Grand Gesture, Paintings by Boris Zakic, will be on exhibit August 14 –September 27, 2014 at PUBLIC, the LVAA’s gallery in Downtown Louisville.
A subtle examination of mark making expands to embrace sweepingly romantic pictorialism in an ambitious new exhibition from Zakic. In the large canvases reminiscent of the late Baroque or Romantic periods, Zakic combines what might seem like conflicting elements into the magnificent allegories of love with a lush, continental grandeur.
“Initially, the gestures were to have an unparalleled ‘airiness,’ as if extensions to an evening breeze or a kind of bird song you may hear in the mornings,” explains Zakic. Brushstrokes, simultaneously abstract and highly realistic permeate representational images and evoke art movements that are, on their surface, in opposition to the modern sensibility of Zakic’s recent projects. If you have seen his Shhh, Flicker (Galerie Hertz, 2014) or the Painting at The New Albany Bicentennial Public Art Project (2013-2015), the Grand Gesture will rather surprise and perhaps amaze you. (preview available here)
Zakic has taught at Georgetown College since 2000, where he teaches a popular painting course for art majors entitled Impasto Mannerisms. The course is dedicated to the study of gesturalist painting almost exclusively. In 2010 Zakic received the Frank F. Weisberg Award for Excellence in Painting from the Louisville Visual Art Association. In addition, a concurrent exhibit, Grand Gesture: Sublime, will be at Eastern Kentucky University’s Fred Parker Giles Gallery (link) August 18 – September 12, 2014.
