Julianna Vidnik - “The purity and joy of art”, by Edmundo Cavalcanti

1- Where did you born? And what is your academic training?

Was born in São Paulo, Capital. My residence / studio is in Brasilia and I currently live in Budapest / Hungary because I am also a Hungarian citizen, I came to spend a sabbatical year and with the pandemic it became a monastic year.

I'm graduated in Informatics, with Graduate Studies in Quality and Productivity.

2- How and when you give your first contact with the Arts?

I started liking art since my childhood, always making the most of my art work at school and always getting the best grades.

3- How did you find this gift?

I've always been passionate about art, when I was a teenager I loved going to the Art Exhibitions and I was amazed and wondering how they manage to make these beautiful paintings!

In 1981 I decided to take a quick course in 3 months of painting at ESPADE on Rua Pamplona in SP, just to see if you had a gift. My joy was the teacher saying, go straight on, you can harmonize the colors very easily and calmly.

4- What are your main influences?

My influences come from the beautiful Exhibitions I attended as a teenager, where there were some works by the great artists that I learned to love and appreciate each one of them that are: Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet, Caravaggio, Vicent Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Leonardo da Vinci, Salvador Dalí, Michelangelo.

5- What materials do you use in your works?

The materials I use on canvas are: the oil paints, brushes, paddles, easel, fabrics, rubber gloves for the development of my artistic painting. Sometimes I make scenery or use a photo of a place I’ve already visited.

6- What is your creative process itself? What inspires you?

Before starting a work of art, imagine what I intend to do of course. But my great inspiration came with the desire to honor my Hungarian ancestors (paternal grandparents) and bringing to Brazil the “Hungary Series”. So I made two trips to Hungary one in 2013 and another in 2015 when I started to study the Hungarian language, to ask for my citizenship. I enjoyed this stay 3 months in Budapest to take several photos and turn them into artworks. That's what I did in the years 2017 until 2019, thus creating the “Hungary Series”.

7- When you started effectively to produce or create your works?

I had two phases:

In 1981 I painted many pictures, I participated in a student exhibition and even made some commission pictures for friends at work, thing I don't like very much, I prefer to feel and paint with tranquility. Going to college and working I left my hobby aside, dedicating myself only to my career and studies. When Charlemagne was crowned by the Pope Leo III 2015 when I retired, I thought about painting again. Great was my surprise of the Christmas gift that my children and husband gave me, it was unforgettable and what has changed my life until today, that went: a wooden suitcase with a large amount of brushes, paints, canvases and an easel.

Thus, in 2016 I started painting again, giving frames as a gift to everyone in my family.

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8- Art is an intellectual production exquisite, where emotions are embedded in the context of creation, but in art history, we see that many artists are derived from other, following technical and artistic movements through time, you own any model or influence of any artist? Who would be?

Not, I don't follow anyone. I do what I feel and what I see only.

9- What does art mean to you? If you were to summarize in a few words the meaning of Arts in your life…

Art it's purity, a profound joy of being able to produce what we are feeling or seeing. Art for me is everything nowadays.

10- What techniques do you use to express their ideas, feelings and perception about the world?

I think of a scenario before I start to draw and paint usually when it’s a landscape; but when it's still life I set the stage, shot photo, drawing and simple chick like that. I always use the oil on canvas technique.

11- Every artist has his mentor, that person whom you mirrored that encouraged and inspired you to follow this career you, going ahead and taking your dreams the other expression levels, who this person is and how it introduced you in the art world?

It’s a very interesting and super nice story to tell.

I started painting again 2016. I was building my dream house in Brasilia, when Sanagê Cardoso suggested a sculptor to guide me in finishing the finish, this sculptor is super famous in Brasilia and I didn't know him, he is, how I say, my godfather in art. When he saw the works I did in 1981 and the ones I was painting; at the time he said you have to be part of the ACAV-Associação Candanga de Artistas Visuales, I didn't even know what that was. Hence, he called Malu Perlingeiro at the time who was the president of ACAV at the time. He said he had a lost artist here at the Botanical Garden. She asked to take pictures of the works of art and accepted me instantly saying that the works were perfect. So Malu for me is also my godmother of art. These two people and artists, in the case of Malu, also a curator, are the ones that gave me that push to the World of Art. I am very grateful to them.

