In the 1970s, Bogdan Borčić dedicated himself exclusively to graphic art, and during that time created the famous “Shells” cycle. Towards the end of the decade the monumental curvatures of shells and snails disintegrated. His depictions of shells later multiplied and took up the entire surface of the print sheet, until they disappeared entirely and turned into dots. In this final act, the shell dissolved into the background and the artist transposed this discovery onto the canvas. From this point onwards, the artist’s style can be described as minimalism. This stylistic transition is also marked by a new painting technique, as artists started to use acrylic paints on canvas.

In the paintings from the 1980s the artist completely abandoned the mimetic: his paintings are entirely static and monochromatic, in red, violet and grey tones. These are bare colour surfaces, without any illusionist aids and do not denote anything outside themselves. This radical reduction of visual signs causes the painting to become an object with no symbolic function, equal to all others, with the important distinction of retaining its aesthetic value.

Text: Jernej Kožar