Voljeti život više od njegova smisla
To Love Life More Than Its Meaning

MARTINA MOON ZELENIKA

petak 19. lipnja 2026. u 19 sati / Opening Friday, June 19, 2026 at 7 p.m.
Galeriji CEKAO / CEKAO Gallery, Ulica grada Vukovara 68, Zagreb

“Pogledajmo na trenutak svoje dlanove. Crte koje ih prekrivaju, naša „linija života“, pa i otisci prstiju jedinstveni su, a svaka bora na našem licu posljedica smijeha i plača koji su ostavili svoj trag poput rijeke koja oblikuje kanjon. Naša lica i ruke tako su svojevrsni crteži jednoga života i svih odnosa koji su ga oblikovali; karta svega što smo voljeli.

Od takve crte — žive, nataložene — Martina Moon Zelenika gradi svoj likovni jezik. Crta intuitivno, bez prethodne skice, na velikim formatima. Linija je po svojoj naravi odnos: ona spaja, a kako kaže sama umjetnica, „susreće se, razdvaja, preklapa i ponovno povezuje“. Snopovi poteza slažu se sloj po sloj, poput toka misli ili niti razgovora; dvije ili tri obojene niti — u gotovo svjetlosnim, fluorescentnim tonovima — kruže jedna oko druge, zavijaju se u spiralu, zapliću i ponekad razilaze, dok ih okružuju tek naslućene, treperave linije nalik odjeku pokreta ili dahu. Metafora je to za dvije osobe koje se susreću u prostoru povjerenja: oni mogu biti ljubavnici, prijatelji, roditelj i dijete, pa i dva posve različita brata. Tamo gdje se niti dodirnu, dodirnu se i njihove boje, njihovi putevi mimoiđu. Naslov izložbe reflektira jedan takav susret. U pitanju je rečenica iz romana Braća Karamazovi, izgovorena u dijalogu racionalista Ivana i Aljoše, čovjeka vjere — dvojice braće koja se gotovo ni u čemu ne slažu, a ipak se sastaju nad jednom mišlju. Život, kažu, valja voljeti „prije logike“ i tek ga tada razumjeti.”

Iz predgovora dr. sc. Dore Derado Giljanović

“Let us take a moment to look at our palms. The lines that cover them—our ‘life line’—and even our fingerprints are unique, while every wrinkle on our face is the result of laughter and tears that have left their mark, like a river carving a canyon. Our faces and hands are thus a kind of drawing of a single life and of all the relationships that have shaped it; a map of everything we have loved.

It is from such a line—living, accumulated over time—that Martina Moon Zelenika constructs her visual language. She draws intuitively, without preliminary sketches, on large-scale formats. By its very nature, a line is a relationship: it connects, and as the artist herself explains, it ‘meets, separates, overlaps, and reconnects.’ Clusters of strokes build layer upon layer, like streams of thought or threads of conversation; two or three coloured strands—in almost luminous, fluorescent tones—circle around one another, coil into spirals, intertwine and at times diverge, while being surrounded by barely perceptible, shimmering lines reminiscent of the echo of movement or a breath. It is a metaphor for two people meeting within a space of trust: they may be lovers, friends, a parent and child, or even two very different brothers. Wherever the strands touch, their colours touch as well; their paths cross and continue onward.

The title of the exhibition reflects one such encounter. It is a sentence from the novel The Brothers Karamazov, spoken in a dialogue between Ivan, the rationalist, and Alyosha, the man of faith—two brothers who agree on almost nothing, yet meet upon a single thought. Life, they say, must be loved ‘before logic,’ and only then can it be understood.”

From the foreword by Dr Dora Derado Giljanović

CEKAO Gallery

Reprodukcija / Image:
Martina Moon Zelenika
Ljubavna igra – strategije i principi, detalj crteža #2 / Love game – strategies and principles, detail of drawing #2
kombinirana tehnika na Academia 230 g papiru / mixed media on Academia 230 g paper
108 x 78 cm original 1/1, 2026