T
he painting of Berenice Michelow, intensely personal and alive with vibrant humanity, is very deeply rooted in the artist's upbringing. During her childhood amidst South African Apartheid, Michelow became distinctly aware of the racial struggle and turmoil within the state, and from this tension she derives much of her subject matter. But she wisely chooses to present a positive social commentary, portraying the strength of the black community and the familial sense of intercon-nectivity that now emerges in today's free South Africa. The faces of her figures radiate warmth and reveal the artist's deep, personal attachment to the subject: these are not just pictures on a canvas, but representations of complex personalities and relationships. "Sibusisu with Cars" is part of a series dedicated to the new South Africa. The single figure, a young boy, addresses the viewer directly with a complex expression; in his hand he holds the controls to a skeletal toy car, which seems to represent the infrastructure of the burgeoning nation. Through light, form, and symbol, Michelow makes it clear that Sibusisu stands as the future of his national heritage.
Michelow is a highly celebrated artist with credentials including participation in the 1979 Valparaiso Biennale and placements in prestigious private collections. She began her work in abstraction and has since moved to more naturalistic forms, citing a growing political awareness as the cause of this shift. The paintings make it clear that her subjects are heartfelt; the realization of this personal connection makes the work so much stronger. www. michelow. com
Berenice Michelow
Nelida Kalanj
I
n her pastel "Nymph in Movement," the Croatian artist Nelida Kalanj creates a faceless woman entangled in roots or other sinewy connectors that resemble, overall, an intricate neural network. Yet the union between the woman and her surroundings is seamless; the roots are a part or extension of the woman's own body. The interconnections between humans and nature are an important sensitivity Kalanj explores in the many works she has undertaken over the past 25 years. In "Dancing Fishes," the connection between human-made processes—in this case, art itself—and nature is even more apparent. Carrying the spontaneity of a sketch, it remains in the middle of the process of creation and at the same time is in a state of completion.
Public displays of Kalanj's art have been numerous. Kalanj has had approximately 50 solo exhibitions and many group exhibitions throughout Europe and the world. Her highest honor may have come during the early 1990s when, as civil war raged in then Yugoslavia, Kalanj was called upon by the Presidency of Croatia's Constitutional Court to exhibit her work for a gathering of foreign delegates. She was called upon by the presidency of Germany's Constitutional Court to exhibit her work under their patronage. Kalanj lives and works in Rijeka in northwestern Croatia, the city in which she previously studied at the Academy of Fine Art. She is a member of the Croatian Association of Artists (the HDLU) and the Society of Artists in Croatia (LIKUM).