Ivan Grubanov – The Evil Painter

June 21 - August 2, 2008

"The Evil Painter" at Loock Gallery is the first solo exhibition of Serbian Artist Ivan Grubanov (* 1976, Belgrad) in Germany. 

The exhibition combines abstract watercolors, drawings, paintings, and photographs (the slide projection "Powerbush") and thus reflects the large spectrum of forms of artistic expression that are typical of Grubanov’s complex way of working. Having grown up in Serbia under the presidency of Slobodan Milošević, Grubanov is preoccupied with the mechanisms by which experiences and events from one’s personal world run parallel with the sort of events that become recognized historical issues and later enter history as historical facts or even “historic truths". Fascinated by such random intersections, Grubanov explores the role of the artist, his positioning within history, and his task as documenter and interpreter of political events. Memory plays a great role therein. A series of oil paintings ("Stages") shows architectural constructs, empty stages conceived for political events and used for rallies first by the Communists, then by the nationalists, and finally by Milošević’s opposition. “These empty stages serve as a reminder of past events, but at the same time they seem to be waiting to be occupied by the evil painter himself, in whom the artist, the investigator, the perpetrator, the audience and the politician overlap" (Philippe Pirotte, 2008).

 

Ivan Grubanov studied at the Art Academy Belgrade, at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, and in London with the Delfina Studio program. In 2007 he participated in the Istanbul Biennale. The exhibition will be accompanied by an extensive publication published by Verlag für moderne Kunst Nürnberg: The Evil Painter, Nürnberg 2008, 110 pages, with texts by Philippe Pirotte, Charles Esche and Ivan Grubanov. ISBN 978-3-940748-80-5