“He took blue and red and placed them next to each other,
painting the eyes of an angel.
And I saw the angel’s eyes turn violet”
Milorad Pavich, Dictionary of the Khazars
Public is rarely interested in attending art dedicated to the understanding of the most horrifying part of human experience – our propensity to kill each other. And yet war has been a part of human experience from the beginning of time and likely will remain in this often ignored but always influential position. Big parts of modern society is fortunate to have had a period of peace and prosperity that made it forget about life tragedies, while my life made me an expert and I think that I can offer people my artistic advice.
In this series, I don’t want to dwell on the horrors of war. I see my personal experience – 78 days of NATO bombing of my home city of Belgrade – as an experiment in extremes: I saw the pure colors of love, destruction, anger, and beauty; now I see them mixed in all possible proportions creating the painting of a human life. Painful as it was, my war made me an artist and I would like to show people what I saw with my own eyes.
In 1999 NATO forces bombed Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia. The burning city was abandoned by those who had means. My grandmother and me (I was 11) remained as we had nowhere to go. Alone on the empty street, surrounded by the fire of war, I felt that death is seconds away. I closed my eyes and hugged my grandmother. With all the tragedy happening around us, I felt (and still feel) that this is one of the most beautiful moments of my life. When fires and chaos of time and violent change were all around, I felt timeless, like people on ancient icons. The death was all around, but my heart was at peace.
Merciful angels
48×36
Acrylics, photography, inks, mediums on canvas
The painting is dedicated to the memory of children, who died during the NATO bombing raids of Serbia in 1999. “Merciful Angel” was an incorrect translation of the NATO’s code name for 1999 bombings (in English it was called a “Noble Anvil”).
Colors of War
60×70
Acrylics, inks, plaster, various mediums on canvas
One war-related impression that stuck with me forever was the experience of colors of the burning city. Yet it was more than coloristic change: I wanted to depict a shift from the ordinary into the new, never seen before territory. The well-understood city was experienced in an entirely different way.
Broken air
12×16
Photography collage, acrylics, spray paints, various mediums on canvas
The impossibility of breaking air symbolizes the permanence of our perception. Yet the fact that our perception is permanent does not necessarily mean that it is correct. In a uniquely dramatic moment, the air can be broken and the mythical dimension that runs our lives comes to the foreground.
Fires
48×60
Oil on canvas.
Home Lost
60×72
Oil, oil pastels, soft pastels on canvas.
War destoys lives of those who survive it. A child next to his home turned into rubble metaphorically takes this distruction upon himself. He is small, disfigured, diminised by the violence.
