Balkan Party

Maja Arte Contemporanea is pleased to announce the first Roman exhibition of young Balkan artists Aleksandar Dimitrijević, Tadija Janičić and Marija Šević. Entitled Balkan Party, the exhibition presents ten paintings, most of which are in large format.

The three painters have chosen very different routes for their artistic investigation: from figurative to abstract art, from intimate portrayals to a satirical representation of contemporary man using cartoon-like strokes.

The starting point of Aleksandar Dimitrijević‘s work is a collection of found incidental notes by unknown authors, keeping score for a variety game. Organized as a grid, the papers recorded the victories (+) and the losses (-), as well as each player’s initials. By transcribing – and often transposing – the signs, Dimitrijevic legitimized them, creating an artistic archive, which he in turn used to question the trivial nature of contemporary life, of its games, and the relationships they produce.

Tadija Janičić ironically questions the moral fabric of contemporary life; he investigates its frailty and unveils its grotesque and paradoxical folds. His works are lively, animated by bright colors, patterns and cartoonlike features; they reveal flaws without judgment or mockery.

Marija Šević, the youngest of the three artists, presents three large-scale works, all part of her latest series, Party. Her works stem from photographs, from which she extrapolates moments in her life and the lives of people close to her. The faces are often out of focus, placed against airy, immaculate sceneries, giving the viewer space to imagine him or herself in the settings, without being able to avoid the implicit voyeurism of close-ups.