exhibition

Ilija – A Two-Faced Scarf

5. September 2024 - 23. February 2025

The Serbian painter Ilija Bašičević (1895–1972) is one of the most renowned autodidactic artists. The curators Otto Bonnen and Michael Zimmermann allow us to discover the painter’s multi-layered oeuvre from a contemporary art perspective.

The Serbian painter Ilija Bašičević (1895–1972) is one of the most renowned autodidactic artists. Like Maria Prymachenko from Ukraine and Niko Pirosmani from Georgia, he was associated with the romanticized category of Naive Art. He began painting at the age of 61 and quickly gained international fame in the 1960s and ’70s under the pseudonym Ilija Bosilj. His exhibition debut in Switzerland is remarkable: early on, Galerie Hilt in Basel included Bašičević in the group exhibition Primitive Maler (Primitive Painters) in 1962, followed by a solo exhibition in 1969. Jean Dubuffet added seven of his paintings to his Art Brut collection in 1963.
Under the title Ilija: A Two-Faced Scarf, the Open Art Museum is now presenting the first institutional solo exhibition on the artist in Switzerland. Guest curators Otto Bonnen and Michael Zimmermann from the Kunsthalle Zürich approach this classic figure with a fresh perspective. Rather than explaining the painter as a phenomenon, they focus on his work. Thus, the exhibition is not intended as a retrospective. Rather, the curators aim to illuminate the multifaceted ambiguity of his creations and his individual philosophy. The exhibition is an encounter with Bašičević’s enigmatic work and his wondrous imagery. They depict biblical stories and scenes from the Apocalypse, episodes from myths and tales, winged beings, cosmonauts, and highly original images from an idyllic parallel universe named Ilijada. Animals are also prominently featured.
The curators re-envision the painter from the curious perspective of contemporary art, enabling us to rediscover Bašičević’s versatile oeuvre and make our own observations.

The exhibition was produced in cooperation with Dr. Ivana Bašičević Antic, president of the Ilija Mangelos Foundation.

Installation-views

Press

Opening