Series “Tale of the Blue Pear” started in 2014, but it’s origins date started a long time ago, in Nikolina’s childhood and lasts to this day.

The series present a search for our own essence, which is embodied in the shape of a pear, in different color and sizes, which can be found in the majority of her artworks. It presents a quest for something ‘magical’, which is often missed in the everyday reality, but it also shows us symbolic relationships and situations which are encountered through life. In these worlds anything is possible and the ones who enters them can be all they imagine, as long as they enter them with a pure heart.

The story is divided into several chapters, and they show us various environments which the participants of the story encounter. One of the chapters is “Gentle Giants’ with gigantic personified animals and their journey through the surreal dreamland…

About ‘Gentle Giants’

Inspired by my childhood and love for animal kingdom I created  a visual story about a journey to imagined  parallel worlds which exist with our own. Nature in my work is usually staged, and rarely as we can find it in real life. With  creating strange imaginary landscapes these giant animals stand there as a guardians of its beauty.

It is hard  to see what is becoming of nature because of people’s negligence. By placing the scenes inside natural environment, I like to show magical situations  in nature which happen when we are not looking. The scenes have cinematic feel, like some movie that is happening with  actors such as elephant, flamingos, giraffes.. Although this time they are not in their natural habitat, but in some other fantasy world.

Shown with the positive, even humorous attitude, in these surreal scenes animals  have important roles with no hierarchy, quite opposite of what they face in real life, unfortunately. They are shown in allegorical meaning, sometimes depicting personified characters, showing us the animalistic side of human nature,  in a world where they are the main protagonists of the story. This is their story where they take us on a  journey to distant but familiar places in some faraway lands, presented in a dreamlike, surreal way. In calming sceneries these animals with personified qualities act as strange but gentle giant characters.

Emphasizing the  importance of animal world, they bring harmony and raise environmental awareness, they merge urbanization with serene nature, but also show us the different point of view on the world around us. By creating peaceful and harmonious situations and twisted animal habitat sceneries, which exist somewhere between material world and imagination, I want to share my dreamscapes and visions. My hope is that the viewer will pause, even for a while, and dive into these worlds to take a break from harsh and often cruel reality and step into these fantasies, where everything seems familiar, yet its construction and relationships are a bit odd, sometimes strange and dreamy and sometimes  just putting a smile on our face.

About Nikolina Petolas

Nikolina is a visual artist from Zagreb, Croatia. She works in various techniques, such as photo collage, digital art, oils and acrylics. With her works she searches to underline the psychological and social aspects of our identity and effects that endless soul searching has on our lives. In her metaphorical presentations, from dreamlike landscapes and fantasy scenery  to strange and dark characters, creatures and environments, she uses the observation of inner conflicts and questions that arise from them, as a dreamy and vivid example to show complex human emotions and drives as well as her subjective personal experience of the world.

Visual interpretations of animal fables with profound detailed compositions in her signature ‘Tale of the Blue Pear’ series has been recognized by private collectors worldwide and luxury venues such as Seabourn and Marriot autograph collection.

Nikolina’s work has gained multiple international awards and has been shown in numerous international exhibitions as well as several art projects. Her work was exhibited globally, in galleries and museums of Europe, USA and Asia, most recently being exhibited at an individual exhibition in Paris. Her art  is also represented in various books, magazines and publications, including the prestige “Lexikon phantastischer Künstlerinnen” by Gerhard Habarta. [Official Website]