Exhibition of Damir Sobota “Palindrome: Pictures and Objects” will be opened in Lauba on Saturday, February 8, 2020, starting at 8 pm.

From the text of Bojan Krištofić: 

“The exhibition in Lauba consists of eleven collages of large, monumental vertical formats, as well as nine much smaller objects (on self-made plinths), whose common denominators are a motif of a vase, which is only a slight design determinant more or less recognizable in all compositions (both two-dimensional and three-dimensional, the objects are generally flat but two-sided, while at least the minimum depth gives them an inevitable third dimension); and the process of designing the compositions according to which the whole new series is named.

A palindrome is “an ancient name for a saying, word, part of text, sentence or verse that read from beginning to end or vice versa maintain the same meaning” (according to the online edition of the Croatian Encyclopedia); the term today  is most prevalent in enigmatics where the less widely used Croatian word craft is used. The notion of palindrome as a signifier of a new author’s compositions is not to be taken literally – it is not, of course, that they are the same when viewed from the top down (or vice versa), or from left to right (i.e. vice versa), but rather precisely the process of turning, varying, moving, etc., of selected visual elements, which are sometimes completely abstract, extremely geometric, and occasionally evoke the floral motifs of the natural environment or, less often, the motifs of the environment built by the work of human hands and machines.

…

Sobota’s work can therefore also be interpreted as a very personal synthesis of the various traditions of abstract painting, from (highly) modern to postmodern, from constructivism, op-art and abstract expressionism to analytical painting and other “more recent” tendencies that prevailed after the conclusion of a long period of international modernism. 

Finally, it is enough to say that the individual adventure of this particular author, who has realized early on what he can and wants, is at the same time the guarantor of his longevity in the contemporary Croatian art (and beyond, as evidenced by his international exhibitions and residencies), as well as the announcement of future syntheses that will surely mark the further development of domestic abstract painting. ”

The exhibition stays opened until February 29, 2020.

We are looking forward to your visit.