The art exhibition COBALT FOREST Vol2. is a continuation of artist Nikola Simanić’s earlier artistic research, inspired by the fact that all material and immaterial forms emit certain frequencies and that their vibrations can have an impact on all social spheres in an artistic context.
COBALT FOREST is an interdisciplinary project, which analytically and critically deals with this phenomenon through paintings, drawings, installations, sound and video, land art. This exhibition presents 40 paintings, mostly of large format, made using oil on canvas and oil on paper techniques, created in the last few years. In this cycle, the artist plays with expressive symbolism, gesture, action painting, pattern, pulling from his extensive experiences with contemporary digital tools and media where colored strokes are associated with pixels of intense color, while creating a new dimension and recognition.
On the other hand, the artist approaches painting through the most traditional painting skills, relying on many years of painting experience, abstract expressionism, pop art and new media. In this cycle of paintings, the focus of Simanić’s research is the relationship between the individual and the group, where social paradoxes that are ubiquitous today as well as global problems such as wars, migrations and pandemics are shown.
During the duration of the exhibition, the artist will also present other segments of this interdisciplinary research through talks, lectures and video presentations.