Manifesto Gallery for Contemporary Arts
Curated by Adna Muslija and opened at the Manifesto Gallery for Contemporary Arts in January 2023, “Dog, mirror and family portrait” is a multimedia exhibition combining new and different approaches to style, medium and visual interpretation by Denis Haračić.
The exhibition is featuring three distinct parts including 52 art pieces set up in the exhibition space of Manifesto gallery. With the curatorial guide of Adna Muslija, who worked on Haračić`s projects before, the artist succeeded to find common ground between thematically and technically different work, uniting it through common ideas about intimacy, self reflection and humanity. Visually, the exhibition speaks in a vide range, from black and white linocut prints, through illustrative allegorical painting 0n paper to layered, vibrant and expressive paintings on canvas. In a never before exhibited variety of paintings, prints and drawings Haračić exhibits the creative potential behind his work, thematically touching into a field of very personal themes and agendas.
The Dog
This piece, also used as the centrepiece of the exhibition thematically represents an allegorical manifestation of the artists inner demons. It speaks in a very up front way about different the aspects of a hedonistic lifestyle combined with the constant fear of letting loose the inner dog, straying away from paths of morality. The piece is a reaction to long accumulated insecurities and emotional burden.
Technically, the piece shows off Haračić`s capabilities in combining offset oil based color painting with printmaking techniques and drawing, visually defining a more illustrative style, moving somewhat away from the authors less defined, expressive paintings.
The Mirror
Similar to the Dog, this is also a piece dedicated to self reflection, but even more so to the concept of reflection itself. The Mirror contains out of two opposed formations int the exhibition space, each showing twenty a one piece series of auto portraits executed in linocut. This, black and white setup, focusing on the idea of repetition and mirroring is heavily differing in style from the other, more colourful pieces. The strong line-work and precise cutting on each printed linocut plate create a geometrical maze, inviting the viewer to closely inspect the intricate details contained in every piece. The mirror was also nominated for this years finalist work at the Zvono award for young artists in Bosnia and Herzegovina, featuring the work in a different setup on two separate exhibitions.
Family Portrait
The family portrait is a series of paintings recreated after the artists old family photos. Each painting is derived from a specific photo in the search for long lost nostalgia as well as the search for forgotten times. The very colourful but also very expressionistic paintings stand opposed to the Dog` exactness, narrating a story more open to interpretation. This is also Haračić`s first work on canvas.
