“The only constant in this world is change,” a line penned by Petar Preradović in the 19th century conveys, in an almost paradoxical fashion, the notion of the world as a space in perpetual transformation. This idea, however, reaches back much further, to antiquity and the ancient saying Panta rhei (everything flows), most commonly attributed to the Greek philosopher Heraclitus. Watching rivers move, he came to realise that no one can ever step into the same water twice. This concept laid the groundwork for countless interpretations within Western philosophy, gradually shaping the way we understand time and existence. It is within this very framework that the painterly oeuvre of Andrea Musa finds its natural home.
For more than two decades, her practice has grappled with the fundamental questions of human life, placing particular weight on the notion of time, a theme that runs through her work like a thread, growing richer and more layered with each successive cycle. Drawing on her own experiences, deeply shaped by a childhood marked by frequent moves, and inspired by film, literature, poetry, and philosophy, the artist now highlights that movement and temporality are central to her work, along with a desire to convey what transpires on a spiritual plane. The philosophical stirrings of her early years have gradually matured into a wholly distinctive visual language, one that traces the dynamic interplay between the inner world of the human spirit and the world of nature beyond it.
Although Andrea’s work might initially appear aligned with the tradition of landscape painting, she deliberately moves away from the plein air approach and from treating the landscape as merely a visual spectacle. While her practice is clearly grounded in the experience of being in nature, the landscape is never an end onto itself; rather, it functions as a medium through which she conveys her inner state of consciousness. In this sense, her art belongs to a current of contemporary practice that interprets the landscape as a mental and phenomenological space, with particular focus on the motifs of the sea and mountains. However, their significance lies not in geography but in the archetypal meaning they hold for the artist, evoking a sense of awe in a manner reminiscent of the Romantic tradition. The sea serves as a metaphor for the relentless passage of time, a deep and mysterious force that both draws in and unsettles, while mountainous landscapes convey feelings of stability alongside a sense of humility. Moreover, in her effort to convey the experience of constant change and transience, the artist frequently highlights her fascination with the wind, an element that perpetually introduces movement by reshaping the contours of space, both in reality and in her work. It is also noteworthy that the scenes she depicts are neither fictional nor imagined or artificially constructed. From mountain peaks and caves to coastlines and a variety of (often extreme) weather conditions, all are drawn from real, lived experiences.
Patterns of Stored Time is Andrea’s latest series, and stands as a synthesis of many years of artistic enquiry built upon the concepts of movement, transformation and transience. For the artist, the act of painting marks the culmination of a deeply considered process, one that includes writing, photography, video-making and countless sketches, with the finished canvas emerging as the distilled residue of everything experienced and internalised. This particular cycle was preceded by an immersion in scientific literature, with Musa researching a wide range of studies exploring how our perception of time shifts according to whether we inhabit an urban or natural environment, an enquiry that lends additional precision to the thematic concerns of the work. What is striking is that during this phase, colour, ordinarily central to her practice, comes to feel like an unwanted distraction, leading her towards a monochromatic palette which, in her own words, speaks more plainly to her experience of nature. An additional novelty lies is the expansion of the work into other media, with the exhibition bringing together not only painting but also the artist’s own poetic writings and a video installation. The imagery in the paintings refer back to video footage captured spontaneously during time spent in nature, unplanned and unscripted moments in which the artist, as she describes it, records the passage of time within natural systems. These are raw, amateur recordings that transform the stillness of the painted image into the dynamism of movement. Set against a musical backdrop by Canadian-Berlin composer and sound artist Timothy Isherwood, these small video improvisations serve at once as records of a lived moment in nature and as something closer to free association. Poetry, meanwhile, articulates an experience that either anticipates the painting or accompanies it. Ultimately, Patterns of Stored Time may be understood as a personal visual archive, one that opens up a space for contemplation in which the observer, through an immersive experience, is invited to reflect on their own relationship with time, space and the movement through the world.
Ivana Vukušić
Andrea Musa was born in Frankfurt. She graduated in painting from the Assenza Academy in Basel and in law from the Faculty of Law in Split. She has exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Croatia and abroad, including in New York, Amman, Hong Kong, Paris, Los Angeles, and Ljubljana. She has participated in several artist residencies and has received a number of national and international awards and recognitions. Her works are held in public and private collections around the world. She lives and works in Split.