|
|
|
English |
|
Gabriel |
|
Jovan Balov - Meeting
with the Angel Sofija Gurovska
The masterpiece the "Kurbinovo angel Gabriel", with historic iconography
from the XII century has been imprinted on a fifty-denar note, so that
it undergoes a change of its generations old function, from an icon with
spiritual contents it is converted into an icon for ultimate use.
The exhibition "A Meeting with the Angel" is something unconventional:
it has a video, soundi, works made by computer and standard works.Jovan
Balov, a painter who lives in Berlin and Novica Trajkovski, a painter
who lives in Skopje, graduated from the Faculty of Fine Art, got
together after many years after the graduation, realized that they share
the same thoughts and made an exhibition in the City Museum of Skopje.
Balov says:
We came about the exhibition accidentally, as a result of a bizarre
discussion we had with Novica last year.
However, last year, in Ohrid, at the Art Colony in Borik, we worked
together again, and at the beginning, rather modestly, carefully and
cautiously, but later more openly talked about some state of affairs we
come across at a moment of creation. So, since I was working on a
series with the figure of Gabriel of Kurbinovo, and I had already seen a
catalogue by Novica where he, indirectly or directly dealt with the same
topic, although made in a conventional manner, following quite a
different painting principle and method and with beautiful palette, we
were compelled to jointly make an exhibition. We are rather different,
and at the beginning many of our colleagues and critics and cultural
workers did not take us seriously. Now, when we have the material for
the exhibition behind us, ready, I am proud to have come up to this.
The material was modeled last year, says Balov adding some works from
the previous series, while Novica included with material that is a
discovery for him. The project is accompanied by a video - a research
done this year in the St. Nicolas Church Ljuboten, with beautiful music
by Bodan Arsovski, which follows the ambiance of the unreachable angel.
The film is running at the exhibition in the Museum of Skopje City. The
Balov's works are made by computer. They are realized in a conventional
manner. The Balov's part of this exhibition is about an installed idea -
60 segments-portraits of Gabriel, and the whole series contains 90.
From which aspect is Balov exploring this Angel?
The first aspect is what is happening with this figure in Macedonia. It
is a masterpiece of a world painting from the XII century, of sacral,
iconographic and historical importance, but acquiring a new importance
for being imprinted on a fifty-denar note and thus gaining a change of
generation-wide function. From an icon with spiritual content it becomes
an icon with material content because the note is a form of an ultimate,
functional icon. It was for me a moment of exploration: on one hand the
graphic that has already been changed and used for presenting a note, I
use it in a series, but on the basis of the photographs I took in
Kurbinovo. In those numerous painting of Gabriel, I was exploring the
figure of an angel who in fact is without a concrete figure - it might
be a male or a female, generous or reprimanding, good or bad. I used
mechanical spreading and a game against the machine and the computer,
coming face to face with the mechanization as a cold and direct thought
- all the angels are painted by hand, imitating mechanical spreading -
newsprint, computer, diagonal, galvanized plate, and copier effect. And
the second aspect is the creation of the serial, which on its part has
another function. Endy Warhol also used them, but they are graphical,
repeated with a cliché - they do not have oscillations. The figure is
the same, it is about the base, the color. It is the colour that that
finaly makes the sensation of the appearance. In my case, it is the
iconography that matters, not the function. On a drawing, mover of the
painting is not a cols mark, it is not absolutely the same, it is not
repeated, but all 90 pieces are originals. They function together and
simultaneously, and when a person starts looking at them with a
concentration and go through them, he experiences them as a big
animation, the portraits are pulsing. The material has been presented
three time, in Berlin, in Cologne, in Aachen and at several group
projects in Germany, and this is the first time in Skopje...
At the State Museum of Contemporary Art in Thessalonica - Balov,
Andreevski and Vangeli Are Exhibiting in Greece
The selection of the three artists has been made by Emil Aleksiev, Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Skopje, at the invitation for Macedonian participation in this exhibition.
Sergej Andreevski will exhibit seven oils from his series “A kiss of the fish”. The paintings were made in Macedonia but were inspired by the United States. Zaneta Vangeli’s installation entitled “Auto differential plastic” comprises six elements: photographs, pictures and three structures two of which are of glass and one of wood.
The Thessalonica exhibition will be set in a 3,000 square meter
area and will present three artists from each Balkan country. World
renowned names such as Romello PervolovitCI; Marian Zidaru from Romania,
Slovenians Marjetica Potrc and Marco Pelijhan, Ismet Dogan from Turkey,
Vladimir Nikolic from Yugoslavia, Jusuf Hadzifejzovic from Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Electros and Christis Bouronikos from Greece and Svilen
Blazen from Bulgaria will be amongst the artists participants. The
exhibition is organized by the Kostaki Collection, the richest
collection with works of the Russian avant-garde, and will be opened by
the Greek Minister of Culture Evangelos Venizelos and director of the
State Museum of Contemporary Art in Thessalonica Professor Miltiadies
Papanikolaou..
"Art of Balkan States" in Thesaloniki - Center of Culture without Borders
Gordana M. Blazevska
Each country is presented by three artists, while the selection has been made by the directors of the Museums of Contemporary Arts of the abovementioned countries, in close cooperation with the State Museum of Contemporary Arts, which is responsible for organisation of this exhibition. The Republic of Macedonia is presented through Zaneta Vangeli with the installation “Auto-Referential Plastics”, Jovan Balov with the installation “Angel Gabriel” and Sergej Andreevski with the picture cycle “Love and Game”. The selection has been made in order for it to show the current situation at the art scene in Macedonia at the turn of the 21st century. According to the success of the works of these three authors, it can be said that the selection was successful. Namely, these are diverse authors, and the purpose is to show several dimensions of the Macedonian art scene.
|
