“I want to walk in your cities”

Maja Soric’s oeuvre is a work in progress, and although her new exhibition focuses on recent paintings it also includes a seminal selection of earlier work by this Croatian-born artist, thus mapping out her artistic development so far. She has lived in Egypt since 1989 and has been painting since her secondary School days, and this is tenth exhibition in Egypt. Maja works in series, reworking and varying a theme, inspiration or composition in numerous paintings, altering and adapting, developing her ideas in paintings that can be viewed either as part of a series or as individual works of art. In her paintings Maja returns again and again to certain formal problems: her paintings document her search in her art for structure and balance, for solidity in composition. Her paintings are carefully constructed, exuding a contained power and passion. However, in her more recent works we find her slowly liberating, freeing herself from this need for structure without, however, loosing her feeling for contrast and balance, but placing objects and colours with a sure and free hand on the Canvas, balancing feeling and format. Thus her paintings become more light-hearted, more playful, more feminine, striking a balance between composition and imagination that touches the viewer’s heart and mind. Maja is a vigorous and inventive artist, always developing and searching for new means to express herself, not limiting herself to one material or support, one colour scheme or subject, one style of painting or source of influence. Her paintings document her emotions, her travels, her Croatian heritage, and her love of Egypt. Her oeuvre includes both figurative and abstract work, broad and delicate handling, vivid colours and monochrome harmonies. Her deep love for colours becomes increasingly dominant in her latest works as does her sure handling, her placing of contrasting and complementing colours on the canvas. Using, for example, bright joyful colours of gold, inspired by ancient Byzantine mosaics and icons from her home country, she conjures up a magical world of images that invite us to join her son in his wish to wander Joyfully in her cities for ever.

   Agnes Stillfried

Curator of the Museum of Fine Arts- Vienna/Austria