Many people here know that Branimir Karanović is one of Belgrade’s most prominent photographers, and his presence at Sofia’s ONE Gallery can unquestionably be described as an event. He began exhibiting in the early 1970s, and his name is associated with an extensive list of solo, group, and international exhibitions, as well as an equally impressive number of prestigious awards. From 1978 to 1997, Karanović was Professor of Photography at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, and in 1996 he assumed the same position in the Department of Graphic Arts at the Academy in Belgrade. To define Karanović merely as a photographer who successfully “captures moments” would be to disregard his background, at least half of which has been devoted to visual art and, more specifically, printmaking. Significantly, one of his recent exhibitions was titled “Without Pressure”: it featured graphic works created through a color photographic process without the use of a printing press. He thus deliberately occupies an intermediate position—most likely that of the contemporary artist, who uses photography just as they would any other medium of expression. At the same time, his photographic images are so compelling, both conceptually and technically, that they are equally well received by contemporary artists and professional photography associations. The photographs on view belong to a series in which the image seems to require none of the additional explanation traditionally supplied by a title label. The deliberate, focused search for paradoxical situations—or their discreet staging—results in works whose irony is often subtly unsettling. For example, an advertising mannequin dressed in a wedding gown has no arms and is enclosed within an absurd glass structure, while another photograph shows how the anonymous owner of a Zastava automobile has mounted a metal emblem depicting former Yugoslav leader Tito on its hood. Svilen Stefanov
