BRANKO FARAC    

Unlike earlier style periods, the body in modern art possesses unlimited potential which successfully manifest human freedom whereat the body isn’t necessarily illustratively connected to relevant dogmatic context. Nevertheless, it is notable that a man today isn’t enshrined in his own body and that his identify can no longer be found just in prescribed frames of its visible anatomy’s constructive topography. The body seemingly experienced decomposition and became almost useless. Vital body functions, thanks to technological surrogates, are adapted to an aprosthetic world. The body in fact became just anthropomorphic indication of what we use to call a man because a man himself founds his own new strength in is artificial extensions. From cubism hither, art also took a challenge in reconstruction of his physical prevalence disfiguring it and creating a whole new reality out of body fragments.

            Branko Farac is a painter of a body, but in his works we notice that individual and particular are replaced by interpretation of surreal and inapprehensible while his scope as a painter is transformed in metalinguistic projection of substantial odds. Paced and identified this way, Branko Farac's art world which acts in past and future synergy abundant with layers leaves inquisitive observer no indifference. Before our eyes mysterious, surrealistic motifs are opening dragging a bystander by its ambiguity from recognizable time and space of any kind. Using a picture, whole new world is created, different and entirely imaginary scenery of human existence so that, faced with inability of precise definition of concrete existential environment of displayed characters, we become aware of theirs meta-historical role. Only picture titles scarily indicate existence of a story and thematic correlation of these works.

            In this overlapping of material and fluid, of logical and intuitive, exactly the one multilayerness which transparently puts these works in realm of thoughts and subconsciousness existence in a man is achieved. Maybe in procedure, we may say, of mannerist ambiance in scenery displaying, the painter gives indications also of certain anxieties and human frailty. However, Farac converts his male, female and often androgens characters in multiplicated signs which function as extraordinary examples of mythological transpositions of most basic archetypes: Eros and Thantos. Farac's world hence isn’t based on  real, existent patterns nor is it situated in concrete and recognizable events but we can experience it more as universal, symbolic value and exactly this fact considerably create distance from the artist and his modernistic precursors (De Chirico, Magritte or Bellmer).

Belonging to a period of fragmentation and deconstruction in modern art, Farac testifies about decay of a human body surrounded by new diseases, genetic surveys and dissipated nature. The artist no longer suggests only what is good or bad in today’s biological metamorphose of a body, but it seems that his painted visions have tendency towards whole new utopia order restitution. Thus, Farac successfully withstands to indifference and nihilism which label so sadly most of post modernistic authors and he packed with not at all easy assignment to redefine with  fis reflections not just art but contemporary existing models in general. His characters as thou are seeking way out of knotted situation they inadvertently found themselves in. Color and shapes selections contribute greatly to anxiety so that strongly elaborate color scheme and presence of phallic and fish-like “scenic” accents substantially determines psychological and erotic tensions level of painted scene. Night light and shadow diffused in sfumato through somnolent spaces melting the composition in expressive bright and dark arabesque system lead us to the imaginary exit point by its own inner logical sequence.

Former art critic's reflections about Branko Farac's art already pointed out taking different intermediate experiences (in particular from movie. Comics and popular culture in genre) as his possible stronghold. Not just within the meaning of his poetic definition in general but also in his skilful narrative discourse utilization by which the artist accomplishes strongly “tense” atmosphere of his visual scenery. However, we could fall easily into a trap of unilateral interpretation by so general indicated characterizes of metaphysical, symbolic, surreal and onyric in his painting's content as this is exclusively about eclectic approach to artistic problems. But, it doesn’t have to be always so. Exactly the inclination to reinterpretation of prior experiences of last centuries figurative painting and continuity and own upgrade of elected historical, genre and style varieties of European modernism resulted in such wondrous identity of Branko Farac's art journey.