Georg Baselitz says of the artist "Danja Akulin creates conceptual drawings, which he calls 'aesthetically minimalist'. Since they come from St. Petersburg, they look different from equally conceptual art by Californian artist Ed Ruscha, for example. After looking at his pictures, it is particularly exciting to see with your own eyes how many watts are used to light a stairwell in St. Petersburg. This is what good drawings look like."[2]
For most of his works, Danja Akulin relies on materials such as graphite, charcoal and pencil. When it comes to his large-sized canvas works, he varies the thickness and fineness of the lines to create a fusion and dissolution of contours. In the same way most painters relate to colors, Akulin uses the texture of his drawings as his artistic means of expression.[3]
Untitled, 2012, charcoal on canvas, 150 x 200 cm
Untitled, 2020, pencil and graphite on paper laid down on canvas, 80 x 140
Untitled, 2016, graphite/pencil on paper laid down on canvas, 142 x 115 cm each
Art Council of the German Bundestag chaired by the President of the Bundestag made a decision to include Akulin’s artwork to The Bundestag's art collection. "[5]
Danja Akulin is also noted for creating several artist's books. Between 2007 and 2022 he produced artist's books:
“Penumbra”. Charcoal and graphite drawings from 2010-2022. Munich, Gallery and publishing house J.J. Heckenhauer, 2022
“Survival craft”. Moscow, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, 2007
Work
Untitled, 2020, charcoal on canvas, 190 x 260cm
Penumbra
The word penumbra is often rendered "half-light." The Latin origin paene umbra literally means almost shadow. In between the shadow and the light there is a zone through which we may see what is in the penumbra, but we see it with this darkened hue, and it is problematic to say whether it is illuminated or not. In "Penumbra" series the light is radiated on to what is but a partially illuminated landscape. Through this light, emotions and thoughts within the duality of darkness and brightness are visually translated. The truth exists in the "in-between" area, the penumbra.[6]
Identity, 2007, pencil on paper laid down on canvas, 145 x 145 cm
Signs
The "Signs" series fuse painstaking external drawing with profound internal drawing. The sign—segno di Dio, the heart and sense of drawing—is the hieroglyph that unlocks all the secrets, sacred and profane. As any time-honored symbol, that same Renaissance disegno which is “the source and soul of all species of painting and the root of any science,” the tokens of the contemporary age depicted in these works are full of worth and weight. Electronic read-outs, various kinds of official emblems, elements of urban and domestic graphic design. In their original state, they are reduced and de-emotionalized, but here life, ritualistically, is breathed into exhausted, prefab forms.[7]
T, 2003, pencil on paper laid down on canvas, 100 x 100 cm
Simple Things
In "Simple Things" series the focus of attention is on the graphic structure of objects, transposing them to the planning stage, to the sketching stage, and presupposes meditation by the observers. Behind extensive line movements of the pencil, behind concentrations and dilutions of light and shade – associations, sometimes free, sometimes programmed, are revealed layer by layer. The works in these series intend, albeit only to a certain extent, to liberate symbols from their binding meaning, to make them part of the history of drawing.
Exhibitions
"Between the lines”, exhibition view, In-Gate Gallery, Brussels, 2022
Since 2002 his works were exhibited in numerous galleries and museums throughout Europe and the USA, including the German Bundestag (Germany), Bröhan Museum Berlin (Germany), Poll Gallery Berlin (Germany), Mimi Ferzt Gallery NYC (USA), Erarta Gallery London (UK) and Fano Art Museum (Denmark). Akulin’ art is also on display in Russia. Among others, his works are exhibited at the Triumph Gallery, the Moscow Center of Art, St. Petersburg Rizzordi Art Foundation and Perm Biennial of Graphic Art.
Self-Portrait, 2005, mixed media on paper laid down on canvas, 100 × 100 cm
Untitled, 2010, charcoal on canvas, 145 x 145 cm
Untitled, 2015, graphite/pencil on paper laid down on canvas, 61 x 85 cm
Untitled, 2015 graphite/pencil on paper laid down on canvas, 95 x 200 cm
