Andrea Festa Fine Art is proud to present Mourning the Red Cactus, the first solo exhibition in Italy by Danilo Stojanović (b. 1989, Pula, Croatia), curated by Domenico de Chirico. The exhibition runs from March 7 to April 21, 2021.
Stojanović’s work centers on the concept of “double status”—the coexistence of dual, often opposing states that define human consciousness. In Mourning the Red Cactus, this theme is explored through layered, metaphysically charged paintings that traverse a psychological spectrum of life, death, desire, and disorientation.
Taking influence from António Damasio’s theory of somatic markers and Sigmund Freud’s idea of the uncanny, Stojanović’s work investigates the subconscious emergence of hidden emotions, turning latent tensions into visible forms. His compositions reflect on the estrangement of self-awareness: when one confronts parts of themselves long buried or forgotten. These are the moments in which ambiguity becomes the most honest language.
The title Mourning the Red Cactus suggests a poetic paradox—a vibrant, defiant organism set against a backdrop of loss. Through this symbolic contradiction, the artist frames the show as a meditation on our instinctual conflict between pleasure and suffering, rootedness and exile.
This exhibition reflects Stojanović’s broader practice of confronting fragility and transformation through visual storytelling. He reveals wounds not to illustrate trauma, but to show the alchemy that arises from deep introspection. In this sense, each painting becomes an act of mourning and of revival—a space where the personal intersects with the universal.
Danilo Stojanović (b. 1989, Pula, Croatia) lives and works in Venice. He holds BA and MA degrees in Fine Arts – Painting from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia. He has exhibited at institutions including Super Dutchess, New York; Ravnikar Gallery Space, Ljubljana; Museo Santa Maria della Scala, Siena; Monitor Gallery, Rome; and Parallel Vienna.