Ivan Grubanov was born on 9th March 1976 in Belgrade. His graduation from the Painting department at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade was followed by a two-year specialization at Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam, and a one-year programme at Delfina Studios in London. Shortly after he received a scholarship of Casa de Velazquez, a French institute in Madrid and was a guest lecturer at Hochschüle für bildende kunst in Braunschweig. He earned his PhD in Arts at the University of Leuven in Belgium.
The focal point of Grubanov’s art is a thematic body of work dedicated to the notion of nation. In the production of his paintings, the artist uses the well-established practice of selecting national entities whose symbols include characteristic national slogans, which are embroidered on the canvas surface. In the following stages of applying the layers of paint, petrol, and smoke, they are being covered, concealed and transformed into alternative definitions and messages through provocative visual and aesthetic presentations, posing engaged questions about cohesive properties of today’s nations, their correspondence with current social reality, possible developments of the notion of nation and the future influence of emblems.
The artist’s recent work is part of continual project of long-term researching and interpreting ideological, political, and cultural aspects of the notion of nation in which he uses painting as a method of acquiring knowledge.
Born in Belgrade, 9th of March 1976
Education
2016 University of Leuven/LUCA School of Arts, PhD in Arts, Leuven, BE
2008 Casa de Velazquez, Madrid, ES
2005-2006 Delfina Foundation Studio Programme, London, UK
2002-2003 Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam, NL
1996-2001 Academy of Fine Arts, University of Arts, Master of Fine Arts, Belgrade, YU
1991-1995 Grammar School Uros Predic, Pancevo, YU
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2018 Art Brussels (with Ron Mandos gallery), Counterpicturing, Brussels, BE
2017 Gallery of the Belgrade Cultural Center, Painting the Nation, Belgrade, RS
2017 Exhibition Hall of the Central University Library Leuven, The Summer of Nationalism, Leuven, BE
2016 Funnel Contemporary, Collective Fractures, Bucharest, RO
2016 Ron Mandos Gallery, Smoke Nation Screen, Amsterdam, NL
2015 Serbian Pavilion at La Biennale di Venezia, the 56th International Art Exhibition, United Dead Nations, Venice, IT
2015 Loock Galerie, Behind the Smokescreen, Berlin, DE
2015 Vienna Contemporary, solo at the Loock galerie booth
2013 Loock Galerie, Dead Flags, Berlin, DE,
2012 National Museum of Contemporary Art, Current Pasts (with Vangelis Vlahos), Athens, GR
2012 Loock Galerie, Smokescreens, Berlin, DE
2010 MARZ Galeria, Haunting Memory (associated project of the Architecture Trienale), Lisbon, PT
2010 Loock Galerie, Seven Studies for a Memorial, Berlin, DE
2009 Center for Cultural Decontamination (solo presentation within the 50th October Salon), Belgrade, RS
2008 Loock Galerie, The Evil Painter, Berlin, DE
2008 Laboratorio 987, MUSAC – Museo de arte contemporaneo de Castilla y Leon, (with Angel Rubia), Leon, ES
2007 Le Grand Cafe Centre d’Art Contemporain, Non-Institutional, St Nazaire, FR
2007 Gallery of the Cultural Center of Belgrade, RS
