Milena Dragicevic
11 Jun - 26 Jul 2014
MILENA DRAGICEVIC
Pampero
11 June - 26 July 2014
Galerie Martin Janda is pleased to announce the fourth solo show of Milena Dragicevic.
The starting point for both the paintings and the prints in the exhibition is Pampero Firpo, a famous wrestler from the 1970s:
“In my early childhood I watched a lot of American wrestling because of my father. Spellbound by its theatrics, there was always a suspension of disbelief that what we were seeing could maybe be true, that in this comical fake there was something tangible, something real. It has become clear to me that painting is much like early American wrestling. It is a gesture, an attitude, a rehearsal, and a performance. Sometimes as a painter I feel like an imposter, a fake. All gestures and marks have been made, understood, we’ve been there done that, yet we continue because as with wrestling painting also must have this suspension of disbelief. That maybe with all the recycled marks and cynical views there might still be some truth there, something to believe in. I think this is where all art sits for me in the anachronistic truthful (and comical) fake.“ (Dragicevic)
As in her previous work, the paintings of the Pampero series are a bricolage, an amalgamation trying to capture the passage of possible objects or parts. Dragicevic amalgamates her own drawings, photographs and interventions with other outside sources. She calls her process “silent collaborations but with a tag-team attitude”. The same applies for the prints on paper. Dragicevic uses material from different sources – stills she captures from youtube videos and blow-ups from images found in her used book collection. The images are rendered through the process of rephotographing them with her iphone, allowing for a shift to occur in terms of origin and legibility.
“The artwork should be seen as the expression of an attitude and as a situation specific to a human being. Therefore my paintings should be seen as the expression of an attitude. And as a situation specific to me.“ (Dragicevic)
Milena Dragicevic, born 1965 in Knin, lives and works in London (UK).
The following text by Milena Dragicevic was originally part of the exhibition The Oracle: "What is your prophecy for the future?" at The Wand, Berlin (DE), 2013, organized by the ff group.
Writing for Prophecy (C,Eb,Gb,A)
Almost Every day
Several times a day
For more than forever more
You will be standing in picture
With eyelashes soft
Fluttering backwards in ink
Hard sweater on chest
And smoke signals from breath
Above hang Snellen charts and anagrams
Tying up broken water dams
Drum role please
Haystacks
Calhoun
Pampero
Firpo
The Fabulous
Moolah
And Candi
Devine
Travelling 800 miles
And willing to host
Trunks, boots, naked
Evenly matched
Striking poses on zigzag dolly
Past beach stained wallpaper
And blue chequered coats
They will play songs of metal
On rave infested goats
Catching buff white
Along four points squared
And when overly tall girls
Ask
That you walk alongside
Run, you will run
Until magenta hangs off sleeves
And used books add to legitimacy
You will turn pockets once
After that day
All pictures
Doors will be shut
Leaving
Very really Mimesis
Pampero
11 June - 26 July 2014
Galerie Martin Janda is pleased to announce the fourth solo show of Milena Dragicevic.
The starting point for both the paintings and the prints in the exhibition is Pampero Firpo, a famous wrestler from the 1970s:
“In my early childhood I watched a lot of American wrestling because of my father. Spellbound by its theatrics, there was always a suspension of disbelief that what we were seeing could maybe be true, that in this comical fake there was something tangible, something real. It has become clear to me that painting is much like early American wrestling. It is a gesture, an attitude, a rehearsal, and a performance. Sometimes as a painter I feel like an imposter, a fake. All gestures and marks have been made, understood, we’ve been there done that, yet we continue because as with wrestling painting also must have this suspension of disbelief. That maybe with all the recycled marks and cynical views there might still be some truth there, something to believe in. I think this is where all art sits for me in the anachronistic truthful (and comical) fake.“ (Dragicevic)
As in her previous work, the paintings of the Pampero series are a bricolage, an amalgamation trying to capture the passage of possible objects or parts. Dragicevic amalgamates her own drawings, photographs and interventions with other outside sources. She calls her process “silent collaborations but with a tag-team attitude”. The same applies for the prints on paper. Dragicevic uses material from different sources – stills she captures from youtube videos and blow-ups from images found in her used book collection. The images are rendered through the process of rephotographing them with her iphone, allowing for a shift to occur in terms of origin and legibility.
“The artwork should be seen as the expression of an attitude and as a situation specific to a human being. Therefore my paintings should be seen as the expression of an attitude. And as a situation specific to me.“ (Dragicevic)
Milena Dragicevic, born 1965 in Knin, lives and works in London (UK).
The following text by Milena Dragicevic was originally part of the exhibition The Oracle: "What is your prophecy for the future?" at The Wand, Berlin (DE), 2013, organized by the ff group.
Writing for Prophecy (C,Eb,Gb,A)
Almost Every day
Several times a day
For more than forever more
You will be standing in picture
With eyelashes soft
Fluttering backwards in ink
Hard sweater on chest
And smoke signals from breath
Above hang Snellen charts and anagrams
Tying up broken water dams
Drum role please
Haystacks
Calhoun
Pampero
Firpo
The Fabulous
Moolah
And Candi
Devine
Travelling 800 miles
And willing to host
Trunks, boots, naked
Evenly matched
Striking poses on zigzag dolly
Past beach stained wallpaper
And blue chequered coats
They will play songs of metal
On rave infested goats
Catching buff white
Along four points squared
And when overly tall girls
Ask
That you walk alongside
Run, you will run
Until magenta hangs off sleeves
And used books add to legitimacy
You will turn pockets once
After that day
All pictures
Doors will be shut
Leaving
Very really Mimesis