i uzdiže ljudski duh, samo ga treba znati pronaći i sačuvati u virtualnoj stvarnosti o čemu nam Jandrić govori ovom izložbom.

Mladen Lučić

english/ The heap, encoded

For many years now, renowned Croatian artist Đorđe Jandrić has been recognized for the various presentations of his Heap, which today has come his heteronym of sorts. Initiated in the 1990s, the Heaps were originally created by piling or dumping materials that formed semi-amorphous cones. Very soon, they evolved, among else, into two-dimensional spatial floor plan projections of a pyramid or cone, most often as graphite drawings depicting a square containing a circle and an equilateral triangle. Jandrić draws them loosely and deliberately imperfect, and by reducing a heap to a drawing, he establishes a distinctive symbol that translates volume into a two-dimensional expression.

Ten such drawings make up half of the exhibition at Flora Gallery in Dubrovnik, while the other half consists of ten drawings of a QR code. Both groups of drawings, sized 51 x 51 cm, were hand-drawn by Jandrić using graphite pencil. The first drawing of the first series is a densely shaded black square, followed by a regular sequence of the previously described linear projections of the Heap. The initial idea was to make nine Heap drawings dedicated to natural numbers (from one to nine), accompanied by the (non)number zero as a symbol of both beginning and end. The first drawing shows the complete Heap format that Jandrić has been creating in various versions over the past twenty years; the second drawing divides the format in height and width with number two, resulting in four squares – two feature the Heap and two are left blank. The third drawing divides the format into nine squares, with three featuring the Heap and six are left empty. This mathematical logic continues up to the ninth drawing, which consists of eighty-one squares – nine are filled with the Heap projections and seventy-two are left empty. The second series consists of graphite drawings of QR codes, none of which are identical (although it’s not immediately visible). It may be worth noting here that Jandrić, after high school — partly due to his innate talent for geometry and mathematics — enrolled in architecture studies. Now, more than ever before, he is extensively using that knowledge in this new art experiment. Boris Greiner notes that “the series resembles a chessboard at first glance, but it’s not the pieces that move, but the squares themselves. The artist has played a gambit, where he connected the geometrically precise and stable floor-plan construction of the Heap (a triangle and a circle within a square) with the equally geometric, yet entirely unstable structure of the QR (quick response) code…”

As we have grown accustomed to lately, when we see a QR code, we scan it with our inseparable smartphone and check the screen to see what it reveals. In this case, the app shows drawings almost identical to those in Jandrić’s first series – except now they are not in the negative (white on black), but rendered in a spectrum of color. Reality becomes different because it crosses the threshold of its own narrative, surrendering to the will of technologically innovative computer programs which present Jandrić as a masterful colorist. Maybe this is also the artist’s slightly sarcastic metaphor: that we live in a world we can only truly perceive in all its fullness (in color) through the use of contemporary technology – which isn’t far from the truth. And that what you create isn’t necessarily what you do, but rather what a predetermined algorithm decides it to be, which is something we uncover using a technological tool that must be purchased. The comparison with 3D film screenings imposes itself naturally here – if we don’t put on special glasses at the cinema, we will be deprived of the full experience. Or not? It depends on how we are calibrated. By following the path of least resistance, by succumbing to the ever-growing influence of rising conformism, the vast majority of us have become dependent on technology that distances us from independent thought and steers us toward a dystopian world that is, day by day, becoming an increasingly tangible reality. The analogue world belongs to the past, just as Jandrić’s hand-drawn sketches seem anachronistic. (Do they?) In his work with sculpture, Jandrić has for the most part strived to achieve its transcendental projection. Of course, this is a mental process in which Jandrić relies both on art and theory – i.e., on physics and metaphysics. It is a process that in its ultimate (non) form comes close to the Aristotelian and Archimedean thought, as well as Einstein’s theory of relativity. Such a spiritual dimension does not exists in the virtual world guided by QR codes, since they merely expand on information that is often incomplete, and often inaccurate, thus denying objective reality in favor of the non-existent – the virtual. With this series, Jandrić questions the differentiation between these two worlds, but he also boldly confronts us with the fact that soon gallery walls would no longer display physical artefacts, but only their virtual counterparts. Still, not everything is lost. Jandrić draws by hand, and the QR codes he creates are not perfect or identical, resulting in variations in the arrangement, quality and proportions of colors in the virtual Heaps. By doing so, the artist reminds us that, despite today’s astonishing technological expansion, the final result still ultimately depends on the human hand, the same hand that Henri Focillon, in his essay In Praise of the Hand, celebrated as the perfect tool for creatively conveying artists’ thoughts and emotions. Jandrić’s series of QR codes ends with an empty white square, which corresponds to the initial black square of the first series, thus completing the circle. Malevich’s ideal of reductionist artistic thought, along with an artistic hand, remain the true forces that drive and elevate the human spirit, even today, in the age of computer algorithms and the increasing use of artificial intelligence. It is up to us to recognize and preserve them in virtual reality, which is a message that Jandrić conveys in this exhibition.

Mladen Lučić