Dragan Bibin (b. 1984, Zrenjanin, Serbia) explores the idea of legacy through cycles of his paintings. After the "Unfinished" series, in which he interweaves religious motifs of asceticism, penance and sacrifice with scenes of workers on crumbling construction sites, follows the "Flood Waves" series dedicated to the reinterpretation of the Great Flood, born out of his interest in the romantic philosopher John Ruskin's theory of the "sublime" in Turner's work, where he analyzes the catharsis that man experiences in the face of the magnificent force of nature. Representing the Tower of Babel and the Great Flood, Dragan's canvases are also filled with Balkan historical and cultural references: cheap red blocks, Byzantine iconography, protective helmets, workers' gloves... a whole visual lexicon that is very evident in the surroundings of his Novi Sad studio. The last series of paintings deals with the themes of shame, the vulnerability of the naked body and character, as well as the issue of free will, i.e. biological and social conditioning.
Poetry is the queen of arts because it is the only art form that cannot be accurately translated, and yet is absolutely universal. Visual arts, on the other hand, are easily palatable for anyone outside of the culture where it was created. The same goes for music, dance, or even literature when it is well translated. But poetry is created within, by, and for the particular. Therefore poetry is rapidly being transcribed into pop songs, which offer the universality of music as Trojan horse for the enduring particularity of poetry.
Dragan Bibin's paintings are, under this definition, entirely poetic. It is their single greatest virtue. For somebody who has never visited Serbia their meaning remains partially veiled, yet perceptible. The repetitive and metaphoric hollow bricks, crash helmets, protection gloves and decrepit bodies speak of a particular reality that affects only those closely associated with Bibin's environment. They are his unique vocabulary, his lexicon of emotions, like the machine-gun-like short, concise words of Bukowski. You don't need to really look at them. Seeing them is sometimes enough. Painting after the painting their deeper meaning starts to emerge through ways that are of the realm of poetry – absurdity, mystery, metaphor, repetition and conciseness. These qualities offer these images access to the universal, both in space and time. Bibin, like all poets, speaks in the hermetic language that alone can be understood by all.
– David Laufer
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023, TATATAMAMAMA, Laufer Art, Gallery FLU, Belgrade, Serbia
2020, Flood Waves, Laufer Art, Zürich, Switzerland
2017, Unfinished, Laufer || Eugster, Belgrade, Serbia,
2015, Dragan Bibin & Boris Lukić, Residence of the Swiss Embassy in Belgrade, Serbia
2013, Solo exhibition of a Grand Prix Winner of the 46th Golden Pen of Belgrade, Grafički Kolektiv Gallery, Belgrade
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021, Dreams of Reality - Figuration in Serbia Today, German Embassy in Belgrade, Serbia
2021, BIENVENUE Art Fair, Paris, France
2019, BIENVENUE Art Fair, Paris, France
2019, 5 YEARS, Laufer Art, Belgrade, Serbia
2018, BIENVENUE Art Fair, Paris, France
2015, Contemporary European Painters, Arcadia Contemporary SoHo, New York, US
2015, Winter selections, Arcadia Contemporary SoHo, New York, US
2015, LA Art Show, Arcadia Contemporary, Los Angeles, US
2013, Into the Wild, Richard J. Demato Fine Arts Gallery, Sag Harbor, New York, US
2013, Loyal Subjects, Richard J. Demato Fine Arts Gallery, Sag Harbor, New York, US
Dragan's paintings are in collections worldwide, most notably, in the collection of Uli Sigg.