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Biljana Djurdjević
Dark is the Forest , 2010/2012Biljana Djurdjević
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Braverman Gallery is pleased to present a selection of works by Serbian artist Biljana Djurdjević on view in the gallery’s online viewing room through February 15th, 2020.
Since the 1990s Biljana Djurdjević has developed a salient body of work that investigates the insidious aspects of the contemporary collective experience. Social structures, violence, alienation, anxiety and aggression are the underlying themes which inform the artist's work across all media. Inspired by the work of European Old Masters and heavily leaning on classical painting techniques, Djurdjević creates dense and haunting compositions that are evocative and unsettling at once.
Djurdjević’s paintings are characterized by the placement of human figures within sterile, claustrophobic interiors or amid teeming landscapes of forests and moors. Compressed into tightly packed compositions of vivid colors and intense brush strokes, the humans and their surroundings embody the sinister nature of the social spaces we occupy. In her work, Djurdjević reflects on the radically changed social sphere and the unobtrusive tensions that constitute the contemporary experience. Presenting a unique perspective on the inconspicuous violence that underlines our daily lives, Djurdjević intensely draws the viewer into her work, leading to an unparalleled experience of attraction and recoil.
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Dark is the Forest , 2010/2012
oil on canvas, 255 x 905 cm / 80 11/16 X 51 1q8 in.An exceptional, large-scale polyptych, "Dark is the Forest" is one of Djurdjević's major works to date. This work, consisting of 5 large panels, is largely informed by 15th century incunabula that deal with philosophy and human relationships. The two exterior panels present human figures—a male and female—painted from a birds-eye view perspective. Wearing nothing but white linen underpants, each figure is lying on a bed covered with leaves.
The three middle panels depict woodland scenery devoid of human presence. The forest, in all its beauty and trepidation, is subject matter rich in associations from fairytales, to horror stories, from the supernatural to the subconscious. It is a metaphor for uncontrollable and irrational fear, which serves as a reminder that, even if not explicit, violence is timeless and ever present. The unique combination of the human form and wild landscape is analogous to the overwhelming, subliminal sense of fear we harbor within us. The scale of the work immerses the viewer in its environment, creating an illusion of density while producing an aura of the unattainable.
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Moor, 2010
oil on canvas, 185 X 105 cm / 73 X 41 1/8 inDjurdjević creates realistic portrayals of surreal, unearthly scenes through which she examines the tension that exists in the everyday. In "Moor" (2010) two young girls are lying on their backs in the thicket of a moor, their young bodies slightly submerged in water and intertwining with the surrounding vegetation. Their gaze, empty and dark—as if looking into the abyss—is frontally directed towards the viewer. This striking image is an excellent example of the ways in which Djurdjević’s unique lexicon expresses the inexpressible and confronts the veiled intricacies of the collective subconscious. Using formal tools of classical painting to express the tensions in contemporary society, and with multiple references to the history of Western Art, "Moor" offers a clever analysis of human nature. In that violence is implied through artistic tools, the work suggests a new point of view- that of the perpetrator rather than the victim.
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Hotbed, 2010
oil on canvas, 70X190 cm / 27 1/2 X 74 3/4 in.For more than 15 years Biljana Djurdjević has been creating works characterized by a narrative realism that is both dramatic and ruthless. Her 2010 oil painting "Hotbed" depicts a young girl lying in a moor, its waters and flora gently surrounding her still body. Her white pleated school skirt and light top, brush her porcelain-like skin and contrast with her bright red shoes and the vivid greens of the natural surroundings. Splayed on her back with her hands spread out sideways, the girl lies motionless, her face devoid of any expression. The stillness of her body and her empty gaze elicit speculations on what has just occurred. This enticing and enigmatic painting evokes the works of Pre-Raphaelite painters, with a particular visual reference to John Everett Millais’ iconic painting "Ophelia" from 1851-1852. Derived from pure emotion, the artist creates an eerie effect in which victim and perpetrator are rendered interchangeable and as one and the same.
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Green Room, 2006
Oil on canvas, 170X217 cm / 31 1/8 X 46 X 11 1/4 in.In "Green Room" three little girls in white school skirts and under shirts are seated frontally on a row of metal bar stools. Their facial features uncannily similar—as if replicated from one another. Their small black eyes stare forward, yet their empty gazes do not return that of the viewer. The decorative green and white background behind them and the patterned floor beneath bring forth a formal dialogue of color and shape while the overall composition invokes the fears and vulnerability of young life. This poignant painting alludes to the practice of ‘systematic examinations’, which was a prevalent, yet invasive, health check for children in the Balkans in the 1990s.
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Synchronized Swimming, 2008
oil on canvas, 208 X 380 cm / 81 7/8 X 145 5/8 in.In "Synchronized Swimming" Biljana Djurdjević continues to explore trauma through the prism of youth and its fragility. Here a group of young girls are lying together on the floor of an empty swimming pool, their bodies arranged in a crown-like formation. Autumn leaves are scattered organically around the pool, functioning as a memento-mori of sorts. This somber and curious scene enfolds in a multitude of layers that slowly unravel in front of the viewer. The adolescent girls embody the concept of youth, the fears and horrors it entails, and the many ways in which we navigate it within our social order of aggression.
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Biljana Djurdjević
Past viewing_room