Ivana graduated from the Academy of Arts in Zagreb, majoring in graphics. She leads numerous educational programs and interactive workshops. She is currently an assistant at the academy of Applied arts at the University of Rijeka.
You usually express yourself through graphics and performance.What attracts you to them?
I always start from the idea and the concept and then gradually come to the medium – a tool that I think will most genuinely present my idea. Due to curiosity about what the medium brings, I sometimes throw myself into the unknown. That feeling really fills me up and opens new topics that I talk about freely. Every medium for me is an outlet through which I study the world and the environment. I speak on my own behalf and on behalf of the community in which I operate.
In my artistic work, I explore the totality of a human as a cosmic being. My intention is to analyze human values, flaws and actions through art, all starting primarily from myself. It’s important to me that the observers connect with my work, that is, to direct them to introspection.
In your works, the figures are often deformed under the influence of different states and emotions that you want to show. Also, the richness of textures is amazing.
Deformed human figures sometimes shock with their morbidity, but basically they carry a dose of beauty in them. Each figure conveys a certain emotion. Through my cathartic experience and artistic work I want to motivate the observers to become aware of their own obstacles and to be ready for a change. Attention to detail is one note that I possess and in which I find great satisfaction. While creating I pay attention to the smallest details and take care that each element in it has its own meaning.
You expressed yourself through video, performance, sketchbook, art books, graphics, etc. Is there something that connects all these different praxis?
For me, art is mental hygiene, which is necessary for every person. Exploration, that is, relentless digging into one’s own soul, is a painstaking process, which ultimately provides relief and calmness.
As an example of daily growth, I will mention a series of work Young artist’s suffering. These are art books in which I recorded my emotional states through drawing and text. In a sarcastic way, I transformed negative experiences into positive ones, and through the process of recording, I resolved them.
