Ljubodrag Andric. MIA PHOTO FAIR 2024

BUILDING presents, within the institutional section of MIA PHOTO FAIR, a selection of large-format photographs by Ljubodrag Andric (Belgrade, 1965). The exhibition will present images halfway between abstract, or even pictorialist, painting and architectural photography. These testify to the harmony between geometric forms, lights, and colors, immersing the viewer in a time marked by Andric.

Over the course of these years, the artist has carried out a precise photographic investigation, which has as its object the place, the picture and the photograph itself, as an instrument for the construction of an image that can be defined as absolute, or that aspires to the absolute. His creations, in fact, tend to gain an “absolute” autonomy from the motif that also constitutes their origin. Andric’s practice is initially focused on architectural details of buildings of various periods and connotations, of which the artist does not intend to capture only the fleeting spirit, formal character, memory or sense of time. All these elements, together with the connection to places, are part of a process that continues beyond the captured image. In this path, the elaborative and post-production process represent an active part of a dialogue between the photographic, pictorial, and sculptural languages, as well as relating, through the architectural, which is its primary subject, with rhythmic, musical, and interior readings, where the vitality of the organic meets the rigor of construction.

In this context, on April 12th, 2024, at 6.30PM, a conversation titled In Search of the Form of Time will take place between the artist, critic Demetrio Paparoni, who curated Andric’s monograph published by Skira, editor Stefano Piantini, and art historian and curator Francesco Tedeschi, who will be the curator of the artist’s future solo exhibition in BUILDING in 2025. The meeting will focus on the characters of Andric’s recent work, represented by a series of works recently exhibited in Chaumont-sur-Loire, related to the research carried out in India and Italy on some historical buildings and their characters, through attention to his processes, as well as on some critical-interpretive lines they propose.

In search of the form of time
Building Photography

A selection of recent works by artist Ljubodrag Andric will be exhibited at the MIA PHOTO FAIR in Milan (April 11 – 14). The exhibition will be completed by an encounter about his work on April 12. The artist will engage in a conversation with art critic Demetrio Paparoni, editor Stefano Piantini, and art historian and curator Francesco Tedeschi.

Over the course of years, Andric has carried out a precise photographic investigation, which has as its object the place, the picture and photography itself, as an instrument for the construction of an image that can be defined as absolute, or that aspires to the absolute. His creations, in fact, tend to gain an “absolute” autonomy from the motif that nonetheless constitutes their origin. Andric’s work has as its initial object architectural details of buildings of various periods and connotations of which the artist does not intend to capture only the fleeting spirit, formal character, memory, or the sense of time but to create an image that works by itself. All the materials and conceptual elements, along with the rapport with the places so intensely sought and felt by Andric, are part of a process that continues beyond the captured image. Such captured image is but a point of departure of an engagement with the lights, colors, shapes and dimensions in which a “photograph”, linked to a moment that expands from its immediacy to a suspended and immobile temporal condition, reaches a result which borders on abstraction; it thus finds its condition as an image in the autonomy of its consistency and which becomes concrete material of a further tension, a point of balance between the sign and the archetype.

That said, Andric’s images are born out of the observation of chosen places. Andric is indeed concentrated on finding sites that can yield images. For that, his journeys are undertaken with the conscious intent to enter in a profound relationship with the history and energy of the environments from which he draws his visual sources. As part of this itinerary, the process of elaboration and post-production represents the active part of a dialogue between the languages of photography, painting, and sculpture; it also relates, through the architectural as its primary subject, to the rhythmic, musical, and interior reads, where the vitality of the organic meets the rigor of construction.

The encounter at the Fair will focus on the essence of Andric’s recent production, represented by a series of works recently exhibited at the Domaine Chaumont-sur-Loire, fruit of investigations undertaken in India and Italy around various historic buildings and their peculiarities, focusing on Andric’s process and certain critical-interpretative paths his works suggests.

Francesco Tedeschi