A unique exhibition named after one of the works from the exhibition, "Flight to the Full Moon", by the Montenegrin painter Ana Šćekić, is open to visitors at the Contemporary Art Center, in the "Klub" Gallery, until the fourth of September. Considering the current epidemiological situation in Montenegro, there was no ceremonial opening of the exhibition, so Šćekić presented her exhibit in an interview with "Vijesti".
"These are large formats in which I work best and feel comfortable while working. The exhibition includes 12 works in different art techniques. One of my previous exhibitions included large-format paintings in acrylic on canvas, after which I exhibited drawings in chalk, charcoal and dry pastel on paper... Therefore, I decided to experiment when it comes to the setting 'Flight to the Full Moon'; therefore, the exhibition brings together the following techniques: acrylic on canvas, objects (wooden boxes, dolls and acrylic) and digital collages whose prints are also printed in larger formats," she explains. The very name of the exhibition "Flight to the Full Moon" carries a certain symbolism" and offers a number of ways of interpretation - from whether it is a question of a person's aspirations, his mission or the goal he is going towards during his life, and Šćekić reveals how she came up with that title...
"The work 'Flight to the full moon', after which the exhibition is named, is of an intimate nature, but it also has a universal meaning when it comes to human growth. Flying is every child's dream, so this work reflects a strong connection with the influence of childhood on a person's personality ('Childhood is the parent of a person's personality', Freud). I am very emotionally attached to this work. For me, it represents a memory of a long period of my life when great upheavals occurred in my creativity and life, so the flight is a symbol of striving towards something mystical, magical, unreal...", she says.
Art theorist Selma Đečević wrote, among other things, about the presented work of Ana Šćekić: "Flight towards the full moon is actually a step forward, the original flapping of wings that leads to the regions of the subconscious whose ultimate origin is, absurdly, its own beginning. Because in its origin and nest there is one and the same - the moon, with its rediculous history of eternal repetition and endless periodicity. Hence, these works strongly suggest an atmosphere of hermeticity of the space-time continuum in which the ghostly figures of man are trapped," notes Đečević.
When asked by "Vijesti" whether these "spooky human figures" represent the man he is today, trapped in time and space with an imagined destination to which he is flying, Šćekić answers: "In your question, I really like the wording that the man is trapped and that the destination he is flying to is 'imagined'." This is exactly what this opus of works is about, and the theoretician Đečević has been following the development of my work for a long time, so her complete understanding of the work is self-evident and she has certainly rounded this thought very well. Those 'spooky human figures' are actually a continuation of my previous works where the combination of human and animal (now also children's plastic dolls) is the main motif. Deformed and ghostly creatures represent a scanner image of internal struggles and are certainly trapped in their own tragedy," says the artist.
It is noticeable that her works are dominated by expressive portrait figures, which seems to further highlight the psychological state and expression of a person. "Yes, during creation I thought about the relationship between the portrait and the doll's body. The goal was for the audience to first see different facial expressions such as screams, confusion, anxiety, and only then the work as a whole, so that they stand out as such in relation to the rest of the composition. Also, the scream of a man is a frequent occurrence in my works. "Every facial expression represents a moment of intimate reaction to external impulses," Šćekić told "Vijesti".
She concluded her interview with "Vijesti" by, one could interpret, indirectly announcing new series of her works, which was particularly influenced by the current moment and the fight against the epidemic.
"With great sympathy for those suffering from the corona virus, I can say that the earlier period of isolation had an introspective effect on me and meant returning to myself and my buried ideas, and at the same time, the period was productive in terms of creativity," she revealed.
Šćekić was born in Podgorica in 1983. She graduated in painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Cetinje in the class of prof. Branislav Sekulić, M.Sc. She is the winner of two annual awards from the Faculty of Fine Arts - for free drawing (2006) and for painting (2008), as well as the award for the best solo exhibition in 2018 (Kreativna fabrika, Belgrade). She is the author of numerous independent projects, and has participated in many collective exhibitions, symposia, colonies in the country and abroad.
The sight of dolls screaming or changing facial expressions
The title of one of Ana Šćekić's cycles of digital collages is "Children learn to know their voice" which, perhaps quite coincidentally, refers to a line from the poem "As if once upon a time" by Ekatarina Velika (Children learn to cry, children learn to know their voice). When asked if music had an influence on her creativity and to what extent, Šćekić says that such a name came by itself.
"The name of the cycle of digital collages 'Children learn to know their voice' came about spontaneously after the realization of the works, when I could see them as a whole. The lyrics were very receptive to the sight of dolls screaming or changing their facial expressions. "Also, the verse you mentioned, 'Children learn to cry,' refers to the cry, scream and cry, not only of a child, but also of an adult, mature and growing person," she concludes.
Bonus video:
