Deni Horvatić, UNSEEN Amsterdam 2023 – Photography
Deni Horvatić, UNSEEN Amsterdam 2023 – Photography
From 22 – 24 September 2023, we will present new works from the SCAN series by Croatian photo artist Deni Horvatić at the renowned photo art fair UNSEEN Amsterdam.
In Horvatić’s life-size photographs of scenes from everyday life, the artist removes the distance between the environment and the portrayed by choosing a particular perspective: Shot from below, the images hide as much as they reveal, denying the viewer a glimpse of the part of the body we most immediately associate with identity – the face.
The best portraits give us the intimate feeling of being face to face with the person portrayed. But even in the most intimate embrace, the constraints of the physical world prevent us from fully uniting with that person; two bodies cannot command the same point in space.
Deni Horvatić overrides this in his SCAN project. Using a scanner-like camera, the artist records his subjects in such a way that the viewer is offered a point of view that he literally shares with the sitter: I see you from exactly where you are. By removing the distance between the bodies, the portraits in the SCAN series fulfil the fantasy of a complete merging of the viewer and the seen, which is actually impossible. However, if faces are the focal point of another’s identity, Horvatić’s faceless bodies raise the question of whether we have another individual in front of us at all. Like the Greek mythological figure of Narcissus, the viewer stands transfixed before what appears to be only the beautiful body of another. Proximity becomes distance again.
Deni Horvatić was born in 1991 in Čakovec, Croatia. His artistic practice includes photography as well as video art and CGI. He worked for several years at Studio Silvio Vujičić and at the fashion brand E.A.1/1 S.V. as a researcher and head of communication and visual design.
Since 2019, he has been working with the Croatian fashion brand XD Xenia Design. He won the Marina Viculin Award for exceptional achievements in Croatian photography, established by the international photography organisation Organ Vida. In September 2020, the exhibition SCAN was shown at the Miroslav Kraljevic Gallery in Zagreb, Croatia. In May/June 2022, he was participating in the 36th Youth Salon, the largest and most respectable exhibition event for visual artists under the age of 35 in Croatia. His exhibition SCAN was then on view at nüüd.berlin gallery in June and July 2022. Deni also participated in the group exhibition NUIT 2.0 at nüüd.berlin gallery (July – September 2022) and is represented by nüüd.berlin.
Deni Horvatić lives in Čakovec, Croatia, where he works as a visual artist.
Program:
Thursday, 21 September 2023, 14:00 h & 17:00 h
Opening – on invitation only.
Friday, 22 September 2023, 11:00 – 18:00 h
Public day.
18.00 – 21.00 h Young Patrons & Professionals night
Saturday, 23 September 2023, 11:00 – 19:00 h
Public day.
Sunday, 24 September 2023, 11:00 – 19:00 Uhr
Public day.
Deni Horvatić, UNSEEN Amsterdam 2023
22. – 24. September 2023
Venue: Westergas, Klönneplein 1, NL-Amsterdam
Open: Friday to Sunday, 11:00 – 19:00 h