[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” background_color_gradient_direction=”0deg” background_image=”https:\/\/www.marjetagodler.si\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/paint_spots_2.png” background_size=”contain” background_position=”top_center” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.3″ _module_preset=”default” header_font=”|300|||||||” header_font_size=”56px” header_line_height=”1.4em” header_3_font=”Open Sans|700||on|||||” header_3_text_color=”#999999″ header_3_font_size=”12px” header_3_letter_spacing=”5px” text_orientation=”center” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.marjetagodler.si\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/circle_marjeta.png” title_text=”circle_mariet” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.24.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Biografija” _builder_version=”4.27.3″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_line_height=”1.4em” text_orientation=”center” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Marjeta Godler was born in 1959 in Ljubljana and studied English and Comparative Literature at the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana. In 1980 she decided to study painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana, graduating in 1984. She then completed her MA in painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana and her MA in Textile and Clothing Design at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering in Ljubljana. She has been a lecturer at this faculty since 1992 and became a full professor in 2015. She has exhibited her work mainly abroad, occasionally in Slovenia. She is a painter and textile artist and has written a book Art in Thought, Creativity in Drawing<\/em>. <\/p>\n Marjeta Godler’s painting has many different approaches and visual meanings, from personal stories about a specific space, to “abstract paintings” (where it is never just a matter of formally assembling coloured shapes into a composition). She does not see much difference between the range of these possibilities, because all forms emerge from interior spaces that are special and sacred, and that also want to “shine” outwards through the worlds of colour. Most of the recent works have been made in nature, exploring specific light situations that change, but in this case they are not just impressions or expressions, they contain a deeper search, delving into hidden and sacred meanings. <\/p>\n Marjeta Godler’s paintings are a personally experienced testimony about a section of a place where she paints a lot outdoors, often lakes: the Cerknica Lake, the Gradi\u0161ko Lake. She often lets herself be inspired by the planets as she dances with planetary forces across the universe… When painting in nature, he often uses various natural earth materials in addition to paint: sand, soil, grasses… Her painting constantly avoids definitions and, although she uses all the skills of modern painting, she remains faithful to her own principles, avoiding in particular those that follow the “mainstream” and the globalist systems of modern times. <\/p>\n In 1990, her life was enriched by her daughter Laura, whose sensitive understanding has inspired her creative work time and again.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”3_5,2_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”||54px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.marjetagodler.si\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/awakening_moon.jpg” alt=”Marjeta Godler – Awakening with the Moon” title_text=”Waking up with the moon” show_in_lightbox=”on” disabled_on=”off|off|off” _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” border_width_all=”20px” border_color_all=”#FFFFFF” box_shadow_style=”preset3″ box_shadow_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.6)” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.marjetagodler.si\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/silver_planet.jpg” alt=”Marjeta Godler – Silver Planet” title_text=”Silver Planet” show_in_lightbox=”on” disabled_on=”off|off|off” _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” border_width_all=”20px” border_color_all=”#FFFFFF” box_shadow_style=”preset3″ box_shadow_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.6)” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row disabled_on=”off|off|off” _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Marjeta Godler: Iskanje bistva v globinah barve” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_line_height=”1.4em” header_4_font=”Open Sans|700||on|||||” header_4_text_color=”#999999″ header_4_font_size=”12px” header_4_letter_spacing=”5px” text_orientation=”center” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_line_height=”1.4em” header_4_font=”Open Sans|700||on|||||” header_4_text_color=”#999999″ header_4_font_size=”12px” header_4_letter_spacing=”5px” text_orientation=”center” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n Marjeta Godler is a painter who is equally passionate about the depth of a work of art as she is about its surface. The essence of her work lies in the direct connection between these two forces. Let’s stop first at the surface. The painter skilfully uses both the message of the format and the techniques of application. The very supports of her works are varied, ranging from small sketches to large format works, sometimes the support is classical and sometimes the artist returns to the round form of her early works. She uses a variety of painting techniques, characterised by the use of innovative, unusual materials, such as soil from Lake Cerknica mixed with water, which creates an interesting watercolour effect. <\/p>\n –<\/p>\n The most important aspect of Marjeta Godler’s painting career has been the exploration of colour as a essential painting material. It is colour that most specifically characterises painting in itself (although not exclusively) and Marjeta Godler has a passionate interest in it. Already her master’s thesis at ALUO was dedicated to the colour blue. The fact that blue is the colour that comes closest to the unearthly, spiritual perception of the world around us is also proven by the work of some other artists. To mention just Yves Klein and Anish Kapoor, who have also explored blue extensively (alongside other single colours). Yves Klein has painted many monochrome paintings with the colour he calls Klein blue<\/em>, because he believes that the depth, calm and peace that this colour offers does not need any accessories. It is the exploration of the transcendent in the visual that inspires his work. To deepen the experience of the depth of the colour blue, Kapoor’s paintings use optical illusions that give the viewer the sensation of being absorbed into an endless tunnel of colour. <\/p>\n Unlike Klein, who is close to the Zen-like discovery of nothingness – the absence of everything unnecessary, and Kapoor, who is interested in the third dimension of the two-dimensional surface, Marjeta Godler expands her experience of the world in all directions. Some theories of painting understand the work of male artists as directional, focused, while the work of female artists is said to extend into space, across the surface. This is certainly true of Marjeta Godler’s painting; her understanding of the world as perceived through her work leads us on a journey of exploration, of discovering nature and the stunning detail that abstract painting offers. One could say: the journey is the destination<\/em>, because the viewer, too, is constantly exploring, discovering and letting himself experience new and new techniques and motifs in these paintings. <\/p>\n –<\/p>\n Among Marjeta Godler’s most interesting works are her depictions of the elements: water, fire and earth in a mystical round format, with thick layers in a wild interplay of colours that most characterise each element.