2006 Nogueras Blanchard Gallery, Barcelona, ES
2005 Stroom Contemporary Art Center, Den Haag, NL
2005 Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade, SCG. Visitor
2004 Ron Mandos Gallery, Study of My Father, a Relation to the Origin, Rotterdam, NL
2004 Lawrence O’Hana Gallery, London, UK
2004 Expodium, Cages, Utrecht, NL
2001 Gallery of Contemporary Art, Pancevo, YU
1999 Zlatno Oko Center for Visual Culture, Novi Sad, YU
Selected Group Exhibitions
2018
Athens City Arts Center, Materiality of the Painterly Event, Athens. GR
Museum Palais Populaire, The World on Paper, Berlin, DE
Serbian Cultural Center in Paris, Color Lucida, Paris, FR
2017
Pancevo Gallery of Contemporary Art, New Aquisitions, Pancevo, RS
China Art Museum, Voyage – A Journey Through Serbian Contemporary Art, Sanghai, CH
Aa 29 Project Room, Four Directios, Caserta, IT
Residency of the Swiss Ambasador, Staying Here With You, a performance with Katia Schenker, Belgrade, RS
Museo del Duomo, Limiti – Confini, Milan, IT
Royal Atheneum Antwerp, I travelled the World on Seven Seas, Anwerp, BE
2016
Salon Dahlmann, Ach, die sind ja heute so unpolitisch, Berlin, DE
17th Pancevo Biennial, SEE Art Gates – Stanja stvarnosti, Pancevo, RS
Art Brussels, with Ron Mandos gallery
Art Rotterdam, with Ron Mandos gallery
2015
Serbian Cultural Center in Paris, Constellation, Paris, FR
Outside Gallery Apolo, Study for a Memorial, Pancevo, RS
Gallery of the Cultural Center of Belgrade, BONTON: Dobro odrzavanje i lepo ponasanje, Belgrade, RS
Naval Heritage Collection, Porto Montenegro, New Horizons, Tivat, ME
2014
16th Pancevo Biennial, Pancevo, RS
MUSAC (Museo de arte contemporaneo de Castilla y Leon), Diez años después, Leon, ES
Cultural Center of Cyprus in Athens, In bocca al lupo, crepi crepi, Athens, GR
Clovic Castle Gallery, Road to Europe / I want to Speak About the War, Zagreb, HR
STUK Kunstencentrum, Enacting Protest?, Leuven, BE
Stroom Center for Contemporary Art, The Good Cause, The Hague, NL
Francois Ghebaly Gallery, Squares, Los Angeles, USA
Loock Galerie, Celebrities, Berlin, DE
2013
267 Quartiere für Zeitgenossische Kunst & Fotografie, Der Geist in Vakuum, Braunschweig, DE
Universiteitsbibliotheek KU Leuven, The Prelude Pathetique, Leuven, BE
Ostrale ‘013, Wir überschreiten den Rubikon, Dresden, DE
9th Inspiracje Festival, Genesis, Szczecin, PL
Lanchester Gallery Projects, We Are Everything to Each Other, Coventry, UK
Remont Gallery, Preslisavanje 10, Belgrade, RS
2012
Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Reality Bites, Helsinki, FI
Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, A Gathering, Thessaloniki, GR
Green Art Gallery, Referencing History, Dubai, UAE
Good Children Gallery, That Passes Between Us, New Orleans, US
Loock Galerie, Private View, Berlin, DE
2011
Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Algiers , The 3rd International Festival of Contemporary Art of Algiers (FIAC), Algiers, DZ
MOCAK, Museum of Contemporary Art Krakow, History in Art, Krakow, PL
Kunstforum Ostdeutsche Galerie, Donumenta, Regensburg, DE
Apex Art, Walls That Divide Us, New York, US
Blainsouthern, Selektionseffekte, Berlin, DE
MARZ Galeria, Thin Air, Lisbon, PT
2010
Extra City- Kunsthal Antwerpen, Drawing Documents, Antwerp, BE
National Museum of Contemporary Art, Politics of Art, Athens, GR
