After Dimitri Popović's exhibition, which opened the Art Program of the 33rd Grad Teatar Festival, the sacral space of the Santa Maria Church has been decorated since August 1 with 23 works of art, thematically united in the second part of the project "Mediterranean in the works of Montenegrin painters".
This project, authored by Professor Aleksandar Čilikov, started with great success at last year's festival, when, as he recalled, the works of masters such as Petr Lubarda, Per Poček, Filo Filipović, Milo Milunović, Voj Stanić and other doyens of Montenegrin were exhibited. and ex-Yugoslav contemporary painting, which aroused the great interest of the art audience.
"This year, in the concept of the exhibition project 'Mediterranean in the works of Montenegrin painters', the works of two groups of established painters are dominantly treated - the first is represented by the achievements of the older generation of artists, in a certain way unfairly forgotten, whose creations move exclusively in the spheres of subject painting - the realism of Luka Stanković , expressionist connotations in the poetics of Ksenia Vujović Tošić, Danica Danja Đurović, Milenko Sindik and Darko Đurišić, the Cézanne landscapes of Vojislav Đokić and Mirko Kujačić, and the refined colors of Mario Maskareli and Milo Pavlović," said Čilikov opening this exhibition.
According to him, there are also the works of current artists who are existentially and professionally connected to the coastal regions of Montenegro - Budva painters Darko Mandić, Dijana Lazović, Đorđij Boljević, Marica Kuznjecov Boljević, Jelena Đurašković, Vasa Nikčević, Jelena Papovići Sandra Đurbuzović, and their abstract expression is joined by the poetics of two young authors from the north of Montenegro, Tijana Gordić and Mirjana Marsenić. In front of the audience are the works of the oldest living coastal authors, refined landscapers Sav Pavlović and Aljo Smailagić, and this selection, as stated by Čilikov, is completed by two racial figurative artists, draftsmen and painters of the noblest vocation, Tivčani Ljubo Popadić and Momčilo Macanović.
According to Čilikov, who is also the selector of the Art Program of the City Theater, in the first cycle of the exhibition "Mediterranean in the works of Montenegrin painters" artists were represented who were also the bearers of the development of Montenegrin contemporary art, and the young authors who were selected for this year's exhibition are also exciting. .
"As time changes, as technologies advance, visual perception also changes, but this space of the Santa Maria church does not allow some installations and some works that are radically contemporary to be placed here, and there are such works. But, let's say, for someone who is not educated in art, the total abstraction at this exhibition will probably be a surprise, specifically, the painting "Fjak" by Tijana Gordić, which really has the atmosphere of the famous seaside fjak. I have to say that it is very difficult to make an exhibition like this when there are so many artists whose vocation deals with the Mediterranean, precisely because Montenegro is a Mediterranean country, and this new exhibition is one of the possible choices, which means that they could be represented as well the works of some other artists", says Čilikov, emphasizing that he suggested to the organizers of the City Theater that the theme of the Mediterranean should be present in the Art program every year.
"It can, for example, be a coastal landscape, or a coastal genre-scene, or a motif of marine flora and fauna, and that it be a special segment of the festival program, because Budva is one of the oldest settlements in the Mediterranean".
As he pointed out, he is very satisfied with the audience's interest in this year's Art program.
"The exhibition of Dimitri Popović had a huge attendance, as well as his performance 'Magdalene's Night' and a panel discussion on sacred motifs in fine art on Poets Square, these are not easy topics and popular stories, and during the two and a half hour conversation on the Budva square, none of the many the crowd that had gathered did not leave. And not only did he not leave, other random passers-by interested in art kept coming," Chilikov said.
Bonus video:
