Beyond Academia: Bosilj, Sekulić, Skurjeni, Tisnikar

The group exhibition entitled Beyond Academia presents a comprehensive survey of the work of four exceptional painters from the second half of the 20th century: Ilija Bašičević Bosilj, Sava Sekulić, Matija Skurjeni, and Jože Tisnikar, who represent the pinnacle of self-taught artistic production in the wider region of Western Balkans in the 20th century and are part of relevant international collections (Collection de l’Art Brut, Lausanne; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Sammlung Zander, Cologne; Museum of Naïve Art, Zagreb; and others).

The exhibition opens up a platform for a fresh evaluation of their oeuvres: from fantastical inner worlds and mythologies to intimate, often dark universes and subtle symbolism that eludes unambiguous interpretations. The exhibition does not stop at labels such as ‘naïve’ or ‘self-taught’, but shows how the artists construct complex visual systems that are both embedded in time as well as radically idiosyncratic.

The exhibition is the result of collaboration with the Museum of Naïve and Marginal Art in Jagodina (Serbia), Matija Skurjeni Museum in Zaprešić (Croatia), KGLU – Koroška Gallery of Fine Arts in Slovenj Gradec (Slovenia), and private Zander Collection in Cologne (Germany).

Photo: Jože Tisnikar, And Then Life Estinguished, 1964. Oil on paper. GBJ Archive.