Museu Colecção Berardo, All That Is Solid Melts Into Air, Lisbon, PT
Witte de With, Morality, Act 3, And the Moral of the Story is, Rotterdam, NL
Apex Art, Morality, Act 3, And the Moral of the Story is, New York, US
2009
2nd Spa Port Biennial, Where Everything is Yet to Happen, Banja Luka, BH
28th Biennial of Graphic Arts, The Matrix: An Unstable Reality, Ljubljana, SLO
City Gallery, Monument to Transformation, Prague, CZ
Arts center Vooruit, Courtisane Festival, Gent, BE
Casa de Velazquez, Los Puertas Abiertas, Madrid, ES
ARCO, Solo Projects, Madrid, ES
2008
3rd Bucharest Biennial of Young Artists, Bucharest, RO
1st Spa Port Biennial, Banja Luka, BH
Kunsthalle Bern, No Leftovers, CH
Blackwood Gallery, Signals in the Dark, Mississauga, CA
Henie Onstad Art Center, Headlines & Footnotes, Oslo, NO
ARCOS, Contemporary Art Museum Sannio, Italy Italien, Wlochy, Benevento, IT
Iaspis, Between the Images, Stockholm, SE
Hattyuhaz Galeria, Wasteland, Pecs, HU
Institute for Contemporary Art and Thought, Selective Knowledge, Athens, GR
2007
10th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, TR
1st Thessaloniki Biennial, Thessaloniki, Greece
Stedelijk Museum CS, Drawing Typologies, Amsterdam, NL
Forum Stadpark, Ground Lost, Graz, AT
Office Baroque, Alabama, Antwerp, BE
SMART Project Space, Every Wind That Blows, Amsterdam, NL
Aeroplastics Gallery, Speakers, Brussels, BE
2006
12th Pancevo Biennial, Pancevo, RS
Le Grand Café Centre d’Art Contemporain, Histoires, St Nazaire, FR
Drawing Center, New York, ‘Common Destinations’ (curated by Katherine Carl)
South London Gallery, Around the World in 80 Days, London, UK
Blackwood Gallery, Everyday Every Other Day, Mississauga, CA
Moderna Galerija, Interrupted Histories, Ljubljana, SLO
Kunsthalle Bern, Vila Jelmini, Bern, CH
Apex Art, Sweet Taboos, New York, USA
PSWAR, Pixels of Reality, Amsterdam, NL
Gallery of the Cultural Center of Belgrade, Affinity by Choice, Belgrade, SCG
2005
2nd Tirana Bienale, Sweet Taboos, Tirana, AL
3rd Biennial of Quebec, Manif d’Art, Quebec, CA
Extra City-Kunsthal Antwerpen, Information/Transformation, Antwerp, BE
Kunsthalle Bern, Off-Key, Bern, CH
Press to Exit project Space, 20/21, Skopje, MK
Zvono Gallery, 20/21, Belgrade, SCG
Espace Culturel Francois Mitterand, Values, Perigueux, FR
2004
Yugoslav Biennial of Young Artists, Untitled as Yet, Vrsac, SCG
11th Pancevo Biennial, Pancevo, SCG
De Appel, The World is Fine, We Ourselves Unfortunately Somewhat Less, Amsterdam, NL
Freiraum, Museumsquartier, Coded Cultures, Vienna, AT
Museum Beelden aan Zee, Video Studio, Scheveningen, NL
ART Rotterdam, Smart Project Space stand, Rotterdam, NL
2003
Museum De Beyerd, Breda, NL, ‘Martha Colburn, Ivan Grubanov, Bas Louter, Serge Onen-Fuse’
Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam, NL, ‘Open Ateliers’
Gallery of Contemporary Art, Pancevo, SCG, ‘Regional-Universal’
2002
Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam, NL, ‘Open Ateliers’
US Art Gallery, Stellenbosch, SA, ‘Violence-Silence’
Chinese-European Art Center, Xiamen, CN, ‘Rendezvous in Xiamen’
Goethe Institute, Tel Aviv, IL, ‘Violence – Memory’
N.S.A. Gallery, Durban, SA, ‘Violence’
Nieubethesda, Great Karoo, SA, ‘Silence’
Outline & Kunstruimte NP40, Amsterdam, NL, ‘Fake or Real’
Gallery of the Cultural Center of Belgrade, Belgrade, YU, International Workshop ‘Glass’
