Trotoar Galerija
12 May - 15 July 2023
Triumph of the Virtues - Trotoar Galerija
You know that stereotypical scene when a sorcerer or shaman digs through a collection of cards or notes in search of an ingredient that will solve a seemingly unsolvable situation?! With such determination and haste, Pavle Pavlović scrolls through the Internet in search of information and visuals that define or parody contemporary society. Selected artifacts of virtual jumble are then shamelessly opposed to painting as a traditional medium, incorporated into trippy visualizations on the border between reason and fantasy. On such quasi-idyllic intersections, the anachronistic worlds are clashing as historical-contemporary, analog-digital, human-transhuman, and serious-absurd. The question remains if those prominent artists and their timeless works are glorified or mocked by placing them in unfair comparison with characters from memes, movies, and games, endless and unnecessary but specific emblems of the steroid world we live in.
Starting from the cybernetic depths of clouds, through collage-painting approaches and digital manipulations, to the final performance in the traditional oil medium, Pavlović has an elaborate procedure for clashing painting tradition with kitsch and archetypes of popular (digital) culture. This mutates the familiar visual vocabulary from our screens into grotesque scenes that often humorously comment on the idea of human superiority. This is achieved through the apparitions of complex visual metaphors on the canvas’s surface. I consciously use the term “apparitions,” as the works mainly refer to the works and artists of late Gothic and early Renaissance painting in an effort to convey an atmosphere of supernatural providence. And just as those God-fearing artists used to mend the doctrine of original sin with their depictions of Biblical scenes, Pavlović triumphs over the virtues and traumas of life between the spiritual, the real, and the virtual.
National Museum of China (NAMOC)
18 January – 1 March 2022
For the first time in any international art biennale, works by artists from the European Union, including painting, photography, collage, video and installations, are brought together in a joint exhibition. “The Creative Europe” strategy identifies art as a powerful tool that can change the way we think and act. The selection is inspired by this broad and powerful concept of art. Could art help us to think and act like European citizens? Could it succeed in defining our specific cultural identity? Could this joint exhibition in China help us in our quest for unity? In short, is there such a thing as the “European spirit”? It is with these questions in mind that this exhibition of European art in Beijing was conceived as an experiment of sorts.
The selected artworks present to Chinese audiences a wide range of European creativity, from the imaginary cycling tour of El Prado Museum, a surreal portrait of culture and imaginary mirages of Eastern Europe and a symbol of a small Mediterranean island, through a strong connection to nature in a Baltic country, the influence of great European painters from the past, rebellious creativity from the heart of the continent, Germanic elegance and sobriety, fascination with the mythologies of the Scandinavian artist and, given that the exhibition is held in China, to the passion for the Far East from a European perspective. (Lucía Sollinger)
Beijing International Art Biennale, China
U petak, 28. 1. 2022. u 18 sati u Palači Sermage / Galerija umjetnina Gradskog muzeja u Varaždinu otvorit će se gostujuća izložba 6. bijenala slikarstva, koja će predstaviti selekciju radova sa 6. bijenala slikarstva koje se održalo u domu HDLU 2021. godine. Otvorenje izložbe održat će se u sklopu manifestacije Noć Muzeja.
Bijenale slikarstva, u organizaciji Hrvatskog društva likovnih umjetnika, nacionalna je likovna manifestacija posvećena bilježenju scene i pomaka u mediju slikarstva, pokrenuta s idejom predstavljanja trenutačnog stanja hrvatskog slikarstva i sučeljavanja s aktualnim europskim slikarskim praksama. Hrvatska selekcija predstavlja širok presjek generacija koje aktivno oblikuju slikarsku scenu, od najstarijih, članova HAZU-a, do najmlađih, koji stvaraju nove impulse ulaska na tu scenu, s ciljem bilježenja aktualne dvogodišnje produkcije.
Izložba u Varaždinu predstavlja izbor od 30-ak umjetničkih djela najistaknutijih autorica i autora koji su izlagali u sklopu glavne selekcije u Domu hrvatskih likovnih umjetnika u Zagrebu.