Studio-Phoenix Blogspot: Irena Andonova: Beautiful Art

This months cover featuring AHa Piponska
project coordinator for "Loft in the RedZone".

Sometimes in life meeting one person can lead to many new thoughts, feelings, exchange of ideas, equal amounts of much needed affection, and amazing finds in art & culture. One of these amazing finds is the artwork of Irena Andonova, of Skopje(capital city of Macedonia). Her artwork runs along the lines of traditional(landscapes & gardens) and drawings and paintings that are based in the traditional, but filled with abstract symbolism and deeper meaning.

Irena of Skopje,
photo courtesy of the artist.

Although painting is her current focus, after graduating from The Faculty of Fine Arts, Painting Department, with fashion design(class of prof Dusan Percinkov in 1998, member of DLUM)she spent time working in various areas and projects. Spent time creating fashion design, art inspired shoes, worked on story boards, illustrations for a book of poetry, and a make-up artist. Also as an external collaborator in the same field. Irena has also had many group international exhibitions, as well as international workshops in Macedonia(F.Y.R.O.M) and abroad. "I've got a lot of ideas on my mind and I want to create unique things...and I like to experiment, try something new, make some combinations".

"Dry cherry tree", oil on canvas 50x70 cm
courtesy of the artist

When it comes to her paintings of gardens, trees, and plant life, "Dry cherry tree" is on of my favorites. It shows a brilliant use of light, colors and depth of field. The brushwork is strong yet subtle, resulting in wonderful painting that is moving, memorable and full of life. When I look at it I can almost feel the warmth of the light passing through the leaves. The look and feel of "Dry cherry tree" reminds me of the work Mary Cassatt, whose paintings tend have a strong feeling of light, great composition, and a playful vibrance in an otherwise common scene.

"My garden at night" oil on canvas, 60x80 cm
courtesy of the artist.

"My garden at night" has both the sense of dark and light, reality and illusion. Though its night, the dark only reaches so far, it hardly touches the colorful blooming flowers. Its as if the dark is held at bay by her love of the light and flowers. Again her brushwork adds texture and feeling to the scene and plant life. Along with the composition it lends itself to her idea of the balance between light, dark and the observation of nature. This love affair with gardens and plant life tends to be prevalent among artist who live in urban centers. The subject, gardens, also is a reflection of the artist or a deep yearning, for privacy, seclusion, peace and quite.

"Kopnez"(Desires) 40"x50", acrylic on paper.
Courtesy of the artist

Irena of Skopje, photo courtesy of the artist

"Kopnezi" is altogether powerful in its striking colors, thick dark lines and seeming movement. The form looks as if its two shapes with faces, an awesome force howling with the fury of desire. The colors evoke the feeling of fire blazing in the dark, or pulling away from it. Born in the void and needing to break free and take root in another world. Its like Francis bacon meets Clifford Still. The bold lines really lends itself to the brushwork and strong color, resulting in a form thats is three dimensional and full of life. Fantastic abstract expressionism. Irena's last solo exhibit was in October 2009 At the N.I culture center, "Anton Panov"- Strumica, Macedonia. In July of 2010 she was a participating artist in the International Kicevska Likoma Kolonija. It takes place every year and different artist from around the world come to create art and form friendships. In 2011 she had a promotional show, "Promocija na zbirka poezija Korab", for a book of poetry she created illustrations for entitled "Sailboat". The author is Ratka K Damnjanovic, the book was translated into Serbian, Macedonia, and english. In her own words about her artwork, the inspiration behind it, Irena said, "in touch with nature, the light as a source of the magic, visual information, and going through the moments of closeness, and connecting in the same time, with interactions between. So the beauty of the one motive is the transformation made by our imagination and sensibility, in the moments of the inspiration. Hidden moments supported from the inner necessity, moments of the speaking of the soul. Vibrations, all that fulfilled with elements of the individual which prove that, 'the landscape is one condition of the spirit'. 'If anything marks the relation between the artist and beauty is not beyond things, it is within them, in everything'. Search for beauty". If you would like to know more, please send replies to: iandonovaart2000@yahoo.com, or go to: www.dlum.org.mk/en/avtor.asp?id=2 Article by K.K.W, "Art is the reason, art is the way" Cheers!