PACK
2020
polyester
approx. 60 cm x 30 cm x 90 cm x 12 sculptures
Photo: Juraj Vuglač
Pack – a study of the Individual
Pack, created by the sculptor Vlatka Škoro, is a group of 12 new sculptures of the African wild dog conceptually gathered around the Alpha, the sculpture of the African wild dog from the growing Animal series of works (2019) exhibited last year in Zagreb and, in an expanded form, in Osijek. Pack is a continuation, that is, a kind of extension of the above mentioned series.
In her own wordsm the artist finds the African wild dog very fascinating because of the social order and social connections in the pack, its hunting skills, and most of all because this is the only breed of the dog family that is impossible to domesticate. With this group of works, the artist tries to convey their animosity abd distrust of people, and this is the reason their character is completely different than the other sculptures of Vlatka’s animal series that curious observes find irresistible to touch due to their char and likeability. The wild character of these animals is further emphasized by their insecure attitude, their distrustful glances and bent heads that call for constant caution, thus projecting their discomfort onto the observer. Although their emotional charge differs from the rest of the said series, the idea behind is completely the same.
The pack is the result of the artist’s instinct, artistic impulses that she is inclined to follow without questioning; the sculptures do not have an engaging function or allegorical value. In her work, Vlatka gives precedence to visual characteristics, while neglesting artistic activism – she transformsnatural visual elements into sculptural forms, which results in naturalistic sculptures. A homogenous group, the visual quality of which is manifestedin its naturalness, a sum of irregural, varied and dynamic lines, surfaces and forms that vary both within the group and in specific individuals. Biological authenticity, although existing, is not crucial. With each new Pack sculpture, Vlatka slightly deviates from the determined and biologically correct structure of the Alpha, thus changing her own aesthetics. She relativizes similaritiesand gives primacy to sculpturalism, due to which she approaches the work in a more studious sculptural sense. Although sketches, research and studies preceded the creationof the Alpha, the Pack presents itsreinvention, precisely in the artistic sense, where Vlatka uses an analytical methos by which she affirms her own sculptural procedure, like some kind of reverse study. In her work, the artist emphasizes the sculpting procedure, where the biological characteristics of her motifs are in the service of visual arts (more precisely sculptural characteristics, because the natural colour pattern of this breed only had an added value).
The theriomorphism of the Animals gains a new dimension with the Pack due to the significant choice of the motif of an animal that is completely unfamiliar with human presence, even finds it impossible. The animal’s organic structure is an imperative for Vlatka Škoro, for her meticulous approach to the subject, the same as her instinct that she follows both in the choice of motifs and in creating the sculpture itself. The naturalism of the Pack, manifested in the fluidity of natural (that is, scukptural) forms and sharacter of sculptures, contrasted to the neutral backdrop of the gallery space, is further emphasized. By contrasting the wilderness with the aesthetics of the civilized world and analytical deconstruction of structures, Vlatka Škoro gives us an insight into her own sculptural truth.
Ivan Roth
