Hrvoje Dumančić is a Croatian artist known for his specific artistic creation – the main motif of all of his work are horses and he is strongly committed to popularizing horses as an important theme in art. He has exhibited at around thirty group and fifteen solo exhibitions in Croatia as well as abroad. On the occasion of his last exhibition in London, Horse in Art, Croatian duList talked to the artist and here’s what they found out.
This is Dumančić’s fourth presentation at the London’s Horse in Art exhibition and this time he successfully presented the sculpture The Saddle to the London audience. It was the only sculpture of the exhibition that did not represent the default motif. Many people have told him that working with exclusively horse motifs, he limits his artwork and has no room for upgrading. But on the contrary, he manages to create something different every year, while remaining consistent to his own style. Dumančić has just recently announced he’s launching his first line of jewelry as a part of Horseland.
Hrvoje’s first international exhibition was the one in France – ArtCheval in Samur 2002, the exhibition he likes to refer as his ‘artistic birth’ and also the first exhibition he won an award at for his sculpture Aramis. Another exhibition he is fond of remembering is the one from Croatian Lipik where he exhibited his sculptures at the abandoned stall and brought a real Lipizzaner with him.
To the question “why horses?”, Dumančić explains: “I love horses since the earliest childhood. I started riding as a seven year old and since then, horses are an integral part of my daily life. I remember riding at the hippodrome, traveling with horses on the train to the sea and my first job as a riding tourist guide. I met a lot of interesting people thanks to horses. Horses are my daily ritual and an integral part of me, this explains why they are an integral part of my artistic work through which I can express anything I want.”
Hrvoje Dumančić was born on April 10th, 1975 in Zagreb. He received Bachelor of Arts in 1998 from The Academy of Fine Arts at the University of Zagreb, in the subject of sculpture and is a member of Croatian Association of Artists and Croatian Freelance Artists Association.