Josip Bepo Benkovic Gallery, Herceg Novi, YU, ’35. Winter Salon’
Publikum’s Calendar of New Art and Contemporary Life, Belgrade, YU
2001
15th International Triennial of Drawing, The Modern Gallery, Rijeka, CRO
Museum of Voevodina, Novi Sad, YU, ‘Resistances and Confrontations’
Center for Contemporary Art Ujazdowsky, Warsaw, PL, ‘Under Construction’
Gallery of Contemporary Art, Pancevo, YU, ‘Resistances and Confrontations’
Gallery of Contemporary Art, Pancevo, YU, ’31. Salon of Pancevo’
Cinema Apolo, Pancevo, YU, ‘Open Sensuality’
Barutana, Belgrade, YU, ’11th BELEF’
Gallery of Contemporary Art, Pancevo, YU, ‘Glass’
2000
Zacheta Gallery, Warsaw, PL, ‘Inside-Outside’
Rex, Belgrade, YU, ‘Short Electronic Form Fair’
Apolo Cinema, Pancevo, YU, ‘Open Sensuality’
Dvoriste Gallery of Contemporary Art, Pancevo,YU, ’30. October Salon’
Cinema Apolo, Pancevo, YU, ‘International Biennial of Sculpture’
Graphic Colective Gallery, Belgrade, YU, ‘Not a Day Without a Line’
Awards and Grants
2012-2013 Scholarship of the Ministry of Culture of Lower Saxony for Artistic Research, Hannover, DE
2008 Scholarship Casa de Velazquez, French Institute in Madrid, ES
2005-2006 Delfina Foundation, Delfina Studio Trust Award, London, UK
2003 RABK, Scholarship of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Amsterdam, NL
2002 RABK, Scholarship of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Amsterdam, NL
2001 Pancevo, YU, Award of 31st Salon of Pancevo
2000 Pancevo, YU, Award of 30th October Salon
1999 World’s Health Organization, Belgrade, YU, Award for Best Poster
1997 Patagonija Magazine, Vrsac, YU, Award for Best Drawing
Film/Video Screening
2004 Muffathalle, Munich, DE, ‘NEURO’
2004 VPRO Television, NL, Smart Project Space selection
2001 FLUX 01, Rex Cultural Center, Belgrade, YU
2001 Academy of Fine Arts Gallery, Sarajevo, BH, ARTme
2001 Student’s Cultural Center-SKC, Belgrade, YU, ‘Mikrokino Fest’
2000 Culture House Gorizia, Gorizia, IT, ‘VideoGong Festival’
2000 Kapelica Gallery, Ljubljana, SI, ‘hEXPO’
Installations in Public Space
2006 Installation and performance in front of the National Parliament in Belgrade (curated by Eric Corne, organized by the Cultural Center of Belgrade)
2001 Installation in public space, 10th BELEF, Belgrade, RS
1997-1999 Series of installations in public space, ‘BREAK 21-International Festival of Young Independent Artists’, Ljubljana, SLO (curated by Dunja Kukovec)
Selected Bibliography
Monographs
Unnation, Kehrer Verlag, Heidelberg-Berlin, as author, 2016
United Dead Nations, Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade, texts by Lidija Merenik, Ana Bogdanovic, Peter Vermeersch, 2015
The Evil Painter, Verlag Fuer Moderne Kunst Nuernberg, texts by Charles Esche, Philippe Pirotte, Ivan Grubanov, 2008
Documents Grubanov, Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam, editor Martijntje Hallman, text by Ivan Grubanov, 2006
Visitor, Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade/Kunsthalle Bern, texts by Gerardo Mosquera, Marina Martic, Philippe Pirotte, Ivan Grubanov, 2005
Selected Exhibition Catalogues and Reference Publications
Annelote Verhagen, Ivan Grubanov, Video Studio, Museum Beelden an Zee, Scheveningen 2004
James Becket. Ivan Grubanov, Born Belgrade, 1976, Untitled as Yet Catalogue, Vrsac, 2004
Wim van der Beek, Ivan Grubanov – Galerie Ron Mandos, Kunstbeeld 09, Amsterdam 2004
