Drawing
has occupied the most significant position in my practice since 2009. In the
beginning, drawing over old books’ pages made it possible to ground images upon
which large-scale installations found a way to emerge as new and complex realities.
Later on, the book pages in a much more profound way merged with the work and
by means of their content unambiguously took part in articulating its message. In
the image-making process thus conceived, my practice actively and persistently
inscribes itself on what might be called political subjectivities torn between
governing and the governed, between power and subjection, between sovereignty
and resistance.
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Night Watch (2020)
The painting Night Watch was created under the agreements of the controversial investment project Belgrade Waterfront. By portraying the BDSM political scene on the ruins of Sava Mala district, the scene paints a picture of contemporary social relations, in which the perverted dominance of serious corrupt relations is growing within the ruling elite. The submissiveness of society towards this type of domination has led to a pathological masochism, in which the victim was brought to the stage of ecstasy of worshiping his master. On the other hand, starring at the capital’s waterfront, and criticizing it, we are forgetting and ignoring all of our local, micro BWs. Whatever their name is, they are part of the same system of demonstrating power.
The Night Watch is a paradigm of the sadomasochistic attitude between people, politicians and investors, which has long been the main functioning characteristic of the modern Serbian society.
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Hidden Place (2017)
The artwork “Hidden Place” tackles today’s notions of privacy and intimacy. Namely, the availability of personal data that we voluntarily store on social networks, as well as data we are obliged to provide to authorities, blurs the borderline between what is private and what is public - between intimacy and an all-way spectacle. Our urge to access in advance all data about a potential collaborator, client, partner or lover implies that we also consent to depositing our own data in the greedy digitized database. Long-term, this lack of privacy will only increase demand for hidden places. Unfortunately, any possibility to reach a hidden place and escape the control mechanisms will become illusionary.
242cm x 400cm | charcoal, 189 book pages | 2017
Installation view, Gallery Art Podgorica, MO
40cm x 277cm | wood, digital print | 2017
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Genetic Engineering (2014/15)
Genetic engineering – clearly a scientific term that evokes rational
thinking, complex research and laboratory testing – is used symbolically in
this artwork. It is used to disclose seemingly secondary activities by means of
which the Serbian post-Yugoslav elite changed the state ideology and modified
the "genetic code" of Yugoslavs of Serbian nationality for
good.
The project ‘Genetic Engineering’ attempts to deconstruct the
post-Yugoslav ideology. It analyses the secret mechanisms of the symbolic
violence exerted over the generations who had grown in post-Yugoslavia.
Symbolic, i.e. invisible violence of the post-Yugoslav society is certainly
reflected in the renewal of nationalism and religious traditionalism inherent
in those elites that had been temporarily eliminated by the socialist
Yugoslavia. The exhibition raises the question of why we are indifferent to our
children being born different. Why the images of the past are systematically
deleted and hidden in order not to remind us of what we used to be not so long
ago?
triptych - 120cm x 250cm | charcoal, 108 book pages | 2015
 115cm x 330cm | charcoal, 144 book pages | 2014  80cm x 300cm | charcoal, 92 book pages | 2015 
290cm x 275cm | charcoal, 300 book pages | 2015
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The Trilogy About the Boy Who... (2012) This trilogy under the title "The Trilogy About the Boy Who..." is composed of three large-format drawings, each holding a separate title: "The Boy Who Got Drawn in His Tears", The Boy Who Exploded from Happiness" and "The Boy Who Burned with Desire". The three works in three distinct ways treat the topic of self-sacrifice driven by various views and beliefs for the purpose of reaching certain goals. Despite the fact that each of the three cases involve different motives and aims, they are interconnected by the fact that all three boys sacrifice themselves, and accordingly open up some grand universal topics.
"The Boy Who Got Drowned in His Tears" deals with self-sacrificing that an individual makes deliberately in order to protect his environment. This drawing is inspired by a short story from the play Faust is Dead by Mark Ravenhill. In this story a boy who got disappointed with the world he lived in decided to "cry inside him" so that his mother could not notice his sorrow and concerns.
"The Boy Who Exploded from Happiness" is the second drawing of the Trilogy and it investigates ignoring social norms, social injustices and life in isolation when one confines himself to the limits of his hermetic world, nourishing his personal happiness there. Being so self-sufficient, he involuntarily makes sacrifices by "exploding" from an overdose of happiness. "The Boy Who Burned with Desire" is the last drawing of the Trilogy and it speaks about the demonstrative act by which an individual deliberately choses the radical from of self-sacrificing, wishing to point out and draw attention to something in a brutal way. In the moments when it is difficult to be noticed, and even more difficult to be listened to, very often it takes a shocking sensation to attract somebody's attention at least for a moment. 
The Boy Who Got Drawn in His Tears | 220cm x 450cm | charcoal on book pages | 2012
The Boy Who Exploded from Happiness | 220cm x 450cm, | charcoal on book pages | 2012
The Boy Who Burned with Desire | 220cm x 450cm | charcoal on book pages | 2012
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Friendship (2010/2011)
Friendship is a work that in a specific manner exudes the atmosphere of loneliness. Photographically framed scenes in a melancholic and soothing manner evoke deceptively close and warm moments of friendship. Almost film-like and frozen shots of seemingly intimate moments are characterized by the absence of communication among the protagonists, entire communication breakdown.
Dimensions of paintings are 330cm x 140cm. The paintings are composed of 168 book pages and made in charcoal and acrylics.
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Drawings from "Trilogy About the Boy Who..." series
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Small Deaths are the Saddest (2012)
Small Deaths are the Saddest | 46cm x 146cm | ants, wood, glass
Detal
46cm x 46cm | ants, paper, wood, glass
100cm x 200cm | 2016
Detail
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