<\/p>\n Her work could be linked to the efforts of nature conservationists, as it shows a deep respect for nature and the need to be as close to it as possible. This is most evident in her series of lake and river landscapes, which are created in situ<\/em>, in direct contact with the landscapes that inspire her. The process of creating these paintings is akin to a magical ritual, which further links her painting to traditions of mystical creation, such as Tibetan tanks or Orthodox icons. However, notwithstanding the sincere pursuit of spirituality in the painting process itself, Marjeta Godler’s works do not belong to any of the currently current religious practices, which distances them from all institutional frameworks, both those that guide artistic production and those that use art to express religious or spiritual beliefs. This non-adherence, this rebellion, this resistance to the practices imposed on us in the contemporary world, makes Marjeta Godler’s creativity, on the one hand, elusive, indefinable, and on the other, striking precisely because of the originality of the path she explores. Her message is clear: let us withdraw from the dictates of screens, let us return to nature and let us surrender to the moment, especially when we are in touch with beauty. <\/p>\n Among the painter’s works, which with their abstract quality emphasise above all a visual language that addresses the viewer in a mystically spiritual sense, stand out the figurative images that take the desire for depth in the exploration of meaning from abstraction into the realm of a more direct address through the depiction of the human body. She skilfully avoids the surrealist concretization of mystical experience, preferring instead to speak through the depicted body in itself. In her paintings, a young woman sits in a meditative posture in a landscape with which she merges into one. The corporeality of the representation, which expresses the mystical experience, can be compared with the Christian tradition of sacred images (icons) and representations of saints, who use their bodies to convey the mystical dimension of their experience. <\/p>\n In the artist’s own words, “I feel my work is part of a sacred process. In a special way, it touches on a ‘magical’ field that is closest to poetry. My painting is very intense and connected to the Zen way, as it has a meditative pre-preparation (lifelong) and is created in a field of a certain purity or emptiness<\/em>.” <\/p>\n –<\/p>\n At a time when fine art is often experienced primarily as socially engaged (critical, accentuated conceptual), Marjeta Godler’s painting maintains contact with the classical understanding of painting. If her use of techniques is more retro than neo, it can be said that this does not make her work any less topical and socially critical. Through her paintings she confronts us with the need for the mystical and the spiritual, while at the same time making us understand that we can only return to ourselves through a deeper contact with nature. Already in the Renaissance, artists believed that nature was our greatest teacher, and Marjeta Godler is a great believer in this idea. <\/p>\n Marjeta Godler uses the social engagement characteristic of visual expression in contemporary times primarily in the field of her pedagogical work. Her projects, in which she and students of the NTF (Textile Design) explore current social issues and respond to them with textile commentaries, go beyond the faculty or gallery space and take the form of art-political actions. In this way, textile design students weave their impressions of the city, the banks of the Ljubljanica river, Hostel Celica or a paediatric hospital. Typically, these projects involve a large number of participants, not only 30-40 students, but also experts from other fields, and above all the users of the public spaces where these actions take place. A socially critical note is added by the subtle commentary on the distinction between the sexes (Who’s Afraid of Witches?), the problematisation of the privatisation of, for example, Slovenian forests (the organised division of trees) and the ghettoisation of particular social groups (the Geto project). Some projects, however, simply draw attention to the importance of aestheticizing our everyday lives, even when we find ourselves in a non-domestic environment such as a hospital or a hostel. <\/p>\n –<\/strong><\/p>\n In conclusion, activism and commitment are essential characteristics of all Marjeta Godler’s projects, both pedagogical and intimate research projects. To the end and beyond! <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row disabled_on=”off|off|off” _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_divider color=”#cccccc” divider_position=”bottom” _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_divider][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Odlomek o Marjetinem delu” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_line_height=”1.4em” header_4_font=”Open Sans|700||on|||||” header_4_text_color=”#999999″ header_4_font_size=”12px” header_4_letter_spacing=”5px” text_orientation=”center” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_line_height=”1.4em” header_4_font=”Open Sans|700||on|||||” header_4_text_color=”#999999″ header_4_font_size=”12px” header_4_letter_spacing=”5px” text_orientation=”center” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n Marjeta Godler’s work is characterised by a constant desire to feel the materials, where the metaphor of “prima materia” is present and listens to her subtly and deeply. Sometimes it is the paint she applies with precise brushstrokes on canvas, the colour with its universal meanings, but it can be the coloured texture of a textile that turns it into a vibrant object, or a copper wire that the artist’s fingers turn into a special cocoon… <\/p>\n The micro and macro structures of artworks are elements of the material world, in which we can see a wide range of details – the interplay of the physical and the spiritual is present in the transformation of different elements into a visual work of art. In this way, a whole is created, a whole in its uniqueness and at the same time a universal image. <\/p>\n The poetics of Marjeta Godler’s work consists of a bright and radiant depth of expression.<\/p>\n This radiance, present in her paintings and visible in the many layers of colour and colourful textures of her textile works, is increasingly rare today, as our everyday life has become more impersonal and technical, and things are mostly done quickly and rationally. This glow of layers work, of working slowly through time, has a meditative touch and is always present in this artist’s work, as one has the feeling of always remaining within the reality to which her spirit belongs… <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Marjeta Godler About meBiography Marjeta Godler was born in 1959 in Ljubljana and studied English and Comparative Literature at the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana. In 1980 she decided to study painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana, graduating in 1984. She then completed her MA in painting at the Academy of Fine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1185","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nDr Tanja Mastnak, art historian<\/h4>\n
Marjeta Godler: Finding the Essence in the Depths of Colour<\/h2>\n
Helena \u010cretnik, art historian<\/h4>\n
Excerpt about Marjeta’s work<\/h2>\n