The painted diary, by Blandine Martin

 

Painter Zoran Music featured in "Great lives" RADIO 4 Tue 21st April at 1630hrs

with Historian Michael Peppiatt and actor kulvinder Ghir.

 

 

It was early 2000 Barcelona when I first discovered the artist Zoran Music's work. "We are not the last " a very haunting tittle for an exhibition which was as evocative then as it is now current. Each space was dedicated to a period in the artist's work and life ; "the before and after " the concentration camp. From room to room , I was witnessing the transformation of tranquil landscape to complete darkness with the apparent struggle to try to regain normality after Dachau and finally the corpses reappearing again.

Zoran survived but never freed himself from what he saw and endured. It may have been his breakdown that brought about a change of style, nevertheless, his artistic development from figurative to abstract was certainly no coincidence. The bodies which piled up outside his window in 1944 were now piling up in his very soul to only finally find refuge in his canvases in muted colour's between light and dark... mostly dark. I clearly remember quietly observing the subdued colours and textures combined with the terror of an eye disappearing into the earth staring back at me before dying , powerless to help. I saw agony in his eyes, I saw his anxiety with painful resignation and all of this only whispered through the canvas. So powerful is his work. Silence before the storm would be the only way I could sum up his work in a sentence. I left the exhibition humbled and moved...incredibly moved.

Unfortunately in the UK, Zoran's work is little known so that is why when actor Kulvinder Ghir (Still open all hours & Goodness gracious me) told me that he had chosen Zoran Music to discuss the work with historian & curator and close friend of Zoran, Michael Peppiat, , on BBC4 radio this coming April, I was thrilled. I have always felt that Music deserved more recognition for his legacy if it were only for 2 reasons; his account to what he saw and the pure artistic value of his work. It is a painted diary and sincere journey of a incredible life. An artist worth knowing.

Zoran Music died in 2005 in Italy.

 

 

Find out more about Zoran Music : http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/artists/zoran-music

or better still listen to Michael and Kulvinder’s conversation with Matthew Parris "Great lives"

which will be broadcasted on the 21st April at 4.30 pm and repeated on Friday 24th April at

22.00 pm . " BBC4 Radio Great Lives Biography series exploring the greatest people who

ever lived.

 

Hosted by Matthew Parris .

 

 

You can see some of  Zoran Music work at the Permanent collection at The Estorick gallery

Islington London.

 

 

                                                                                                                                                         "We are not the last" By Zoran Music