Ben-Shitrit / Duravcevic / Kaludjerovic
Orit Ben-Shitrit
Aleksandar Duravcevic
Dejan Kaludjerovic
September 10 - October 17, 2009
Opening Reception: Thursday, September 10, 6-8pm
Anna Kustera is pleased to present an exhibition of three artists, Orit Ben-Shitrit, Aleksandar Duravcevic, and Dejan Kaludjerovic.
“Paradoxically, even the decision to reject ideologies is an ideology in itself. Faced with these choices, how can one believe in anything?” (Orit Ben-Shitrit)
Orit Ben-Shitrit’s use of staging and mirrors in her photographs explores the idea of the photograph as a mirror in itself: each photograph reflects and distills a moment that inevitably becomes part of the past after it is taken. Although it is through these reflections of the past that we attempt to understand our present, the photograph ultimately becomes a belief system in itself. However, her use of digital manipulations destabilizes these beliefs, and we are openly invited to not “doubt the doubt.” Recurrent motifs of Jerusalem and the Janus face extend this exploration of the duplicitous. According to Roman mythology, Janus was the God of beginnings and endings, a protector able to see both past and future. He represents everything and its antithesis, and is therefore a paradox in and of himself. The artist uses a model of Jerusalem reflecting the time of the Second Temple, before the Romans destroyed it in 66 AD. As in the implied transience of the photograph itself, here, the notion of paradox is inherent: the destruction and rebuilding of the city creates a circuitous loop whereby each iteration represents both what is there and what has been lost. Orit Ben-Shitrit was born in Jerusalem, Israel, and lives in New York City. She is currently part of the MFA program at Hunter College, New York.
The subtle subject matter and images of Aleksandar Duravcevic’s works are rooted in his personal experiences of living through the changing political landscape of his native Montenegro. The work in itself reflects the artist’s own search for identity; growing up with a lineage of conflicting cultures and religions in what was then Yugoslavia, and having to experience war and emigration to America later on. By working with graphite on black paper, or by using mirrored surfaces and glass, a ghostly quality is achieved, making the viewer have to look twice or pay closer attention. This duality is in the very heart of Duravcevic´s work; he draws objects of luxurious beauty and awe that may at first attract but later disturb as one investigates their histories, or portray something unsettling that may actually hold a fond memory. The constant tension of opposites is ever present in his work, between cultures, within history, and between life and death. Aleksandar Duravcevic was born in 1970 in Montenegro, and lives and works in Brooklyn. NY. His work has been shown internationally, most notably at the Kasteel van Gaasbeck in Belgium (2009); the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy (2003) ; and was included in ‘Greater New York’ (2000) at PS1 Institute for Contemporary Art in Long Island City, New York.
The paintings and video work of Dejan Kaludjerovic examine the question of growing up, and the problems concerning “coming of age”, in which hallmarks of childhood and youth confront those of the adult world. In his series ‘Can I Change My Career for a Little Fun?’, Kaludjerovic combines images taken from contemporary fashion magazines (Vogue Bambini) with images from the very violent cartoon “Happy Tree Friends”. The protagonists in his work, teenagers and adolescents, are forever torn between the step that takes them back to the protection of childhood characters, from cartoons and fairytales, and the step that takes them forward into a world of glamour in which the consumer-driven reality of everyday life and the multiplicity of choice of sexual expression define the nature of the media. Dejan Kaludjerovic was born in 1972 in Belgrade, Serbia, and lives and works in Vienna, Austria. He has had recent exhibitions in New York, Belgrade and Berlin and is currently included in the 28th Biennial of Graphic Arts in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
UPCOMING EXHIBITION: LOREN HOLLAND October 22 – December 5, 2009
For additional information please contact the gallery at 212-989-0082.