Ana Peraica, Media on Trial, Springerin 04, Vienna, 2004
Goran Petrovic, 20/21 Catalogue, Belgrade 2005
Luk Lambrecht, Information/Transformation, Metropolis, No 6, Antwerp, 2005
Ana Peraica, Grubanov for president!, Off-Key Catalogue, Kunsthalle Bern, 2005
Arno van Roosmalen, Ivan Grubanov at Stroom Den Haag, Stroom Den Haag, 2005
Gregor Guy Smith, May I See the Original?, Ivan Grubanov at Stroom Den Haag, Stroom Den Haag, 2005
Kai van Hasselt, On the Work Visitor, Ivan Grubanov at Stroom Den Haag, Stroom Den Haag, 2005
Arjan Reinders, Ivan Grubanov – Stroom, Kunstbeeld, Amsterdam, 2005
Zoë Gray, Ivan Grubanov, Contemporary Magazine Annual Issue, London, February 2006
Anne Dekerk, Ivan Grubanov – Mapping Myself Into Complex Social Situations, Etcetera Magazine No 101, Brussels 2006
Tony White, Another Fool in the Balkans, Cadogan, London, 2005
Zoe Gray, Father Land, Mother Tongue, Wasafiri Magazine, No 48, London, 2006
Rebecca Gordon Nesbit, Tirany and Tribalism, the Art of Ivan Grubanov, Afterall 14, London-Los Angeles, 2006
Philippe Pirotte, Ivan Grubanov-Close Encounters, Afterall No 14, London-Los Angeles, 2006
Kit Hammond, Ivan Grubanov, Around the World in 80 Days Catalogue, ICA London & South London Gallery, London 2006
Katherine Carl, Ivan Grubanov, Drawing Papers, The Drawing Center New York, New York, Autumn 2006
Alex Mitrani, Ivan Grubanov, Papers d’art, Girona, Spain, 2nd semester 2006
Csiszek Petra, Wasteland, Balkon, Budapest, 2008
Seamus Keally, Considering Two Works by Ivan Grubanov and Paul Chan, Monochrom #26-34, Vienna, 2010
Raluca Voinea, Ivan Grubanov: I am not merely an Observer, Idea Magazine for Art and Society, #40, Bucharest, 2012
Daphne Vitali, Between Past and Present: Ivan Grubanov and Vangelis Vlahos, Artpulse Magazine No. 15 Vol. 4, 2013
Selected Articles and Reviews
Machteld Leij, Drama van Servie, NRC Handelsblad, Amsterdam, 08 10 2004
Paul Alexander, Stiekem Milosevic tekenen, NRC Handelsblad, Amsterdam, 24 09 2005
Nicole Lucas, Tekenar Ivan Grubanov, Trouw, Amsterdam, 16 12 2005
Edwin van Baarle, Interview with Ivan Grubanov, AD, Amsterdam, 22 12 2005
Jan Goossensen, Onverteerde restjes, UIT, Amsterdam, 01 2006
Edo Dijksterhuis, Exorcisme in een rafelig schetsblok, Het Financiele Dagblad, Amsterdam, 14 01 2006
Rutger Pontzen, Krachtige zoektocht naar Milosevic, Volkskrant, Amsterdam 04 01 2006
Marija Djordjevic, Tajni crtezi, Politika, Belgrade, 09 09 2005
Ljiljana Cinkul, Vizuelno svedocenje, Politika, Belgrade, 20 09 2005
Slobodan Kostic, Vizuelni Stenogram, Vreme, Belgrade, 15 09 2005
Noèlia Hernández, Ídolos caídos, Culturas, La Vanguardia, Barcelona, 25 10 2006
Arnau Puig, Un arte desde los Añicos, ABC, Nº768, Barcelona, 21 10 2006
Neus Miró, Ivan Grubanov, Exit Express, Nº22, Barcelona, 10 2006
Conxita Oliver, Afterimages, Ivan Grubanov, AVUI, Barcelona, 11 2006
David G. Torres, Ivan Grubanov, El Mundo, Madrid, 16 11 2006
Marjanovic, Intervju, Ivan Grubanov, Blic, Beograd, 09 04 2007
Cristina Fanjul, El Musac Representa las huellas del conflicto de la antiqua Yugoslavia, Diario De Leon, Leon, 14 03 2008
Kelly Kiki, Ivan Grubanov, BH Magazine Athens, 25 01 2011
Giorgos Karoszak, Politics of Art, Eleutherotypia, Athens, 22 01 2011
Marija Djordjevic, Arheologija Konflikta, Politika, Beograd, 02 03 2011
