DANILO STANKOVIC

Våndan 2023, oil on canvas, 200 x 110 cm

Danilo Stankovic

Ruins

06.10-12.11.23

Gallery Steinsland Berliner is proud to present Ruins, an exhibition with new work by Swedish artist Danilo Stankovic. On view in Ruins are paintings, drawings and sculpture executed in the artist’s characteristic style that emphasizes a sumptuous colour palette, storytelling and emotional resonance.

The work of Danilo Stankovic has long existed in a world governed by myth and magic. In accordance with a folkloric tradition which remains influential to the artist, Stankovic has imagined the world enchanted and has depicted it accordingly. Intrigued by how shared stories shape reality, and how easily they fall into mystical obscurity when no longer necessary, Stankovic’s work has often explored themes and symbols common throughout the cultural history of European storytelling.

In Ruins, the trees and lakes which often made up the surroundings in Stankovic’s previous work have shifted into classical architectural structures of pillars and arches. Nature has here become the outside; the view seen through a window opening of something more developed. A mirroring of not only the progression seen in art and architecture through history but also perhaps that of life, of becoming increasingly more solidified while passing through time and its challenges.

The primary subjects of Stankovic’s paintings have gone through a similar metamorphosis. What was previously roamers or workers of the land have now taken the form of spirits and statuesque beings. Persistent entities who seem to be facing a mission of sorts. Based on statues and monuments found in and around church buildings or grave sites, the beings seen in Ruins inhabit an emotional gravity often bestowed on the moments we choose to immortalize in stone. Dressed in the qualities of legends and stories, Ruins is fundamentally an account of finding oneself face to face with the immensity of life.

Danilo Stankovic (b. 1981, SE) lives and works in Malmö. He holds an MFA from Malmö Art Academy. Stankovic’s work which includes paintings, large- and small-scale sculptures as well as works on paper has been exhibited at several museums and galleries across the country. His work is represented in the collections of Malmö Konstmuseum and the Swedish Public Art Agency among others.