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| Transfigurative painting is the term Markovic uses for his monochrome portraits of woman. He portrayed thirteen prominent women from different cultures all holding representative functions in their society: an actress, a President's wife, a singer, a bandit, a scientist, a designer etc... Each portrait is 122 x 88 cm in vertical format, with a wide golden frame. The surface of the painting is made of fine chinese velvet. For the colour lipstick is used, which is rubbed into the cloth's texture. In line with established museum practice, every frame has a brass nameplate attached, with the "transfigurative person's" name on it. The term transfiguration in (early) Christian terminology describes the appearance of God in the person of Christ. Christ is the earthly shape of Gods "true" image and hence, for the Ortodox Church, became the basis of icon painting. Markovic grew up in Serbien Ortodox Belgrade during the time of communist Yugoslavia. The existing communist popular culture suppressed metaphysical painting. Markovic's interest in ideological and religious iconology and representation and his search for a figuration beyond Realism developed in the mid-1980s in Berlin. Since the early 90s he has used the term "prototype" to describe his work which relates not only to ideas about sacral tradition ("the first") but also to the original (the matrix) for technical duplication. His series of women's portraits is an attempt to synthesise and update the western tradition of portrait painting. At first sight the red and golden works appear to be seductive, chic and kitsch all at the same time. The ornate golden frames are an affront to the framelessness of modernity. They represent the gold's journey from the centre to the edge of the painting; to the value giving, valuable frame. The gold is transformed into a profane aureole for the depicted person. The lipstick's colour also suggests an analogy between the person's charisma and a personal cultural standard: Catherine Deneuve is Bordeaux-red, Hillary Clinton more pink, Phoolan Devi is painted in a glowing orange, Vivienne Westwood in a mix of bluish red... The meaning of the monochrome paintings is transferred to their text, another allusion to the relationship between word and image and their different historical functions: writing as both signature and identity mark, as a comment on the image, as a trigger for (media-generated) models. Twentieth century idols of popular culture have became artistic "originals" of idolatry. |
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