(c) Veronica Arevalo
Prepared in cooperation with the Croatian National Museum of Modern Art, the exhibition of abstract works entitled Response by the renowned Dubrovnik artist Izvor Pende will be opened on 12 July at 9 pm in the Sponza Palace Atrium, with the evening continuing in Lazareti, the location of the main part of the exhibition. Entrance is free.
After its premiere showing in Zagreb in February of this year, conceived by the art historian Branko Franceschi, and in cooperation with the National Museum of Modern Art in Zagreb, the Izvor Pende exhibition will also be presented in Dubrovnik, on a slightly smaller scale. It will include the artist's latest works, as well as the second part of the Response cycle with the most recent paintings will be displayed for the first time, large format abstract oil paintings of strong colouristic expression created from 2018 to today.
- Pende focused on abstract painting after an early focus on figurative and landscape paintings. In recent colour intensive compositions, he additionally develops references to the organic structures and shapes. Sometimes he connects them with stripes and geometric forms or with letters and words, thus enhancing the internal tension and dynamic dialogue of shapes and colours within the paintings. His version of abstraction is extremely self-aware and does not point to links or have a foothold in local Abstract painting, but they refer to numerous historical phenomena that contributed to the rich vocabulary of Abstract art – described the curator of the exhibition and prominent art critic Branko Franceschi.
Izvor Pende (c) Boris Berc, National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb 2022
Izvor Pende was born in Zagreb and grew up in Dubrovnik. Pende is praised for his tenacious artistic output of consistent highest quality which is said to rival the best Croatian abstraction masters, stands out with his strong colours and compositions, and is already long recognized by the international arts scene. The artist began studying sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 1996 after which he moved to Germany to study painting at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf under Professors Karin Rissa and Markus Lupertz. Since 2003, Pende has exhibited individually and collectively at exhibitions all over the world. More recently, he has focused on pure abstraction, turning away from his early focus on figurative and landscape paintings, and his works can be found in museum and private collections in Croatia and abroad.