Gallery Sanjaj
On the 12th of June the joined exhibition of bosnian artists Amer Hadžić and Denis Haračić has been opened in the Serbian gallery Sanjaj, located on Dositejeva street in Belgrade
The exhibition, which is titled “In search of humanity” resembles the peak of the two artists exhibiting collaboration, which started in 2019. Both artist strive to answer humanistic questions through their art, creating two profoundly different depictions guided by similar topics.
On one side, Hadzic is showing an authentic Bosnian urban landscape, associating us of the archaic historical legacy especially Sarajevo is carrying. This resemblance of the Bosnian house and streets is filled with sarcastic graffiti paroles as well as overwhelming associations to pop culture. The artist uses well known cartoon characters such as Popeye or Mickey Mouse to lead us into a world of nostalgia, softening the very serious politic and economic topics his art features. In Hadzic`s world humanity is only present in the traces mankind left behind on blank and surreal wall spaces.
In Haracic`s case, the search for humanity continues in a very serious depiction of what mankind can become on the break of our time. The artist exhibits work from two different cycles titled “The other people” and “Sleepers”.
The first cycle depicts almost alien-like humanoid figures in a well balanced showcase of bizarre, animalistic and tribal traits. There is a certain aspect of familiarity we can find in this group of strangely alienated forms. This connection that we can feel to the otherworldly is in the core of the artist idea, as the work is supposed to show the embodied differences we inflict upon ourselves by thoughts of rejection, racial and ethnical intolerance.
The second cycle is showcasing another aspect of the artists situational awareness directly reflecting on the troubled times we are collectively living in. The sleepers resemble a group of monstrous entities following the idea of sleepwalking through life while being protected by a thick coat of wicked ignorance. In the artists eyes this very common approach to life is even necessary as survival technique, following the rule of survival of the fittest. The protagonists of this work have shifted control over their own paths to more suited and adapted forms of themselves. Psychologically, this phenomenon is mostly present in situations of high stress and danger over long periods of time. The adaptive abilities of the human psyche reach far into our primal and animalistic instinct, allowing us to overcome and outlive total civilizational collapse. The artist states that it seems to always come back to the Nietzschean idea of gazing into the abyss.
The distinct style Haracic has exhibited in this case goes back to a praxis of painting and drawing. The series “Sleepers” is entirely executed with offset and oil color on canvas, making it the artists first work on canvas.
