Lea Jerlagic

Artists
Written By Valerie Auersperg

Artist based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

ABOUT

Lea Jerlagić was born in Sarajevo in 1984 and graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2007, she was awarded a Chinese Government scholarship to study at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, under Professor Zhang Xiaofeng, where she explored Chinese culture, language, and woodblock printing. She earned her master's degree from the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo in 2013, with a project titled Synaesthesia, focusing on sensory transformation through visual art under the mentorship of Professor Salim Obralić. Lea has been actively exhibiting her work since 2008 and became a member of the Association of Visual Artists of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ULUBIH) in 2011. She has participated in numerous national and international exhibitions, including Drawing Communication in Okinawa. Her notable solo exhibitions include Chinese Woodcuts at the China Academy of Art, Synaesthesia at Gallery Java in Sarajevo, Eros in Počitelj, and Erotic Persona at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo. Lea's accomplishments include several prestigious awards, such as the Best Graphic Award (2013), the Special Prize for Experimental Chinese Woodcut at the First International Printmaking Triennial in Livno (2017), and the Best Drawing Award at ULUBIH's 6th of April exhibition. Currently, Lea is an Assistant Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo, where she passionately communicate her knowledge of drawing and painting to new generations of artists. Her work is a constant exploration of the mysteries of human nature. Inspired by her own spiritual practices, Lea aims to shape her personal revelations and inner insights, drawing from the vast wisdom of various spiritual traditions around the world.

ARTIST STATEMENT

As my art practice progresses, I have started pondering its direction and next steps. What is the legacy I’d like to leave behind? I was once asked, what is art? For me, I said, art is a path to self-revelation. So all the creative processes expressed outwards in the same time dig deeply inside of me, helping me realise the wast inner world and spaces where lies the greater connection with the life and all the beings. As a printmaker educated in traditional techniques of printmaking, process was always important to me. Not as the rigid rules but as a playground with its rules and its possibilities. I’ve always liked to combine different media of conducting the artwork. For me, it is as the musical improvisation where brushes, printing pads, pens and paper are mine instruments and the final result is a symphony created out of many layer of emotions, thoughts, intentions and ideas. Even when I started experimenting with acrylic painting I brought this curiosity of a printmaker with me within the process. I would leave a painting over night as for first layer to dry just as if it was a printed woodcut upon which I would paint or draw later on. For the past decade I dedicated my artwork practice to the exploration to the sacred erotic arts inspired by tantric and taoist teachings. I was amazed by the wast knowledge and natural approach ancient cultures of India and China had towards human body and eroticism. Compared to the contemporary apparently wast but scarce knowledge I was inspired to share it by visualising and shaping some of these ideas. My exploration recently shifted to the exploration of the sacred feminine and the importance of rest, nurturing and being instead of constantly achieving, eventually making the healthy balance. Recently I started exploring the themes of deep diving into the oceans of subconsciousness in order to reveal, accept and still stay amazed by its mysteries. Creation of an artwork is a shaping of an idea, yet we are not shaping it only with the tools we use, but with our whole being in that very moment, in that very space. That is why for me it is important to always carry a sketchbook with me. Each new geographical area, each new city and culture make my line different, enrich my being in a specific way. And yet all these differences lead me to a deeper insights into reality of myself firs and then the whole universe. My art practice is my meditation both, towards outside and towards inside. Although there are few themes I am drawn to in my art practice what I would like to awake in others is this thirst for self-knowledge, quest for self-exploration, since all the mysteries are actually hidden inside. Beauty of it is that although we constantly search and reveal, we can never stay without mystery.

Valerie Auersperg https://valerism.com
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