Emilija Pasagic

Emilija Pasagic is a native of Belgrade in the former Yugoslavia. Formally educated in landscape architecture, she worked in Europe for several years. She arrived in Canada in 1993 and settled in Toronto, where she and her family continue to live.

Emilija had always drawn and painted and the settlement in Canada sparked an artistic rejuvenation. Early works include paintings on silk and an intense series of abstracted fruits and figures. She became involved in the vibrant Toronto art scene, joining ""The Scollard Street Artistic Cooperative"" and ""VAO"" (Visual Arts Ontario). Her focus is now on paintings of still life, particularly fruit and flowers executed in a richly textured mixed media.

Her technique involves a unique blending of bees wax and oil paint applied to paper, board or canvas. In this contemporary reference to the ancient technique of encaustic, the paint is sometimes blended into the hot wax, burnt into it or simply painted upon it. Careful layering and scratching is used to accent the texture.

The resulting tones are the yellows and oranges of Spain and Morocco and the olives and crimsons of the Mediterranean. The happy placement of flowers and fruits seemingly narrate lifes journeys. They tell stories of being together or apart and of creating identity.