Ivo Nikić, Antigone, 2020

acrylic, canvas, 100 x 70 cm signed, dated and described on the reverse: IVO NIKIĆ/"ANTIGONA"/2020.

Ivo Nikić (born 1974 in Pristina) received his diploma in 2003 at the Faculty of Painting of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw in the studio of Prof. Jaroslaw Modzelewski, an annex in the studio Art in Public Space under Prof. Miroslaw Duchowski. In his works he uses painting, photography, video and urban actions; he creates objects and installations. In 2006, he was the recipient of the Artist-In-Residence scholarship in Bern, Switzerland. He has participated in numerous group and individual exhibitions in Poland (CCA Ujazdowski Castle, BWA Zielona Gora, Studio Gallery, Arsenal Gallery in Poznań, Focus Łódź Biennale) and abroad (among others: Humboldt Berlin, Umspannwerk; Bat-Yam International Biennale of Landscape Urbanism in Israel; Rotor in Graz, Tokyo Fashion Week). At the center of his interests are the cityscape, corporeality, music, dirt, garbage and aesthetic scrap. He draws on a street art style - stencils and spray paint - which he combines with laser technique and texture painting; sometimes he paints with magnetic paints to attach additional, mobile elements to the picture plane. He is keen on the effect of "sloppiness" and a sense of fast-paced work. He surprises with the juxtaposition of motifs, aesthetic nonchalance, a sense of (black) humor. He creates an atmosphere of horror. He plays with associations, dismantles the world into parts, questions ready-made solutions, reevaluates categories of beauty and ugliness.