Drago Persic

We are happy to host Drago Persic's second solo exhibition at Kerstin Engholm Gallery.

A total of six new artworks by the young painter (born 1981, works and lives in Vienna) form a closed cycle of works. Different garments, which are neither clearly á la mode nor démodée, seem to be falling through a black inexistent room without identity which spares any type of perspective, boundary, any assignable source of light or shadows. Apart from that, there seems to be no continuous timeline present in the paintings. It looks as if the garments have solidified to weightless figures while falling. Drago Persic drew the drapery in a clear, true-to detail and realistic manner. No blurring or classical composition in the pictures indicate to the observer any chronology.

By installing the six monochrome black spaces of the paintings in a continuous panorama, Drago Persic works remind of the night sky which also refuses any timely or spatial references to the observer. Therefore, the viewer finds himself to be left on his own with astonishment, ambiguity and without any chance for quick answers.

In the rear showroom of the gallery, Drago Persic displays three new 8mm film loops, which at first sight remind of old found footage material. However, the analog, coarse grained film material is based upon digital photographies, which have been conjoined by a computer programme with the aid of a digital camera. Due to the continuous toppling of the subjective perspective, the repeating short sequences in the loop as well as the artificial movement although the front and background remain still and the impossibility of allocation of the content, the observer feels as he was staggering. Grassland, trees, a house in the back, a lake and the repeating of the horizon - things each of us has seen before and usually doesn't become as excited about. However, the tension between digital artificiality and the seemingly historical 8mm film material create a discomfort for the viewer, who again will be left without any clear insight or solution.

Drago Persic