Artist and world nomad Ana Tzarev has lived a life that traverses the globe, having seen more than the average person in her 85 years of life. Her exposure to so many cultures has only deepened her respect for human diversity and a concern for disappearing cultures. In celebrating the cultural richness hidden from the view of the casual traveller, Ana Tzarev, is proud to present Postcards For The Future, a solo art exhibition featuring 47 new paintings taking place in Art Space @ Helutrans in Singapore from 19-27 November 2022.
Born in Trogir, Croatia, right before World War II, Ana grew up amidst upheavals and uncertainties. She moved to New Zealand and became a fashion entrepreneur before selling the business to travel around the world. In her mid-fifties, Ana found a second career as a full time artist. Since her first solo exhibition at London's Saatchi Gallery in 2012, her works have been shown at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg, the National Museum in Rome, Cite des Arts in Paris, and the Today Art Museum in Beijing while her sculptures have been installed in cities worldwide, notably at the 55th Venice Biennale, London, Singapore, and New York.
In the 24,000 sq ft space, her solo show in Singapore seeks to alert the world to what it very soon stands to lose. Over the past three decades, her colourful palette of artwork unveils the richness of little things in daily living and sheds light on their inner meaning. Depicting the daily details of life around the world, she relentlessly highlights both the differences that divide our human family and the underlying sameness that unites all of us. Ana Tzarev's art is the mirror of a changing world.
Ana Tzarev's Postcards For The Future will feature 47 paintings, each going on public show for the first time, alongside three sculptures.
Her paintings are known to immortalise time and tide with rich colours and bold, organic strokes, often depicting elements of nature from flowers in a field to the setting sun in vast watercolour skies. They each hold the key to the secrets of the cultures she draws them from, distinguishable by the Sakura blooms of Japan to the wheatfields of China.
Alongside the paintings are three sculptures that are part of Tzarev's Love and Peace Global Sculpture Campaign, consisting of 15 monumental sculptures that circled the globe from 2012 to 2017. Sharing the ennobling belief that art and flowers speak a universal language that can be understood by those with an open heart, her flowers are part and parcel of her love-letters to future generations.
Among them is the iconic Love, created in 2013. It was on display from October 2013 to April 2014 at the Dag Hammarskjold Plaza in New York City, close to the United Nations. The fiberglass sculpture is in the shape of a poppy flower. Poppies are strong symbols that align with Tzarev's creative intentions. They symbolize fertility, abundance, gentleness, compassion, beauty and gain. They also embody other positive attributes. The colour red has deep emotional and spiritual connotations. In this particular flower-context red is a symbol of energy, courage and vigour. Together, all of these elements anchor a vision of the future that is hopeful, worth living, and aligned with the creative power of an artist whose work is manifesting joy and hope on an international scale.
Born right before World War II in Trogir, Croatia, Ana is no stranger to chaos and destruction. As a child, she found respite in flowers - nurturing and growing them in Red Cross powder-milk tins. Today, flowers are ever present in her oeuvre of works, her fascination with floral motifs and transnational culture evident.
Prior to her second-career as an artist, Tzarev started a couture fashion line and her husband in New Zealand in 1973. In the 80s, they then sold the business and travelled the world. Since then, Ana has also lived in Australia, England, Monaco, and Cap Ferrat in France, with regular travels to Hawaii, Hong Kong and Phuket where her studio resides.
Ana Tzarev became a full time artist in her fifties - creating both vibrant, textural paintings and monumental sculptures that have been shown in London's Saatchi Gallery and in the 55th Venice Biennale. She has also exhibited in the great museums all over the world; including St Petersburg and State Museum Hermitage in 2011, where she gave a speech in Russian to over 600 attendees and from there she had over 100 exhibitions in many major state museums, where her art is being collected.
