“Is it possible to recognize, within the spontaneity of an undesired and wild nature, spaces of rebirth and regeneration?”
Croatian artist Igor Eškinja explores the relationship between humanity and nature by studying the plant life that grows in abandoned and forgotten industrial areas or in fully urbanized zones. The plants that thrive there—mainly weeds, quite different from the ones found in forests or the ornamental species in city gardens—become both the subject and the symbol of a nature reclaiming human space, turning into a metaphor for urban, social, and identity transformation.
The artist translates his investigation of these “weeds” into poetic wallpaper works that transport us into gardens where memory, redemption, the struggle for survival, the affirmation of life, and beauty coexist. If, in the Christian tradition, the goal of the believer’s hope is the Heavenly Jerusalem—a marvelous garden-city where peace and harmony between God, humankind, and the cosmos are restored—Igor Eškinja leads us instead into gardens where reconciliation is recreated from what was once despised and rejected.
— Andrea Dall’Asta SJ
— Andrea Dall’Asta SJ
Within the exhibition “The Dreams of Creation” are large immersive installations made with wallpaper, such as Untitled (Via dell’Industria) and Untitled (Braidica). These are followed by poetic sheets exposed to sunlight from the series Diagrams of Accumulation, and large aquatic surfaces printed on plexiglass, such as Surfaces, which present to the viewer certain ephemeral works originally created with ash.
The works on display trace a symbolic path through the Gallery’s spaces, leading into the San Fedele Museum thanks to several pieces from the photographic series Golden Fingers of Louvre. These are fingerprints left by numerous visitors on the glass of the famous Parisian museum’s exit door. It is a simple daily gesture, accumulating layer upon layer over time, captured by the artist in the moment when the golden sunlight transfigures it. The trace of a fingerprint becomes “glory.”
In collaboration with WIZARD GALLERY, Milan/London
Igor Eškinja (born 1975, lives and works in Rijeka).
Through his research, Eškinja defines certain characteristics that go beyond the physical aspects of the artwork, entering the realms of the imaginary and the imperceptible. In 2008, he exhibited at the Rovereto venues of Manifesta 7 and held a solo exhibition at the Centro de Arte Caja de Burgos. He has presented solo and group exhibitions in Croatia, Spain, Venezuela, Austria, and Italy.
Through his research, Eškinja defines certain characteristics that go beyond the physical aspects of the artwork, entering the realms of the imaginary and the imperceptible. In 2008, he exhibited at the Rovereto venues of Manifesta 7 and held a solo exhibition at the Centro de Arte Caja de Burgos. He has presented solo and group exhibitions in Croatia, Spain, Venezuela, Austria, and Italy.
