Exhibition that we have the honor of attending is part of the joint project of Arte gallery from Belgrade and Thalberg gallery from Zürich. In the exhibition space of the later, during the autumn of 2017, exhibition of sculptures and drawings of Dušan Džamonja took place. Exhibition in Zürich should be seen in the light of the will to promote the art of the artists significant for the Yugoslav history of art on a global scale and to secure it the position it deserves. Great effort of artist’s family to promote the eternal artistic legacy of this distinguished creative individual should be given praise. The intention of the organizer of this project is to acquaint artistic audience in Belgrade with the opus of one of the greatest persons of art in more recent local history. Although scientific apparatus is not prone to using bombastic and eulogistic epithets, we have a need to employ them when talking about this multiply awarded visionary with international exhibiting career, whose works found a place in many private and public collections around the world.

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Only provisionally, the exhibition is divided into two parts: sculptures and projects – mobile sculptures of smaller dimensions and projects presented with the aid of usual methods used by architects – models, plans and print presentations of 3D solutions. Curator’s idea was to observe the strength of the relation between Džamonja’s sculptural and architectural solutions, i.e. to show a way by which the dominant curved, spherical, oval and angular shapes represented in sculptures are transposed to large-scale buildings. Exhibited works testify of the unity of architectural solutions and sculptures. Lesser format sculptures whose aesthetic qualities Džamonja raised to a masterful level are truly real collector’s exceptions. Works of „home plastic“ possess the same strength as the giant „sculptures“ (monuments and buildings) out in the open. The same relation exists between sculptures and works on paper which have been exhibited together many times. There is an unbreakable bond between these two media which are equally important for Džamonja as means of exploring creativity. Džamonja’s drawings, as bases of all other forms of visual arts – painting, sculpture, architecture, design – possess the same conviction and concreteness which exude from sculptures and other objects. Sometimes, and we agree with Darko Glavan, there is a dilemma whether 2D solutions are preparatory works on paper for the future 3D free-form sculptures or completely autonomous achievements.

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Jelena Lazarevic, Art Historian

Dusan Dzamonja’s Artworks

More about the Exhibition