Transcending Boundaries: The Metaphysical and Existential Art of Ivana Gagić Kičinbači

Ivana Gagić Kičinbači’s body of work exemplifies a profound exploration of the metaphysical, the existential, and the deeply personal. Her pieces exist at the confluence of the intuitive and the deliberate, evoking sensations of vastness and intimacy in equal measure. The works submitted for analysis reveal her mastery of abstraction, gesture, and materiality, underscoring her ability to weave complex narratives that bridge the corporeal and the transcendent.

Ivana Gagić Kičinbači’s work is characterized by her deft manipulation of mediums such as Indian ink, handmade paper, and digital prints on high-grade paper like Hahnemühle Photo Rag Satin. Her ink works, in particular, resonate with an organic vitality, as though the lines themselves breathe and shift within their physical constraints. The artist’s deliberate use of bold black strokes juxtaposed with delicate, ephemeral marks creates a rhythmic interplay between control and chaos, echoing the dynamic tensions she seeks to capture: the spiritual against the material, the body against the soul.

Her large-scale works, such as "Story from the Beginning" (2019) and "Note" (2024), engage the viewer with their monumental presence, reminiscent of Franz Kline’s gestural abstractions. Yet, unlike Kline’s purely formalist concerns, Ivana Gagić Kičinbači’s works are imbued with a palpable narrative depth. These pieces act as visual poetry, where ink strokes become linguistic gestures—fragments of unspoken words that articulate both inner struggle and sublime transcendence.

The artist’s book series, including "Drawing Diary, Visual Poetry Artist Book No. 3" (2024), reveals her dedication to intimate, tactile experiences. The textured surfaces of handmade paper and the meditative repetition of forms evoke a dialogue with the practices of Antoni Tàpies, whose use of texture and materiality similarly sought to bridge the visible and the invisible. Ivana Gagić Kičinbači’s diaries become sacred objects—repositories of thought, reflection, and spiritual exploration.

In her digital works such as "No Comfort in the Flesh" (2024) and "Struggle" (2024), the artist shifts her practice to the digital realm without losing the gestural immediacy and organic flow of her ink-based works. The incorporation of red hues in these prints lends a visceral, almost corporeal quality, inviting comparisons to the emotional intensity of Anselm Kiefer’s works. Here, the color red is not merely symbolic but becomes a living, breathing element—a pulse within the artwork that speaks of both suffering and vitality.

At the heart of Ivana Gagić Kičinbači’s oeuvre is a deeply intuitive engagement with dualities: body and soul, material and spiritual, time and timelessness. Her works are meditative investigations into the human condition, where artistic creation becomes a form of asceticism—a rigorous discipline of channeling inner forces into visual expression. This notion aligns her with artists like Agnes Martin, whose minimalist grids were the result of contemplative practice and spiritual striving.

Ivana Gagić Kičinbači’s statement, which highlights her quest for knowledge and the sublime through artistic inquiry, resonates with the writings of Wassily Kandinsky, particularly in his seminal treatise Concerning the Spiritual in Art. Like Kandinsky, she seeks to transcend the purely material and touch upon the ineffable, using abstraction as a means of accessing deeper truths. However, while Kandinsky often turned to geometry and color theory, Ivana Gagić Kičinbači embraces the organic and the gestural, grounding her explorations in the physicality of her chosen mediums.

Her recurring theme of “inner freedom” in the contemporary realm is particularly poignant in an age dominated by external noise and visual clutter. The large-scale mural "Venice" (2023) exemplifies this struggle, where sweeping, gestural marks contend with intricate details, symbolizing the artist’s internal battle to reconcile the vast and the specific, the infinite and the immediate.

While Ivana Gagić Kičinbači’s work is distinctively her own, it invites comparisons to a pantheon of modern and contemporary artists. Her gestural abstractions evoke the spirit of Abstract Expressionism, yet her philosophical grounding and thematic concerns push her beyond the movement’s often ego-driven machismo. Instead, she aligns more closely with female artists like Joan Mitchell, whose painterly gestures carried an emotional resonance and narrative weight.

The spiritual undertones of her work call to mind the mysticism of Hilma af Klint, who used abstraction as a vehicle for transcendent exploration. However, Ivana Gagić Kičinbači’s engagement with texture and materiality situates her more firmly within the lineage of artists like Cy Twombly and Antoni Tàpies. Like Twombly, she transforms mark-making into a language of memory and emotion. Like Tàpies, she imbues her surfaces with a sense of the sacred, where every gesture becomes an act of reverence.

Her artistic books and diaries, with their combination of ink and handmade paper, draw parallels to the works of Dieter Roth and Marcel Broodthaers. These artists also saw books as sculptural objects—sites of personal reflection that blur the boundaries between text and image, art and artifact.

One of the most compelling aspects of Ivana Gagić Kičinbači’s practice is her sensitivity to space and scale. Whether through her monumental canvases or intimate artist books, she consistently engages the viewer on both a physical and psychological level. The large-scale mural "Blessed are Those Who Endure in Peace" (2022), for example, envelops the viewer, demanding a bodily engagement with the work’s sweeping gestures and layered compositions.

In contrast, her smaller, more intimate works like "Drawing Diary" (2024) offer a quieter, introspective experience. The torn edges of handmade paper, the tactile quality of ink, and the intimate scale of these works invite the viewer to slow down, to enter a contemplative state that mirrors the artist’s own process of creation.

Ivana Gagić Kičinbači stands as a visionary artist whose work transcends the boundaries of medium, scale, and tradition. Her ability to synthesize the spiritual and the material, the gestural and the precise, positions her as a vital voice in contemporary art. By drawing upon the legacies of Abstract Expressionism, spiritual abstraction, and tactile materiality, she has carved out a unique space for herself—one that is both deeply personal and universally resonant.

Her works remind us of art’s transformative potential. They invite us to pause, to reflect, and to engage with the ineffable. In her intuitive search for knowledge and truth, Ivana Gagić Kičinbači has crafted a body of work that not only reveals the depths of her own inner world but also illuminates the profound, often unseen connections between us all. Her art, in its ascetic discipline and transcendent vision, embodies the possibility of uncovering the sublime through matter—a gift that is as rare as it is invaluable. Through her work, she has given us not just images but experiences, moments of silence and wonder that linger long after the eye has moved on.

https://ivanagagickicinbaci.com.hr/

Ivana Gagić Kičinbači

Lou Bermingham

Justin Robinson