MARIJA ANČIĆ
Traps
Karas Gallery
June 5 – June 17, 2018

Opening of the exhibition: Tuesday, June 5 at 7pm at the Karas Gallery

Exhibition Traps, by Marija Ančić will be opened on Tuesday, June 5 at 7pm at the Karas Gallery (Zvonimirova 58).

“In my work, I deal with personal issues, my own problems and the question of identity. I try to express negative emotions: fear, anxiety, lack of confidence, etc. through drawings or animation – GIF. GIF is an interesting medium because its main feature is the infinite repetition – the loop, and the states I’m talking about are also running in circles, in repeated cycles. In addition, GIF is a format that is present in modern communication because it transmits emotions quickly and easily. In that I recognized a medium for reflection and exploration. So I take one action and animate it to form a loop. The endless repetition at first glance makes this frightening and morbid act absurd, giving it a humorous aspect. These actions are exaggerated and overdramatic, as I try to illustrate this elusive moment of fear, which is terrible and paralyzing at one moment, and already funny in the next. At the same time this repetition turns act into a state, my characters exist in these impossible and permanent spaces and somehow persist, survive.

The trap is, in it’s nature, a catching and capturing device, whether it is a hidden trap, bait, or a fraud, the victim does not know that it fell into it until it is too late. My traps are exaggerated caricatures like traps from cartoons, movies and pop culture (a huge bear trap, a secret door in the floor and muck) and they represent the feeling of anxiety, insecurity, imprisonment, alienation. The effect created by the loop is a surreal situation in which the character is in the trap forever, without the possibility to get out of it, however, it is aware of the traps and its dangers and successfully avoids it. The trap is in a similar position because despite the infinite attempts, it fails to fulfill its function. The trap and the character reached a stalemate, an unusual symbiosis.”

Marija Ančić

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Marija Ančić was born in Sarajevo. She graduated Conservation-Restoration from Academy of Arts in Split, in 2005 and Sculpture in 2010. Besides four solo exhibitions, she participated on different group exhibitions and festivals in Croatia and abroad. She was the finalist of Radoslav Putar Award in 2016. She lives and works in Zagreb.

Karas Gallery program is financially supported by The Croatian Association of Visual Artists (HDLU).

 

 

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The exhibition will remain open until June 17, 2018