Exhibition: “Ordinary nothing”

Artists: JOVAN BABIC & GORAN DENIC

October 8, 2014

Two artists from Belgrade, who are part of a residency program in Babe, 2013, were part of this exhibition in Tirana, kindly supported by our Ministry of Culture, Tirana.

Goran Denić and Jovan Babic Foske, come from different statements/ positions joined by one common thing – the early 90s studies of sculpture at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade.

They present at Zeta Gallery in Tirana “Ordinary nothing” an exhibition in which are presented a selection of their works from the last twenty years. Both artists- in their own way- are dealing with vanity or emptiness.

Jovan Babić Foske uses as material to realize his ideas and sculptures everyday objects, he manages to select out of ordinary things. By using a pumpkin membrane from Serbo-Croatian speaking countries he reproduce sculptures which clearly underlines the meaning of the blanks. These everyday objects, deprived of their functions, are perfectly presented in a material of no value.

Goran Denić, on the other hand, uses the “heavier” medium – steel and bronze, The English phrase white elephant, in the jargon – nothing, is multiplied in the series of prints “2 white elephants.” The matrix for the prints is found in the popular computer game of Tetris. The other small bronze sculptures exhibited, Hello mum, Eiaculatio Precox and Do You remember Spain? are directly related to the sense of losing the country.

The positions and artistic practice of these two artists are different, even both of them are sculptors.

Jovan Babic Foske calls himself an apprentice for a farmer, depriving himself of the needed material to deal with sculpture.

Goran Denić, art director of one Belgrade NGO (Zemun small art center – ZMUC), tries to create conditions for his artistic practice by applying for support to implement his projects.

“Ordinary nothing” at Zeta Gallery, is an exhibition in which both artists are trying to contextualize the vanity of making art. It is also a follow up event for a cooperation, started in 2012 in the framework of “Movable residences” project. Both Denić and Babic participated in a last year’s artist residency program held in Babe, a village close to Belgrade, program which continued as well this year under the theme “Taboos in Transition”, and was held in the villages of Babe in Serbia, Rezevići and Blizikuće in Montenegro.