Online Exhibition

Utopia Editions: TARWUK

Portrait of TARWUK at Harlan & Weaver print shop, New York, 2024. Photo by Vincent Tullo

Utopia Editions is pleased to release a new edition by the celebrated artist duo TARWUK, on the heels of their acclaimed solo exhibition at Matthew Brown. The large-scale etching with aquatint, titled .decneirepxe osla tub dessucsid ylno ton si evol erehw ecalp a si erutcetihcrA, is the artists’ first-ever editioned print and extends their exploration of the theater as a metaphor, transforming everyday objects into props and characters into protagonists.

TARWUK is a collaboration between Bruno Pogačnik Tremow (b. 1981, Zagreb, Croatia) and Ivana Vukšić (b. 1981, Dubrovnik, Croatia). Informed by their experiences during the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s, their wide-ranging body of work—spanning paintings, works on paper, videos, and sculptures—grapples with and reclaims personal and cultural identities shaped by conflict and political strife.

Portrait of TARWUK at Harlan & Weaver, New York, 2024. Photo by Vincent Tullo

The artists apply a varnish in areas where they want the white of the paper to be visible, "stopping out" those areas so that the plate will not be etched or hold ink where the varnish is applied. Photo by Vincent Tullo

TARWUK working directly on a copper etching plate. Photo by Vincent Tullo

The artists use paintbrushes to apply a sugar lift solution to the plate, an etching technique that preserves gestural, painterly brushwork. Photo by Vincent Tullo

Master printer Felix Harlan handles one of the copper plates after it has been inked and wiped to reveal the delicate motif meticulously created by the artists. Photo by Vincent Tullo

The first plate, already printed in a golden hue on the sheet, contains TARWUK’s gestural, brushlike marks. Here, director Jane Kim of Harlan & Weaver prepares to print their second plate, which contains the more intricate details of the image. Photo by Vincent Tullo

The artists review a proof of the print in the studio at Harlan & Weaver. Photo by Vincent Tullo

The artists always work side by side in the studio, seeking to deconstruct traditional boundaries of the self—they treat the act of creation as a kind of localized, ritualistic performance. The resulting works coalesce spontaneously and instinctually, without a predetermined division of labor. TARWUK took the same approach when creating their first print, working synchronously on large copper etching plates.

Installation view, TARWUK, .decneirepxe osla tub dessucsid ylno ton si evol erehw ecalp a si erutcetihcrA, 2024

The etching features two protagonists in an interior space, witnessing a full moon through an open window. Gestural gold accents over an azure background evoke the immersive atmosphere of a stage set.

TARWUK, .decneirepxe osla tub dessucsid ylno ton si evol erehw ecalp a si erutcetihcrA, 2024 (detail)

"In this particular image there are various elements of domesticity that are treated like props, becoming ‘aesthetic objects’ residing in the collective consciousness. What is visible stands for only a part of the dramatic world in which the action takes place. The key question for the viewer is how does one get there from here?"

—TARWUK

TARWUK working side by side in the studio. Photo by Vincent Tullo

Installation view, TARWUK: Good night, Ernst Toller!, Matthew Brown, New York, 2024

Installation view, TARWUK: Good night, Ernst Toller!, Matthew Brown, New York, 2024

TARWUK, MRTISKLAAH_MRTISKLAAH_(.niaga krad si moor ehT .tuo seog dna ,dnah s’HTIDE morf sllaf eldnac ehT), 2024

In this new edition, as with their recent exhibition at Matthew Brown, TARWUK explores the semiotics of theater: the signs and symbols of performance that create meaning for the audience and constitute the performer-audience relationship. For TARWUK, these notions have a similar bearing on the theatrics of social interactions in daily life.

Characteristic of their wider practice, TARWUK’s new print combines diverse cues from ancient and avant-garde lineages, pursuing a radical approach to visual and conceptual hybridity.

The artists review proofs of the print in the studio. Photo by Vincent Tullo

"Their work is alive in a space between antiquity and the future, but a future ruin that may offer, conversely, a chance for rebirth from loss."

—Bob Nickas, critic and curator

Inquire about prints at David Zwirner

About the Artists

TARWUK is the artistic collaboration between Bruno Pogačnik Tremow (b. 1981, Zagreb, Croatia) and Ivana Vukšić (b. 1981, Dubrovnik, Croatia).

Recent solo and two-person exhibitions by TARWUK have been held at Matthew Brown, New York (2024); White Cube, Paris (2023); HALLE FÜR KUNST Steiermark, Graz, Austria (2023); White Cube, London (2023); Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia, Italy (2021); Matthew Brown, Los Angeles, (2021); Martos Gallery, New York (2020); 15 Orient, New York (2020); Lauba, Zagreb, Croatia (2020); Evening Hours, New York (2019); Taito Ryokan, Tokyo (2019); Gauntlet, New York (2018); and Team Gallery, New York (2018).

TARWUK have participated in group shows at Lafayette Anticipations, Paris (2023); Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, Latvia (2023); Frye Art Museum, Seattle (2022); Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia, Italy (2021); Lauba, Zagreb, Croatia (2020); and Drava Art Biennale, MLU, Osijek, Croatia (2020), among others.Their work is held in collections worldwide, including the Al Thani Collection, Paris; The Bunker Artspace, West Palm Beach, Florida; Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia, Italy; Fredriksen Family Art Collection/National Museum of Norway, Oslo; K11 Art Foundation, Hong Kong; Marciano Art Foundation, Los Angeles; Museum of Fine Arts, Osijek, Croatia; TANK Shanghai, China; Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Xiao Museum of Contemporary Art, Rizhao, China; and Zabludowicz Collection, London.