NIKOLA SAVIC Switchroom 13 December, 2012 - 2 February, 2013
NIKOLA SAVIC “Savic's paintings are virtuoso performances, full of whim and intelligence, at times reminding me of an unlikely synthesis between Joan Miro and Al Held by way of Italian Futurism” Barry Schwabsky For his first exhibition with Salon Vert titled Switchroom Serbian artist Nikola Savic is staging a major solo show which centres on his distinctive paintings made on steel and paper. Coming from a never-exhibited-before body of work produced in the last two years, Savic’s exuberant colour palette and bold compositions emerge as new permutations of neo-formalism, where blocks of colour define the form in the image. Following the tradition of the monochrome and its resulting flattened perspective, Savic ventures beyond these plastic elements to expresses a new abstract language in object painting. Known mainly for his neo-formalist work on canvas, Savic this time has decided to introduce his usual raison d’être on stainless steel panels and paper. The exhibited new works on steel have a machine-processed feel. These superficial images are in fact produced by hand. First drawn onto the steel manufacturer’s protective coating, Savic then paints overlapping sections in a determined order to achieve exquisite colour blocking. From this mechanical process, flat, vibrant colours imagine new geometric forms that mobilize in space thanks to Savic’s unique sort of trompe l’oeil. This dialectic between the ‘quasi-technologised’ and the hand-crafted permeates all the works on show. Without the use of shading, these originally flat shapes transcend into three-dimensional biomorphic forms that float, recede and emerge in space, holding the viewer’s image equally inside the reflective steel surface.
Savic’s object painting refers to post abstract constructions, most notably post abstract expressionism and post object painting. Particularly associated with American artist Jasper Johns, these trends show a similar overworking of canvas and layering of paint where the image leaps off of the canvas, and recall Savic’s affinity for abstraction that is on par with our current virtual visual realm. While his steel works are rectilinear, with controlled shapes, Savic’s works on paper are more painterly, gestural and fluid. He layers colours thickly onto his brush to the point where each stroke becomes a transition of shades along its trajectory on the surface. Savic follows oblong loops and contours in a variety of brush strokes to create interconnected shapes that seem to jump into being from within the work recalling Cy Twombly’s latest swirly paintings. The combinations of flat plastic interventions and bold painterly compositions create a vertigo-inducing space with quasi-organic images, reinforcing that nature, like painting, is itself a language.
Nikola Savic (born 1973, Belgrade, Serbia) graduated with BA Fine Art in Belgrade in 1997 and with MA Fine Art from St. Martin’s College of Art and Design, London, 1998-1999. His works have been selected by Flora Fairbairn for ‘Saatchi 100 curators 100 days’ project and by Rebecca Wilson for ‘12 x 12 inch’ project. His latest shows include Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade, Gallery Zvono, Belgrade, Contemporary Art Society, Art Futures, London, Summer Exhibition selected by David Hockney, Royal Academy, London, Academy of Fine Arts, Belgrade, Flora Fairbairn
Projects, Metro-Land, Oxfordshire, UK, Vienna Art Fair, Art Cologne, Moscow Art Fair and many others. His works are included in numerous international private and public collections, including the American Embassy in Belgrade, MOCA Belgrade, Rollo Contemporary Art, London, Bank of America, London, Takashige Shimizu (70 artworks), Tokyo, Japan, Alexei Sitnikov, Moscow, Russia and many others. Savic lives and works in London and is represented by Salon Vert.
EXHIBITED WORKS ON STEEL
Control, 2012 Acrylic on polished stainless steel 120 x 220 cm GBP 12,000
Lots of Love, 2012 Acrylic on polished stainless steel 220 x 120 cm GBP 12,000
Dakota Light, 2012 Acrylic on polished stainless steel 100 x 100 cm GBP 6,000
High Fly, 2012 Acrylic on polished stainless steel 95 x 95 cm GBP 6,000
Mix Class I, 2011-2012 Acrylic on polished stainless steel 100 x 100 cm GBP 6,000
Love is in the Air II, 2010 Acrylic on polished stainless steel 100 x 100 cm GBP 5,500
Mix Class II, 2011-2012 Acrylic on polished stainless steel 100 x 100 cm GBP 6,000
Gstaad Transplant, 2010 Acrylic on stainless steel 100 x 100 cm GBP 6,000
Relax Station II, 2011 Acrylic on polished stainless steel 100 x 100 cm GBP 6,000
Homage to Two White Squares and Untitled, 2010 Acrylic on stainless steel 100 x 100 cm GBP 6,000
Gritty Forms, 2012 Acrylic on polished stainless steel 30 x 30cm GBP 2,500
EXHIBITED WORKS ON PAPER
Jumpstart 4, 2012 Acrylic on paper, 59 x 42cm GBP 1,500 (framed)
Jumpstart 3, 2012 Acrylic on paper 59 x 42 cm GBP 1,500 (framed)
Jumpstart 11, 2012 Acrylic on paper, 59 x 42cm GBP 1,500 (framed)
I’m Ready 9, 2012 Acrylic on paper 59 x 42 cm GBP 1,500 (framed)
I Am Ready 6, 2012 Acrylic on paper 59 x 42cm GBP 1,500 (framed)
I’m Ready 3, 2012 Acrylic on paper 59 x 42 cm GBP 1,500 (framed)
EXHIBITED WORKS ON CANVAS
What’s On Your Mind, 2011 Acrylic on canvas 132 x 95 cm GBP 5,000
The Great Descaler, 2011 Acrylic on canvas 78 x 56 cm GBP 3,000
82 Queen’s Gate London SW7 5JU www.salon-vert.com All works copyright Nikola Savic and Salon Vert Ltd. For enquiries please contact: info@salon-vert.com anna.lapshina@salon-vert.com +44 (0)20 7373 0012 Published November 2012 by Salon Vert Ltd