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18/5/2004

Ivan Grubanov

Lawrence O'Hana Gallery, London

Visitor

In Visitor, Serbian-born artist Ivan Grubanov presents an archive of 180 line drawings, undertaken in secret, during the trial of Slobodan Milosevic at the United Nations International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague. Grubanov attended the Tribunal during 2002-3 coming face to face with the man whose dictatorship shaped his formative years in Serbia.

These unique drawings do not attempt to create a narrative but, rather, aim to establish a chronology, a record of the Tribunal. They are not laboured over but instead, out of necessity, are quick, sketch-like and vibrant; reflecting the intensity of Grubanov's experience and expressing a personal relationship to these events. Where the line's capacity is exhausted words are used to refine his impression of the trial.

His sense of involvement in the proceedings was subsequently heightened by the discovery that he had been captured many times in TV news footage. He was seen through the glass separating the spectators from the courtroom, sitting directly in front of Milosevic.

Grubanov's decision to attend the trial in The Hague, whilst completing a residency at the Rijksakademie, stemmed from a need to confront the evidence against Milosevic - the man who is accused of perpetrating countless atrocities during the Balkan conflicts of 1990's. During the course of the prosecution Grubanov came to be confronted by his own feelings of guilt and responsibility, as a Serbian unable to alter the course of history.

In these works Grubanov is concerned with how history and personal memory are constructed and experienced. He locates the value of drawing in its ability to record and reflect events, leading the viewer to consider whether art has a responsibility as a medium for documentation and interpretation.

Ivan Grubanov lives and works in Belgrade. He studied in the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade and had a Residency in the Rijksakademie von Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam in 2002-03. He participated in international group shows, including Museum Beelden aan Zee, Scheveningen, NL 2004; Zacheta Gallery, Warsaw, Poland 2004; RABK in Amsterdam in 2003 and 2002 and the Gallery of Contemporary Art in Pancevo, Yugoslavia in 2001. Visitor is his first solo show in London.

20 May – 20 June 2004, Wed - Sun 10am – 6pm

Preview: 19 May, 6.30 – 8.30pm

For more information or images please contact Katharine Fry at the gallery on tel. 0207 739 0245, fax 0207 729 6878

Lawrence O'Hana Gallery
35-42 Charlotte Road, London EC2A 3PD

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