TARA STANIĆ / I KNOW WHO YOU ARE
Solo exhibition
FROM THE PREFACE OF THE EXHIBITION
Artist Tara Stanić presents herself at the Šira Gallery with a new cycle of works called I Know Who You Are. It is a series of large formats in the combined technique of acrylic and laminated newspapers on canvas, designed and executed specifically for this space, and which at the same time thematically build on earlier works from the cycle Do You Know There Are Dimensions with Different Outcomes?, exhibited at the Galženica Gallery in 2023, thus maintaining the focus on the theme of dreams.
As in the previous cycle, the performance of the works is preceded by a carefully elaborated practice of documenting one's own dreams through auditory and textual records. In the process, the author recalls in detail situations, dialogues and emotions from different dreams – some are new, while others are etched in the memory for years and thus serve as a source of inspiration over and over again, offering a different perspective to the dreamed scene.
By collagening formats of different dimensions, Tara Stanić treats each wall surface in the gallery as part of a dreamlike whole. This whole does not necessarily bring a clear and easy-to-read narrative, but it manages to create a strong atmosphere. By interweaving elements such as a lost shoe, a scene of a car ride with a threat in the continuation of the dream, a scene from Halloween, worms coming out of their hands, or a multitude of eyes watching from the dark, the author further enhances the nightmare effect inherent in the way we dream. The text here acts as only a partial explanation of a strange situation or a striking sentence from a dream, while the black and white technique contributes to the comic manner and additional expressiveness of the scene.
The focus of this cycle is not so much the action itself, but the fascination with dreams that arises from their apparent disconnection and bizarreness, but also the feeling that all unusual and unreal situations, at the moment of dreaming, are completely acceptable to the dreamer. Tara transfers intense moments from dreams to the canvas with the aim of emphasizing the atmosphere – especially expressed in her work with a huge clown whose steps go beyond the night scene set in a pine forest. Through several skilful, expressive strokes, the artist creates an ambience that encompasses a spectrum of feelings – from overwhelm and excitement to chills – leaving a fragment of memories recorded on the canvas as what she calls a "reflection of a dream".
While actively dealing with dreams, describing them and painting them, the author notices that over time she manages to record a larger number of her dreams, which further contributes to the quality of her sleep. If we take into account the interpretations of Carl Gustav Jung, dreams are not only the fulfillment of desires, but also have a compensatory role in relation to everyday conscious life. Their function is to establish a balance between the conscious and the unconscious. According to his theory, dreams are not isolated events, but a series of interconnected manifestations of the unconscious, with the ultimate goal – achieving a balanced mind. In this context, the title of the exhibition I Know Who You Are perfectly follows the core of Jung's analytical psychology behind the interpretation of dreams. It is a sentence that the author, in a dream, is unexpectedly addressed to the person she secretly follows – thus surprising her and inverting the roles of the observer and the observed, offering a new interpretation of herself.
In this way, Tara Stanić reveals how skillfully she handles the symbols and constitutive elements of the rich inner world, while at the same time shaping them in such a way that she leaves enough space for the observers to reflect on their own.
Tena Bakšaj
BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Tara Stanić (1998, Zagreb) graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, Department of Fine Arts, Department of Graphics, in the class of Professor Igor Čabraja. Through animation, graphics, illustration, comics and painting, she explores the grotesque, the fantastic, alienation and loneliness. Using narration, she combines the unusual, the creepy and the humorous. She has had solo exhibitions at the exhibition "Pocket Crayons" at the Crta Gallery (2024), "Do You Know There Are Dimensions with Different Outcomes" at the Galženica Gallery (2023), "Animals" at the Polica Gallery, Academy of Fine Arts (2023) and the exhibition "Just Dreams" in Lauba (Project "Send It On" / 2022). Her student animated film was included in the program of the world animation festival Animafest in Zagreb (2024) and Animateka in Ljubljana (2024). She has participated in group exhibitions in Zagreb (SC Gallery/ 2024, Academy of Fine Arts/ 2018 – 23, HDLU/ 2022) and Antwerp (KASK/2019, TICK TACK Gallery/ 2020), where she stayed as part of the Erasmus+ program (2019).
You can see the exhibition in the Šira Gallery during the working hours of the Gallery (Mon-Fri: 9-16 h, 18-20 h, Saturdays: 11-16 h) until 13.05.2025.
The exhibition was realized with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia and the City Office for Culture and Civil Society of the City of Zagreb.