DJORDJE IVAČKOVIĆ: CROUCHING HARMONY, HIDDEN TENSION

“I try to express in my paintings an analogy with contemporary jazz, which is constantly evolving. I try to transpose fugues, rhythm and the sound of jazz. The material is different, but the problem of instant creation is the same: liberation of emotional charge in improvisations.”

In the 1980s, Ivačković’s painting entered a new phase of development, characterised essentially by more intense colours, the return of strong gestures, a multiplication of forms and more complex compositions. The French art historian Pierre Cabanne described the new paintings of this period as energy structures, and explained the changes in Ivačković’s painting with the following metaphor: “Ivačković turned from chamber music to a symphony orchestra.” At the same time, the gestures in the paintings of this period can also mirror many aspects of Chinese and East Asian calligraphy, based on continuous movements. 

Double Q Gallery’s exhibition Crouching Harmony, Hidden Tension, presents a selection from this final period of the artist’s career. The title of the exhibition is a reference to Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (臥虎藏龍), which is regarded by Asian audiences as the film that brought Zhang Ziyi to Hollywood. Using the above cinematic parallel, we expect this exhibition to spread word of the artistic greatness of Djordje Ivačković across Asia, following the Hong Kong debut of the master who died unexpectedly in Paris in 2012.