Ivan Albreht
Brief Artist Bio
Ivan Albreht was born and raised in Belgrade, former Yugoslavia (present Republic of Serbia) where he graduated at the Academy of Applied Arts in Belgrade in 1997 and defended magisterial dissertation in ceramic sculpture in 2001. In 2004 he receives Master of Fine Arts degree from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, USA. From 2005 to 2008 he has managed ceramics program at Monmouth University in New Jersey (USA). Since 2008, he oversees ceramics program at University of Miami (USA).
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Albreht has participated in numerous exhibitions, including many major international competitions in contemporary ceramics since 1997. He exhibited in Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, as well as across the United States. He participated in artist residency programs in Europe, Asia, and the United States. In 2007 he was awarded a Special Prize at the 4th World Ceramic Biennial in Korea (CEBIKO). He is an elected member of the International Academy of Ceramics (IAC/AIC) since 2009. He received the Florida Individual Artist Fellowship for the Visual Arts in 2012. His work is housed in public and private collections globally, including significant collections of contemporary ceramic art, such as New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum in Taiwan and Icheon World Ceramic Center in South Korea.
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As a visual artist primarily working in ceramics his work represents a broad range of interests and competence, ranging from objects to installations. His ideas and aesthetics have been shaped by big societal changes, from childhood and youth in socialist Yugoslavia, that later split as a country in nationalistic civil wars, through NATO bombing of Serbia and his native Belgrade in 1999, to living across United States since 2000. While his ideas and interests defer, one aspect remains constant, his interest in, and fear for, the present human condition.
Artist Statement: an allegory
He is still staring at it, trying to figure out what it is. The whole notion that the object he recently purchased on Globe Trade Network was advertised as art is very strange. He had always associated the meaning of the word art with Visual Mind Flow or Impact Image models that Globe Net is posting within their protocols. For him, all that word art ever meant was a silly idea to hook-up to someone else’s brain waves to get their visual representation. But an object, are they trying to fool him?
It did say in the advertisement that it is an antique art form, but he definitely had a problem in associating a glass cube with anything that word art could symbolize. None of the databases he was allowed to access gave him reasonable explanations. According to the key-answers, during the youth of the humankind art was related with the making of objects that had certain connotations and some were appreciated for their beauty. But what would be the meaning of the solid glass cube, not even a perfect one. That tiny air bubble trapped close to the center of the cube is really disturbing. He could not find any beauty in something that made him so tense every time he looked at it. The bubble was so close to the center, but not close enough. He hated it, he wanted to smash it, but then again just the notion that he owes 176 work-credits for this ridiculous thing stopped him.
The piece of paper that accompanied the glass cube had a signature and a weird text stating that such and such was the author of this piece and therefore he claims it is an original work of art. Paper had some value as a rare material and a signature was a kind of antiquity itself. He tried to find information about that name in the database, but all he got was a bunch of other names and theories associated with the creator of his enigma. It did not make any sense.
After hours of staring he became calm. He started to envision himself inside the cube, trapped...removed. He was that tiny spot of imperfection within this otherwise perfect shape. It had similarity to the life that he is living, but for a moment he escaped from that reality. The feeling was similar to the effect of the Dream Simulator although, somehow, it was more natural. Without any tension, he finally moved this strange thing to the space he uses for relaxation and displayed it on a special spot. From that point he was not concerned with its meaning; he would just look at it from time to time and allow himself to drift away.