Ljubica Todorovic
BFA Drawing 

Artist Statement

Picasso once said “There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality.”

My abstract work revolves around the idea that life is one huge abstraction, pieced together to make up this space we call reality. I strive to interpret colour sensations based on the energy of living things in the highly versatile and expressive medium of oils and charcoal. I consider memories to be part of this study, and so turn to family photographs as reference material. I construct small paper windows with an opening no larger than 1 ” x 1 ” as a tool to zoom into these photographs; the windows allow me to discover tiny abstract worlds within the photos.

Images of daily acreage rituals crop up frequently in my repository of family photographs: times when I was gardening with my mother; hens walking around the yard; numerous pets including rabbits, cats and a family dog; endlessly changing Alberta skies, ranging from storm season to beautiful morning sunrises and snowy expanses. Each photograph reflects a moment in time which only exists in the photograph and my memory; in parallel to this, the subsequent paintings which I create based on these photographs/memories become frozen in a new time.

When I create my reference windows, sometimes I find an image which speaks more to me as a literal representation instead of an abstract one. Regardless of the end product, all of my works have a story behind them. When speaking about my work, I will usually start off by talking about which particular moment or event in time inspired it’s creation. Storybooks and myths have always been of interest to me and will continue to inspire my artwork creation.

Works Available

Candy Cells
22″x28″
Oil & charcoal on canvas
$800

Organism
60″x72″
Oil & charcoal on canvas
$3000