Angelica Bäumer in march 1991
Cross and circle, colour and space,
these are the elements that distinguish Drago Druškovič´s work.
In their simplicity and clarity
the paintings need no philosophical definition.
Unwavering in the face of fashion, styles or recipes of success,
this artist gois his tranquil way - and,
is not tranquillity the heart of wisdom?
Drago Druškovič´s early works were opulently painted canvases,
rich in symbolism, but they gradually became spacer,
the background pared down, reducing finally to the expression
of the puer essentials. His colours acquired a transparency,
the light seeming to come from inside, from the earth itself.
Keeping in mind, that Drago Druškovič does his work lying on the ground,
using natural vegetable colours mixed with a wax-resin emulsion,
one more eradily understands the fascination his paintings radiate.
It is as though one were somehow familiar with these pictures,
as though one had been waiting for them.
The use of pollen, resin and beeswax - all natural materials used according
to old formulas - is not intended in any romantic "back to nature" context,
but rather in an unpretentious awareness of old values which have been
valid ever since the Lascaux cavepaintings,
but have been supplanted by technology and chemicals.
The natural way, nonetheless, is as applicable today as ever it was.
Drago Druškovič says, "The circle expesses life.
The cross is both, pointer and centre, while colour and light
and shadow may be seen as events.
"Symbols, profoundly experienced, become tokens of spirit, of life,
of nature and of feeling.
Here we are dealing not with stories but with painting.
Colour is power, light and energy. Shadow is silence.
The picture is the beginning and end of the event, get the frame for infinity.
Drago´s way leads us back not merely to nature´s true colours,
but to those who have not forgotten their meaning:
to the Indians, Aborigines, the Africans, back to childhood.
He adresses himself without affection to this world in all its simplicity.
Such, at least, is his intention.
For even those children of nature use aniline and acrylic paint
and the little ones learn, thet houses have to be square
and and that the sun hasn´t really got a smile on her face.
Yet, even if the facts seem to tell a different story, the dream of serenity,
of purity and itegrity cannot lose its intrinsic reality.
And it is this quest for truth that releases the energy which propels
the artist to strive towards the frontiers of the unknown.
In art there is no retreating but rather an ever-present urge
towards the future and the roots of this creativ tension
are to be found only in art itself.
Only the artist who can create in himself an awareness,
an attitude of listening will find the source of inspiration that lies deep
within himself and will be able to translate it into the language of his art,
into colour.
Temperament and character dictate which form of meditation an artist chooses.
As Drago Druškovič says, "Art is meditation."
One could also consider the activity of the beholder as an act of contemplation.
The artist, the unlooker...
meditation and contemplation fuse togehter on the plane of perception.
This is Drago Druškovič´s ideal:
not an intellectual exercise but rather the spiritual harmonizing
of souls in the act of perception,
breaking through the barriers of time and space.
In this meeting of souls our individual seperateness is dissolved
into mutual trust the shadow side loses its terror, serenity prevails.
Awaresess of the spiritual dimension reveals lifes dominion over death.
Angelica Bäumer in march 1991
(Translation: Gail Polascek)