Ivo Nikić, Untitled, inkograph on paper, 70 x 50 cm, edition of 7/100
Ivo Nikić was born in 1974 in Pristina. In 2003 he defended his diploma in painting at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts in the studio of Prof. Jaroslaw Modzelewski. His work includes painting, photography, installations, objects, video and actions in urban space. He is interested in the cityscape, corporeality, music, waste and aesthetic scrap. He draws on street-art style - stencils and spray paint - which he combines with laser technique and texture painting; sometimes he paints with magnetic paints to attach additional, mobile elements to the picture plane. He is inspired by the sampling technique used in music. He surprises with juxtapositions of motifs, aesthetic nonchalance, and a sense of humor. He creates an atmosphere of horror. From the darkness he brings out various shapes, spots, which are traces of man's bodily existence. He plays with associations, dismantles the world into parts, questions ready-made solutions, reevaluates the categories of beauty and ugliness. Ivo Nikić has been co-founding [with Piotr Kopik and Karol Radziszewski] the szu szu group since 2001. He lives and works in Warsaw. In 2006 he was an Artist-In-Residence fellow in Bern, Switzerland. He has participated in numerous group and individual exhibitions in Poland (CCA Ujazdowski Castle, BWA Zielona Gora, Studio Gallery, Arsenal Gallery in Poznań, Focus Łódź Biennale) and abroad (among others: Humboldt Berlin, Umspannwerk; Bat-Yam International Biennale of Landscape Urbanism in Israel; Rotor in Graz, Tokyo Fashion Week).
