Maja Vukoje
born in 1969 in Düsseldorf, Germany; lives in Vienna, Austria
Spa 2, 2020
wallpaper, recurring pattern, digitally edited from a painting as source
Commission evn collection 2020
First shown at Wallpaper #4, 2020 in Maria Enzersdorf, Austria
Inv. No. WP_18
Maja Vukoje’s work addresses the connection between global flows of goods and cultural exchange. In concise visual language, the artist illustrates economic, financial, and communicative worldwide interconnectedness. In the large-format painting Spa 2 (2020, acrylic on jute, 170 × 140 cm), there are accessories from the world of bathing culture – for example, an oversized cosmetic mirror and dynamic toilet paper. The multiplication of this motif as wallpaper gives the impression of an oversized grid system. We marvel at how Maja Vukoje cleverly wraps the pink paper around the bars, but at the same time are reminded of the hysterical “consumer experience” at the beginning of the Corona pandemic in the spring of 2020.
The classic cosmetic mirror shows a motif that we also know well from art history: René Magritte’s famous pipe in the painting The Betrayal of Images (Ceci n’est pas une pipe) [This is not a pipe] from 1929. The surrealist, whose works are also repeatedly associated with Freud’s theory of dream interpretation, wants to point out the connection between visual perception and thought. Maja Vukoje quotes this classic and also lets us ponder the possibilities of fake and imagination.