In Blanchardstown, an artist shares her world of shapes and warm colours

Some of the artworks are framed prints on paper or linen. Others are wall mounted sculptures.

They’re colourful and abstract, yet warm and familiar.

“The work that I make is very much concerned with colour, space, shapes, form and composition, and working with those to create something new,” says Maria Atanacković, the artist behind the exhibition “Navigating Space”.

“Putting really simple shapes together to create something more,” she says.

She is stood in the middle of the gallery at Draíocht in Blanchardstown. Her striped trousers and necklace –  also her own designs – echo the work on the walls.

The exhibition, which is her first solo show, took about a year to create, she says. But it draws in the many materials and approaches that she has experimented with over almost two decades.

When Atanacković graduated from the London College of Communication in 2008, she specialised in printed textiles, she says. Fabrics were her main canvas.

But she has, since then, sought out new materials to experiment with and new methods like laser cutting, she says.

“She's tried loads of different media within and outside of printmaking,” says visual artist Niamh Flanagan, who officially opened the exhibition in June.

Flanagan says she has watched her grow over time. “It’s kind of phenomenal. She's on a real mission.” 

She says Atanacković’s assemblages using materials like wood and formica, as well as her screen prints, all explore similar ideas, but through different mediums.

“And I think that, in itself, creates this conversation, you know? I love that they suggest movement, they suggest balance, but also, they're so open,” says Flanagan.

Openness

That openness is intentional, says Atanacković. 

She makes sketches of loose images that arise from somewhere in her memory, and uses them as a springboard into the creative process. “Then I have to figure out how I’m actually going to make it.”

“Pareidolia” is a nine-piece mini-collection – all made of birch ply and formica – which sits within the wider exhibition.

One piece in “Pareidolia” seems to resemble stacked pots and pans. Another resembles kitchen knives. 

This is, of course, all in the eye of the beholder, Atanacković says.

She loves to hear what her works conjure in other people’s minds, she says. But for her, they are just pleasing shapes and designs.

The reach for the next process or material is a constant, she says.

Many pieces in “Navigating Space” are screen prints, in line with her early textiles work, she says.

But she has evolved from just that. Over time, she developed shoulder pain. It made the print process on textiles more difficult, she says.

“Your very first print might be just a few shapes, and then you put another layer, and then another layer, and then the image kind of builds up like that,” she says.

The dodgy shoulder has now pushed her on. Formica, a hard industrial material often used for kitchen counter tops, is a newish obsession, she says.  

She simply likes the feel and texture, she says. She isn’t sure how long this formica phase will last, but she is already eyeing up a next challenge.

One piece hanging on the Draíocht walls is itself named “Navigating Space”.

It’s made of small pieces of birch ply, painted with acrylic brown, green, blue and off-white, all stacked together symmetrically.

That was built from scrap material from other projects, she says. 

Off-cuts and found materials may be her focus in future, she says. “Trying not to use new materials and kind of challenge myself like that.”

She points to the twin works “Modulate” and “Spectra”. They’re 2D sculptures, she says.

But she wants to move into 3D works, she says, taking with her the language that she has developed through printmaking which is geometric and structured. “I just have to kind of figure out how to do that.”

The unknown is what excites Atanacković, she says.

Flanagan says that artists work best operating on the edge. 

If you get into a groove, and you’re comfortable, you can still make nice work, she says.

“But I think the energy lies in that potential for failure. Almost that constant kind of quest for figuring out new things, whether it's new media or new ways of working,” she says.

The magic goes on

The exhibition does not begin and end within this one gallery.

Upstairs in Draíocht is another room, just as bright. It’s an off-shoot to the main show. A “response space”, says artist Sarah Ward.

Children brought to see Atanacković’s work can head upstairs after, where they can create their own works, inspired by what they have seen.

One big goal of Draíocht, says Ward, is to find ways to engage children and families in the gallery.

The response space allows for a fun, physical, child-led experience, said Ward, who facilitates the workshops.

The excited explorative energy of children meshes well with Atanacković’s work, she says.

“The idea of navigating space is that we are automatically drawn to different things and different ways of making and moving around,” Ward says.

Atanacković, whose mother is Irish and father is Serbian, says that at this point in her life she feels blessed to continue doing what she loves. 

Especially given the challenges for artists to get by in the city today, she says.

Her Honduran husband has a “real job”, she says, and the pair are raising their 9-year-old daughter together.

She continues to look forward to her next idea, her next project, her next skill.

And hopefully, she says, her next solo exhibition. Atanacković starts a new year-long residency in Balbriggan’s Ardgillan Castle in October. 

“I have no idea what I’m going to do there yet.”

Navigating Space runs in Draíocht until 20 September. 

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.