gaja madžarevič (19.3.1984)
I like to draw. I like to paint... Since I first colored my moms fashion magazine with colors....
My name is Gaja and I have been signing my name with a number 6 since I was four...
I mixed colors, splashed them around, was drawing abstract stuff instead of drawing princesses and dragons (although I believe in them very much)... I tried to cut wood, colored it and nailed together my first “treehouse” (that was very grounded in the backyard) before I was ten... at the same time I started to visit dance classes with Jana Kovač Valdes and realized that movement of my body in a space is similar to painting a blank canvas with brush strokes...
Although I was silently wishing to do arts and crafts and sell them by the river... I decided to do a “normal” high school so I went to gimnazija Bežigrad and was doodling through most of science lessons… I was still dancing at dancing school Intakt then so I didn’t lose my mind completely...
Later I enrolled at ALUO (Academy of fine arts and design in Ljubljana) that was more in my flow… The realistic things were still not the focus of my attention, and drawing a person that is supposed to be still for three hours was still not my kind of jam… but it got me proper foundations for composition and lots of skills… I was impressed with mixing techniques of colors, enjoyed calligraphy and sculpturing very much. Visual communications were the main course and graphic design should be the thing... but design is one of those things that everybody has their own taste and I didn’t fit in a box so I had to learn the hard way that not everyone can like my happy-colorful-unicorn-kinda-vibe...
Video was also a part of curriculum and I got to do my first video... to do a motion of shapes and have a tool to recreate reality... that was so fascinating to me! So, I filmed some cultural festivals in Slovenia (Liffe, Vilenica, CoFestival, Plavajoči grad, Gibanica, Exodos, Festival črk, Fičo dance journey…) I enjoyed mixing my dancing classes at Fičo balet at that time with shooting dance performances and workshops...
In 2013 I graduated BA degree in visual communications with video work titled “Artistically coded video ad”.
I was also a part of a few interesting workshops… in 2010 I was a part of technical workshop to present Nomad Shortcuts#3 as a part of Pleskavica festival in organisation of Nomad Dance Academy Slovenija… in 2012 I was filming for The Bridge Project with Sophie Haviland and Richard Foreman (co-production with Zavod Projekt Atol and SMG) and in 2014 I was a part of a year long workshop Fantom identitete about identity organized by Kitch. I also volunteered a lot and met the most amazing people at Mladi levi, Spider, Gibanica, Plesna vesna, Floating castle…
I still dance at Kompozicije razlik, friday classes with Dejan Srhoj where we explore space and body movement through different techniques and improvisation… I still love to shoot dance and performances and make dynamic sensuous video edits…
Through the years I did a few solo exhibitions, where I was exploring my own identity towards my self, friends, family and acquaintances... (Tetris of tears 2011 and Blackout to go 2012) and later I expended my exploration to social media in comparison to my deepest emotions (Lifeline and crossroads, Underneath it all in 2015)… In 2019 I made an exhibition #MYEMOJISTORY of more than hundred small watercolor paintings that were reflection of my true emotions and they were displayed as a reference to social media grids…
…at the same time Gaja’s tree house was born, an imaginary place, where you are able to buy some of my magic... I developed ultra light wooden yoga blocks to stabilize you during yoga practice (I make them from scratch with my hands), a collection of inspirational throw pillows with abstract motives from my exhibition, motivational messages, a collection of amazing vibe cups, colorful unique christmas decorations… I still paint abstractly and apply motives on everyday objects to make them like little reminders that everyone could be the best version of themselves before being the best version for others…
Yes, I also do some commercial stuff... and I am trying very very best to still believe in unicorns and rainbows while doing endlessly DIYs at home…
I still sign my artistic stuff with G/6 (“Is it a letter G or number 6?” question),
signing 6aja and that for almost forty years...
