Hari Ivančić: Krajolic (Landscape)
1998,oil on canvas, 101 x 73 cm
International Painting Collection Ex tempore Piran
Hari Ivančić (Pazin, 1967) is one of the major representatives of Istrian art of his generation.
He started getting noticed by the Croatian art scene during the 90s; thanks to his distinctive and recognisable style he was associated with some of the most relevant artists of the territory, such as Croatian Constructivists Oton Gliha and Zlatko Šimunović, or Eugen Kokot, a member of Croatian Colourism.
In 1994 he graduated in painting at the Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb, under the guide of Vasilije Josip Jordan, painter and professor. Since the end of the 80s, he attended a relevant number of national and international solo shows and group exhibitions, and was granted many awards, such as the Grand Prix at the international painting contest Ex Tempore Piran in 1998.
The awarded painting, called Krajolik (landscape) is a representative example of his artworks of the second half of the 90s. The artist renounces to a redundant realistic style, but through the use of colour evokes nevertheless the characteristics of the Istrian landscape.
The cultivated fields become colourful surfaces, which intertwine in a geometric dance occupying almost completely the extension of the canvas. On the horizon line, a little house appears under a cypress on the valley slope; the cypress is a symbolic element that often recurs in the later versions of this artwork.
The layers of colour, produced in a state of gestural euphoria, introduce dynamism to the picture, whereas the geometric outlines of the tree and the architectures infuse a state of serenity. This juxtaposition balances the work harmoniously.
The work of Hari Ivančić stands out for its metaphoric and timeless language, the use of monochromatic colours and the schematic composition. These are the starting points of his storytelling, through which the author expresses his participation to the materiality of the Istrian territory.
He actually lives and works in Buzet, on the Croatian part of Istria.
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