Dragutin Banic (*1979) lives and works in Cologne. He studied at the HBK Braunschweig from 2006 to 2012 where he graduated as Prof. Walter Dahn’s master student. „Picknick” is the first solo exhibition of Dragutin at the Galerie Martin Kudlek and ties in with last year’s show titled „Freundlicher Besuch beim Nachbarn ohne Ankündigung“ at Galerie KM in Berlin.

Just as the exhibition title charmingly follows the previous narrative, the works present themselves in an evolutionary dialogue. It is the exploration of the possible that feeds Banic’s work. Marietta Franke wrote about his objects and paintings in 2023;

„Große Weite und verdichtete Kleinheit treffen in einer stillen Konversation zusammen, nicht um sich zu etwas Größerem zu verabreden, sondern die formalen und inhaltlichen Möglichkeiten des Bescheidenen möglichst weitgehend zu explorieren. „(Great expansiveness and condensed smallness meet in a quiet conversation, not to agree on something bigger, but to explore the formal and content-related possibilities of the modest as far as possible.)„

Each of his works, large or small, has been reflected on down to the last detail. Painted with rabbit glue, pigments, oil pastel or egg tempera on canvas or wood. Areas of color appear impulsively composed and representational elements are displayed as a gentle reminder of the ephemeral. His love of experimentation and his relationship to space and color show kinship to the work of artists such as Imi Knoebel or Blinky Palermo. Nevertheless, Dragutin Banic feels far more connected to the naive painters of the former Yugoslavia (where Dragutin grew up), such as that of Ivan Generalić or Ivan Večenaj. Despite the fact that the human body is clearly more present in these paintings, Dragutin Banic allows human markings to shine through. Architecture, village views and remnants held together in a color composition, almost a musical system of informal arrangements form his work.