Another Race of Vibrations

NEBOJŠA DESPOTOVIĆ Another Race of Vibrations 21.01.2023 - 04.03.2023

CAR Gallery is pleased to present Another Race of Vibrations, the first solo exhibition in the gallery by the Serbian artist Nebojša Despotović (Belgrade, 1982) who present for this occasion a selection of paintings from the series La famosa serie di Fioi, produced in 2022.
The paintings are inspired by friends and colleagues belonging to the artist’s private circle where the psychological investigation of the portrayed subjects is evident, that emerges through the canvas. The works selected for the presentation at the gallery differ from the previous exhibitions which was denoted by a more introspective focus on the subjects. In fact, the personal background of the artist emerges through the artworks and so does his life: setting the path to an evolution in the artist’s work and marking a stylistic shift from his previous production, and marking an important turning point in the artist’s research.

Andrea Busto wrote: “Painting is also an act such as a discipline or physical effort towards a blank canvas, through which the images born from the colors and the composition gradually emerge. Nebojša Despotović belongs to a new generation of artists who do not struggle with mixing and matching the outstanding masterpieces of the history of arts with anonymous images on Instagram. The technique of citing is not present in his work, however that of appropriating is. What makes him a very informed artist is his artistic will to get in possession of images that belong to different artistic backgrounds.
His artworks are crossed by all the art history, pursuing the “tradition” of such artists like Picasso, Goya, Velázquez, Picabia, Munch, Tintoretto, Chagall, Bacon, Morandi, El Greco, Tuymans, and of all those artists who overcome the studies of the shape and works on the pictorial surface in a material way. In his works, elements such as a brushstroke, may turn into a lip- or leaf-shaped, that the viewer perceive not only as an image but as a act and as a mark. Despotović’s works are inexorably detached from a recognizable context and, even though they all appear to us as not familiar to our lives, many talk about experiences that we recognize, appearing as if they are reflected in a foggy but familiar mirror. He mentally dives into the painted tale, only to step out from it, reappropriating of the guise of the creator and thus master of the scene. The theatre, the painting, the person, the characters, the director and the actors, the roles and the life, whether real or fake, they all live in a mental and real ballet that takes place beyond the canvas/scene/backdrop, beyond the artist's studio, but also within his own mind".

Excerpt from the exhibition catalogue Nebojša Despotović - The Golden Harp
curated by Andrea Busto, MEF - Museo Ettore Fico, Torino 2020