Exhibition ‘Kun: Artist – Worker – Soldier’

The exhibition ‘Kun: Artist – Worker – Soldier’, authored by Mišela Blanuša (MA), Vida Knežević (PhD) and Ana Panić, officially was opened at the SASA Gallery, on Tuesday, 11 June.

The exhibition, prepared on the occasion of the 120^th anniversary of the birth of this notable artist and revolutionary, a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade and an academician, was organized by the SASA Gallery in cooperation with the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade and the Museum of Yugoslavia.  The curator of the exhibition is Katarina Živanović, PhD. Academician Vladimir S. Kostić, president of the Expert Council of the SASA Gallery opened the exhibition.

By employing contemporary curatorial exhibition policies, the author team came up with the concept of Đorđe Andrejević Kun’s retrospective exhibition as a continuous dialogue of myriad artefacts from the artist’s rich legacy, including large-scale oil paintings, inevitable graphic maps, a large number of drawings and illustrations, objects from the applied arts domain, and archival material and museum pieces.

The exhibition offers a new understanding of the artist’s opus through interdisciplinary consideration of current topics linked to Kun’s various creative phases – inter-war, war and post-war periods. Starting with a complex presentation and different levels of understanding the significance of the figure and art of Đorđe Andrejević Kun, the exhibition was realized in six thematic points: Kun: Artist – Worker – Soldier; Artist’s struggle for better work conditions; Blood-soaked gold: An engaged novel in pictures; Spain: In the trenches of anti-fascist struggle; Exile – covertness – Partisan struggle; Socialist construction.

The name of Đorđe Andrejević Kun represents a main hallmark in the history of the Yugoslav art of the 20^th century which is directly connected to the term combat realism, a type of art which was closely linked to engaged, emancipatory social-political events during the previous century. Kun is an artist who dedicated his entire life to the socialist revolution, a worker whose art chisel and brush were engaged in the fight for a better tomorrow, and an indefatigable fighter for the oppressed. Lastly, Kun is an artist who allows us to see his art practice from a contemporary point of view as a union of (historical) social relations, and as a series of events painting a horizon of the renewal of the impossible.

The exhibition also showcases works of contemporary artists Hristina Ivanoska, Dejan Marković, Doplgenger art duo and Kontekst Kolektiv which have direct reference to the manners Kun is nowadays embedded into the collective memory of contemporary society, as well as to the level his influence is present in modern art practices.

Visitors will get the chance to see over 50 Kun’s artworks in all types of media, personal possessions and extensive photo-documentary material, as well as the works of other artists who had an impact on Kun, including museum pieces and library records from the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Yugoslavia, the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, the Joint Affairs of the Republic’s Bodies Administration – the Palace of Serbia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Military Museum, the National Museum of Šumadija, the Defense Media Centre, the National Museum of Serbia, the Museum of Applied Arts, Radio and Television of Serbia, the National Library of Serbia, the National Library of Bor, the Historical Archives of Belgrade, the Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the artist’s family collection whom the organizers of the exhibition offer their sincere thanks for loans and cooperation on this exhibition realization.

The Exhibition is on display until 8 September 2024.