Woodcuts

The woodcut as an archaic technique offers the eye that is tired of civilisational perfectionism an antipode to the dominance of high-tech viewing habits. By dealing with contemporary art which he puts in an international context, Hajrudin Diman develops an entirely unique visual language. The connection to modern art can be retraced through cheerful, free-flowing gestures in the manner of Tachism. The both consciously controlled and unconsciously free stroke shape follows the masters of east Asian calligraphy who used it in landscape painting as well as in artistic writing. A relation to the art of zen Buddhism is particularly visible in the conscious exposition and tranquillity of the processual aspect during the artistic work process. The upright format of composition evokes associations to east Asian scroll paintings. The cautious presence of the colouring underlines the graphical character, while adding to the linear drawing a picturesque mood of enthusiastic irrationality. In this light, the artist defines the relations between various writing traditions including islamic calligraphy. In process-describing, structure-capturing, ever-changing marks, he gathers the overall wealth of forms of an organic-vegetative vocabulary in order to express his contemplative perception. Insofar, his interpretation also corresponds to an empiric-scientifical observation of nature. Through an overlapping of different world views and by detecting related archaisms, he succeeds in discovering a culture-connecting aspect which he then effectively expresses in a timeless, global language.

Milan Vukovich