As a part of the Katamaran Art exhibition cycle, we present Igor Zdunić, with a total of eight acrylic paintings on canvas, produced in the period from 2014 to 2018. His recent series Excursions will be presented for the first time, with some earlier paintings exhibited as part of the project Utorkom u Galeriji Gallery / Fast Forward 3 and 5, where the artist started his career. All the works possess a powerful commentary on modern society, but without the direct tendency of changing the existing paradigm. Taking an important position of a minute witness of the world around him, aware of all the feelings and stimuli that come from it and being deeply impressed with everyday life, Zdunić based his painting on the framing of reality exactly as it is.
Basing his style on expressionism, Zdunić creates relief paintings, emphasizing the tectonics and dynamics of color. Materiality is brilliant on his older works (Landfill, Wedding, 2014) in which acrylic colors were mixed with bread crumbs that gives the canvas depth and movement, and the author himself is able to experiment with expressive possibilities in the traditional medium of painting, with a measured dose of ludism and humor. The image surfaces are vibrant, energetically intensified with optical effects, twinkling stains and numerous details. Although recognized as a large format artist, the artist recently realized works insisting on their reduction, and (in technical terms) breaking with experiment (At the Summit, In Front Of the Church, Departure, Orjen, 2018). The canvases become more intimate, the motive is lighter, and there is a clear balance of an inner experience and the concern with the peaceful observation of man in the exterior. By implementing his recognizable handwriting, Zdunić creates a factual record of psychological states and behaviors of the depicted characters while nature acts as a kind of a proscenium that shows human destiny stuck in a moment. Spontaneity, focus, calmness, empathy and universality are the characteristics of Zdunić's painting that place him in the order of relevant contemporary artists. (Katica Modrić)
Igor Zdunić (1991, Gospić) graduated painting at the Art Academy in Split in 2017, under Professor Nina Ivančić. He exhibited his works as part of the cycle Utorkom u Galeriji: Fast Forward: vol. 3 in the Gallery of Fine Arts in Split in 2014 and in the City Museum Omiš in 2018. He participated in group exhibitions at the Final Exhibition of Students of the Painting Department at the Multicultural Center in Split in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016, at the exhibition of the strip workshop - Stripolerancija in Info zona in Split and at the final exhibition Fast Forward Vol. 5 in the Museum of Fine Arts in Split in 2016.
Katamaran Art is a joint project of the Jelsa Municipal Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts Split.
