Inspired by Manasijeski’s latest paintings, the Italian art historian Dr. Salvatore Russo writes a critical review that will be published in the next publications Art International and in Mono-graphic issue for Jordan Manasijeski.
Jordan Manasijeski
Who still thinks that art is essentially a question of beauty and respect for the rules: IS WRONG. Contemporary art, especially in recent years, breaks every kind of rule. Testimony of this, the latest New York exhibitions and our BIENNIAL. The “illuminated minds” seem to prefer an art that is a clear refusal of classical art. In this regard, it is sufficient to see the record prices of the American or London auctions, where Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Gerhard Richter and Yayoi Kusama are the main examples. Contemporary art is a battlefield. Every artist fights his personal war; each of them wants to conquer the scepter of power. That scepter that makes it eternal and brings it to history books. Very often I wonder who the real art critic really is. I have come to a conclusion: time is the true critic of art. Only time can decree the losers and the winners. In this context, the Macedonian artist Jordan Manasijeski deserves a special mention. An artist who puts color and sign at the center of his visual analysis. Unlike his predecessors who have been confronted with informal painting, I want to recall for example: Pollock, Kline, Mathieu, Tapies, Sam Francis, Jordan Manasijeski has a more innovative approach: capable of placing figures in the informal structure. Arcane mysteries. Hamletic doubts. Verbal paradoxes, dialogue beyond the sign. Real storms of lines and color. This is the scenario that the observer finds in front of him, observing the works of Manasijeski. Confessions of the soul. Authentic visions, which the artist, through his great expressive power, turns into a sign. The gesture is that of action painting. Jordan screams his truths on a canvas that becomes his life diary; a diary where to write the most significant memories and emotions. Over the years, I came across different informal realities. Realities that have not always left me with a positive “taste”. I must say that, instead, I find the informal world of Manasijeski, really interesting. A world that knows no limits, or illusory barriers; a world born from the mind of the artist, through an exquisite representative elegance. In the now eternal battle, begun with the birth of man, between darkness and light, in the works of the artist we find the great triumph of light. The darkness is brought into new contemporary paradises, and slowly they are transformed into light. The light is that of hope and change. I want to compare the artist’s creations to powerful volcanic eruptions. Eruptions that are characterized by the magmatic power with which the color invades, in my view in a completely legitimate way, the canvas, which turns into a real battlefield. A battle that the knights of light fight against armies dressed in shadow. A battle that has the final outcome, the triumph of an art that has the objective, that of narrating beauty, through real rainbows of light. Observing these works, we immediately realize the great harmony with which they are realized. Manasijeski succeeds in the difficult task of shaping the light. A light that takes on infinite shades of sign and color. The modus operandi of the artist is certainly of great critical importance. A Master able to restore the order of things. The sign, therefore, is no longer forced to wander in the void; it is no longer “stateless” in no-man’s land; but finally, it finds its new citizenship on a canvas that houses the most beautiful narratives in Jordan’s world. A world in which the fog disappears, to leave room for the infinite beauty of color and its magic on canvas. Manasijeski is therefore an artist with highly sought-after visual poetics. His analyzes and continuous experimentation are bringing him into the great scenario of contemporary art: what really matters. A scenario that places him today, among the greatest contemporary artists.
Salvatore Russo
Rome 15 June 2019