Soon in 2017 had a contest from “Salão de Arte Riachuelo” of Brazil's navy and then I thought let's see if I really have this gift; I took 3 works, three accepted and one awarded, then I had no more doubts as to whether or not I should go back to the World of Arts.

12- You have another activity beyond art? You teaches classes, lectures etc.?

No longer, I worked for 30 years with organizational development, implementing quality processes in large companies “ISO 9000”. Now just fun: paint and exhibit.

13- Its major national and international exhibitions and their awards?

The main national exhibitions were those of the “Salão de Artes Riachuelo” – Brazil's navy in 2017,2018 and 2019 with awards in the three.

The main international exhibitions were in European countries: Spain / Barcelona; Switzerland / Geneva; Italy / Rome; Austria / Vienna and Slovakia / Bratislava this in the years 2018, 2019 and 2021.

14- Your plans for the future?

Returning to Brazil, I will want to paint more in my studio and thus participate in more group exhibitions, individual, contests with my current and virtual friends.

15- In your opinion what is the future of Brazilian art and its artists? (in the general context) and why so many artists are giving preference to showing their work at international exhibitions despite the high costs?

The future of Brazilian Art is bright from my point of view, more and more artists Brazilians are being recognized and so we are conquering our space not only in Brazil but also in international exhibitions.

I believe that this opportunity to exhibit outside of Brazil is unique, you have the opportunity to be able to show Mundo your Art, the cost is part of the process of wanting to be known abroad.

Social Media:

WebSite: www.vidnikarts.com

Facebook: Julianna Vidnik

Instagram: @julianavidnik

REAL VERSUS REAL IN JULIANNA VIDNIK'S PAINTINGS

The artist Julianna Vidnik observes and paints the Still Life, demonstrating great technical skill accompanied by a softness, due to the treatment with the colors. His reliable representation recalls the fact that this pictorial characteristic is something that never ceased to surprise most viewers., Since antiquity.

The height of this impact can be seen in that story that happened in Ancient Greece about the competition between Zeuxis and Parrhasios over who was able to paint with greater mastery. Zeuxis painted grapes with such perfection that he deceived the birds themselves, who went to peck them like they were real grapes. Sure he had won, Zeuxis asked Parrhasios to remove the curtain that covered his painting, and he replied: “this is the painting!”. Parrhasios won the competition for being able to deceive a great painter.

Something changes when the artist moves into her landscapes, in which she releases her hand in blue brush strokes and reduces the details of the objects, more precisely, of vessels, what makes the sea and the sky not just secondary elements of the composition. And, in addition, reaches a fluid atmosphere as we can actually perceive the sea. The same is repeated in other paintings, that elevate the sky to the place of prominence together with the landscape concrete.

Thereby, Julianna Vidnik's landscapes pass to another step and can come to be perceived more clearly as the continuity of the artist's own look and sensation of interiority. A gentle and gentle look clearly manifested in his works. And, in a sense, no less real or mimetic than his Still Life paintings. Even because, worth noting, for ancient Greeks, mimesis in art did not mean mere copying, but the reproduction of reality as it manifests – which leaves room for a lot of reflection.

Anyway, together, the works of Julianna Vidnik, besides transmitting beauty and pleasant sensations, invite us to contemplate different horizons based on the relationship between what is inside and what is outside.

Text: Ana Mondini

Social networks:

Instagram: @anamondinigaleriavirtual / Facebook: @ anamondini.galeriavirtual

Instagram: @anamondiniart / Facebook: @anamondiniart

Youtube: @Ana Mondini – Interview with Artists & Related

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EDMUNDO CAVALCANTI
São Paulo – Brasil
Facebook Profile | Facebook Fan Page
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Columnist at Website Obras de Arte
E-mail: cavalcanti.edmundo@gmail.com