October 25 – November 8, 2018

The cycle named Aranea created by Josip Mijić from Bosnia and Herzegovia, a painter and art PhD, it integrates eighty two achromatic small sculptures (approximately 10 x 10 x 10 cm) done in a combined technique in the period from 2017-2018. The cycle consists of wooden cubes painted black to which cobwebs are applied, i.e. spider webs. Even though Aranea did not come about as a result of Mijić’s theoretical and art exploration of his doctoral thesis called “The Role of Dark and the Material in the Visualization of the Transcendental in Sacral Paintings”, defended in 2017, it directly leans on his continual and multiannual exploration of the identity of the dark (color black) and the identity of matter in sacral and contemporary art.

(…)

In the Aranea cycle, Mijić took his preoccupations on art, man and nature, about the transcendental and the worldly, and translated them into a repetitive sculptural procedure, whereas the geometric forms are linked through fragile, organic, endless connection of the spider web. The cycle was built in relation to two art elements: color black and the square (cube) which also makes it the marker and the constant of Mijić’s entire art opus. The color black emphasizes the transcendental while the square, as a symbol of earth and the material world, is its antithesis. The cube as a square in space does not change its primary meaning but it emphasizes the created material world, and it defines and secures the space in its three dimensions. Aranea rests on binary opposites such as natural-artificial, immanent-transcendental, light-dark, black-white, and these do not cancel each other out but, on the contrary – condition and build upon each other. Polar opposites coexist in the repetition of form and building meaningful connections, making a visual rhythm united in a polyphonic, mute silence.

(…)

The spider web functions as a kind of visual code which needs to be deciphered, solved, and interpreted. In ancient traditions, legends and stories, the symbol of the spider was connected to fortune, good health and material wellbeing, while the spider web represented the entanglement into one’s own web of ignorance. It is, therefore, a symbol of many associative interpretations while, at the same time, arachnophobia, or irrational fear of spiders is one of the most common human phobias, which is not necessarily conditioned by the situation. With a well thought out and subtle play on symbols and synonyms, Mijić manages to transfer an existential restlessness and (non)artistic material and in doing so reach the essence, the observer. His message is clear and simple. Entangling into the spider web is a kind of metaphor of an existential fight with no happy endings.

Anja Bogojević (From the exhibition catalog)

Josip Mijić

Born in 1975 in Travnik. In 2002 he graduated painting from the Academy of  Fine Arts in Široki Brijeg in the class of prof. Ante Kajinić, and in 2005 he finished his postgraduate studies Ars Sacra under the tutelage of the same professor and he acquired an Ars Sacra masters degree. He obtained his doctoral degree in 2017 from the Academy of Fine Arts in Široki Brijeg.

His work is a part of many art collections: Franciscan Museum and Široki Brijeg Gallery (Široki Brijeg, BiH), the National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo, BiH), Catalonian National Library (Barcelona, Spain), Association of Anonymous Artists (Banja Luka, BiH), Gallery “Fonticus” (Grožnjan, Croatia) and others.

He is the winner of the second place prize in the competition exhibition Pasionski motivi held in the “Mimara” museum, Zagreb 2005; first place prize in the 27th international competition in mini printing in Cadaques (Spain) 2007; award for painting in the 6th biennale of BiH miniature art in Tuzla 2011; second place prize in the international competition miniature exhibition Minimum Maximum 4 in Banja Luka 2013;  third place prize in the international competition exhibition Change held by the Association of Croatian Artists of FBiH in Mostar 2016; prize in the Autumn Art Salon 2016 held by the Association of Croatian artists of FBiH in Mostar 2016; first place prize for sculpting and the Grand Prix in the first salon of miniature art in Rijeka – RIJEKA MINI ART 2017.

So far he has had 25 solo exhibitions and took part in more than a 150 group exhibitions in the country and abroad.