Artist Statement
Bernard Šimunović’s work is an exploration of the essential through the line. For him, the line is not merely a formal choice, but a necessity , a distilled medium through which movement and emotion become perceptible. In the series Relational Lines, this investigation reaches its most concentrated form. The figure does not disappear; it becomes relationship.
At the core of his practice lies a radical principle: reduction not as style, but as method. A process in which what remains carries the full emotional and existential weight. As Šimunović formulates: “Bernard Šimunović works with the line, not because he chose it, but because it was always there. His drive is simple and unrelenting: to render the complex so that it can be felt. Movement. Emotion.
The human being in his most fundamental constellations: closeness, loss, tenderness, transience.
In Relational Lines, the figure has not disappeared. It has become relationship. Two lines approaching, touching, missing each other. What becomes visible is not the body, but what arises and remains between two people. Reduction is not a stylistic choice. It is method. What is unnecessary falls away.
What remains carries the full weight.
At the end of the last evening, we will be asked about love.”
In this sense, Relational Lines is not only a formal exploration, but an existential inquiry. Through a “Tension in the Minimum,” Šimunović opens a space of reflection and empathy , a space in which the fragility and depth of human connection become tangible.