Nikola Vrljić – Opsada Oza / The Siege of Oz, Galerija Bačva

Opsada Oza / The Siege of Oz is an exhibition by contemporary Croatian sculptor Nikola Vrljić. The design is based on the combination of photography, illustration, and large typography, namely all-caps Rector.

From Branko Franceschi’s foreword to the exhibition:

The narrative of The Siege of Oz is also based on sculptures that are loosely connected in meaning, which, even if they are not associatively connected, function excellently as independent works of art. This method allows the artist to organically upgrade the basic narrative now presented in the Bačva Gallery for the upcoming exhibition stages. […] In terms of content, Vrljić remains the most prominent representative of figuration in sculpture of his generation, equally convincing in the performance of male, female and animal motifs. […] I would say that Vrljić's current deconstruction of traditional sculpture begins precisely in the material of the performance, with which he will bridge the gap between traditional and contemporary expression. […] Returning to the semantic layers of Vrljić's work, as in the previous cycles, his inclination towards the grotesque in content and design is expressed. We could say that the chosen topic of The Siege of Oz, which sounds like a reckoning with the society of the spectacle, favors the development of his tendency to start from a cynical comment in the interpretation of reality.