Bogdan Čobal: The Raft of the Medusa

Bogdan Čobal: The Raft of the Medusa
29 July–20 August 2021
artKIT

We invite you to the opening of the exhibition The Raft of the Medusa by the artist Bogdan Čobal, which will take place on Thursday, 29 July 2021, at 7 p.m. in the artKIT exhibition space.

INVITATION (PDF)
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION (PDF)

»Bogdan Čobal has been a tireless researcher of media and space for decades, both in the field of painting and graphics. His latest cycle, The Raft of the Medusa, requires a different way of communication with the audience, as the theme is also specific for the viewer. It is an entirely new, intimate approach. In contrast to the painful dark light of Géricault's colors, with Čobal, the blue is only luminated and extinguished. Nature is not evil, waves and winds are not to our detriment, is his message… He painted a pendant to the quote of Géricault’s painting and entered quotes from current events of the 21st century.

This cycle is his engaged entry into current issues. He introduced realism into the paintings in the form of art quotations and emphasized actual events, thus knocking directly on everyone's conscience. He artistically preserved his characteristic manuscript: thin applications of colored layers, soft color transitions, on some parts strong traces of gesture, together with thoughtful geometric interventions as spatial definitions and illusionist aids.« (author of the text: Milena Zlatar)

The Raft of the Medusa cycle was premiered in the gallery of the Jožef Stefan Institute.

Bogdan Čobal was born in 1942 in Zrenjanin (Serbia), where the Nazis expelled his free-thinking family. They were, like so many compatriots, emigrants and refugees. After the war, they returned home to Maribor. The family was connected to the intellectual elite of the city, so the parents supported the decisions of the children, including the youngest son, who decided to be a painter like his older brother Ivan. After studying painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana, graduating in 1967, he dedicated his creative decades to Maribor as a critical intellectual: an excellent painter, a dedicated pedagogue (ten years as an assistant professor and associate professor at the Faculty of Education, University of Maribor) and a professional activist. Glazer's award of the city of Maribor for an exhibition at the Art Gallery in 2002 and later the Grand Glazer Award testify to his undoubted contribution. Through his exhibitions, he addressed art audiences across the country and abroad, almost all over Europe; he has also been awarded several times. He lives and creates in Maribor.

Admission is free. Please, follow the recommendations of the NIJZ/NIPH while visiting the event.

< Bogdan Čobal, Cycle The Raft of the Medusa, canvas, acrylic pouring injection, 100 x 100 cm, 2020.

artKIT, Glavni trg 14, Maribor
Opening hours: Monday to Friday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.