“First of all, she looks for common, essential human values and identifying inner spiritual light in a human being.”

Peter Markovic (curator)

Limited selection from the art production of the painter, Nicoleta Jutka, represents the works of art produced mainly in the period of last two years. Her paintings convey two key themes that feature her objectives. The selected collection contains specifically tuned landscape painting as well as a series of portrays of young people, the painter’s prevailing theme. Nicoleta Jutka presents her art work and creative concept under the title Light that Penetrates Darkness. The title indicates a symbolic perception of the fundamental aspect used by the artist. Jutka creates varicolored and lively perspective on society characterized mainly by coloristically and expressively viewed portraits. The author comes from Romania but lives and works in Germany. When she had moved to Germany, she experienced a change of cultural identity and transition to a new cultural environment. Her art work conveys the process of reconciling her values with new cultural challenges and different motions. Her new life situation generates signals for focused observation and depiction of this sensitive topic of her life that has, to a great extent, became a premise for defining her scope of interest in intense searching of environment and its cultural modification and differentiation. She strives to find identifying and integrating options in diverse situations. She acknowledges there is no unifying cultural mode. Thus, she is sensitive and responsive to perception and manifestation of different cultural contexts. 


First of all, she looks for common, essential human values and identifying inner spiritual light in a human being.

The change of environment and a fundamental conversion of the cultural context represent a substantial moment in searching for identity and integrating factors in an ambiguous existence. She assumes there is one aspect that rules over various cultural and ethnical differences, namely a common human approach represented by search of every human being for individual responsibility in a common interconnected world in which we live. Nicoleta Jutka’s project is mainly about search for light in a human being. Radiation of an inner world and observation of world’s manifoldness in a coloristically accented image of a human being gives us an indication of her notion and perception of multifaceted social environment and different cultural contexts. Symbolically perceived inner light of the paintings, contained in luminescence element in a paint pigment, indicates her vision to depict the fight between light and darkness of the (exhibition) premises or, in figurative level, the fight with philosophical and mental darkness. Light emission and perception of depicted world in profuse coloristic perspective indicates Jutka’s general program aspect. Artistically, Jutka is genuine Expressive artist; her art work manifests a strong art diction following artist’s Neo-Expressive concept. Hers work is absolutely new. Similar expressive lineage could be, quite justifiably, identified as one of the typical features of new painting. By her art perception and by her artistic character she acknowledges her connection to significant expressionist new tradition. Jutka works with a significant coloristic onset, fluorescent references and art sentiment are also to be observed. Vibrant coloristic expression, hedonistic, “barbarically” intense, even exaggerated coloristic art forms, and distinctive visible emotional experience from working with pigment, represent a key value of her artistic expression. 
Unnaturalistic, non-descriptive art model tends towards forming a simplified expression, an art form that is freed from art recital limiting details. The artist’s neo-expressive art work is two faceted – it aims on landscape and portrait. In landscape, she stresses the importance of a detail, sketched in free expressive form. She usually focuses on dominating robustly, even illustratively conceived floral motif or similarly, loosely sketched tree motif. A very interesting deviation from this artistic lineage is a large format landscape painting depicting trees. It consists of eight parts and is made in a coloristically “silenced” form with unique application of optical, even atmospherically felt reflections of light and tree lines portrayed in reflection on a water surface. In the main series the artist created distinctively expressive portraits of young people. Stylized paintings of heads with reduced depiction of physiognomy enable significantly exposed onset of the coloristic expressions of sadness. Apparently, widely open eyes and highlighted lips create symbolized image of inner man, which is hidden behind a colorful fire that lights the faces. Inner light, sadness, wondering or skepticism, all that is possibly present in this interpretation. Silent glare cannot be overlooked and it brings an element of pondering and pause into Jutka’s hedonistic painting. Inner light is what we search for and anticipate in a human being. It can come in a form of happiness or sadness, yet once we finally experience these feelings, we come to understanding. Colorful multicultural saturated reality of the portraits seemingly enters into an inner dialog stating questions about myself to myself. She’ work is absolutely new”

Peter Markovič (curator)