A woman's silhouette behind a colorfully painted canvas on which works of art alternate with black and white walls surrounded by vivid colors, already at the very opening of the exhibition Artema Pudejeva introduced the audience to an artistic dimension that awakens all senses, instincts and creation... A young and dedicated artist from Russia presented his solo exhibition "Spirits of Montenegro" at the Cultural Events Center (CKZ) "Ribnica" in Podgorica, as part of the art program of the Festival of International Alternative Theater FIAT, and the performance was opened on Wednesday evening.
Violinist Tanja Ševaljević Bogdanović she is responsible for the atmosphere at the opening, and her shadow, movement and melody completed the dynamics of the artistic performance. Pudejev presented the first composition, the original Montenegrin-Mediterranean sound and nostalgia, as "Life on the Shore", of which he is a part.
"So this was life on the coast, joyful, something great. The other side of Montenegro for me is the north, where people live their lives, where real life is with nature, only forests, mountains. Essentially, when I paint, I am inspired by something Scandinavian", explained Pudejev and thus announced the second composition which was like a movie leitmotif for the view from the mountain and the experience of the world in its true form and appearance.
At his exhibition, he presented a series of pictures accompanied by a QR code. When it is scanned and the camera is pointed at the images, they become visibly moving and alive on the phone. The sense of sight is not the only one that is occupied here, but also hearing, because you can hear the welcome, birds, church bells, and art thus awakens all the other senses and creates experiences within that one life experience. It was as the artist himself said: "Put your phones away, magic will follow".
He wanted, he says, to combine his art and the architecture of cities.
Speaking about the scenes from the paintings, he says that they would be something that a person cannot see, but which is essentially there. He explains that it is something he started watching live himself and recalls the moment at the concert when he saw a white world behind the man. He added that he has a desire to create a scene where you can look inside it, like a hole, and he hopes to figure out how to achieve that.
When asked by "Vijesti" whether there is a direction for this art of his, whether it is something that is practiced, he said that he had watched animations that are connected with cities, but that he had not seen such a thing in this sense, that is, the connection between painting and architecture. In any case, it is about creativity that is original and originated as an independent idea.
When it comes to colors, i.e. black and white buildings surrounded by strong colors, he said that they represent a contrast between the city we live in and the spirit, the spirit of Montenegro, the spirit that lives in that city. It is a spirit between a white stone and spirits of different colors, which, as he says, have their own emotion, and thus refers to the existence of chakras, which have their own colors.
One of the works was a large white painting in a square frame, which as such was divided into four squares, two of which were full of vertical rectangles, and the other two were horizontal. Triangle and circle shapes pass through these rectangles. The dominant colors are black and white, but they are not the only ones.
"This symbol, it is like the life of a person, or some small moment. The triangle is the path we take, and the circle is the events in our life, something we like to deal with," explains Pudejev, as well as that the colored lines that run through represent emotions, "something joyful, something boring..." and added as part of the description of the work that the essence does not care about what is right.
He also emphasizes the significance of the structure and mathematics of this image, equating mathematics with life.
He led the visitors to the next part of the exhibition down the stairs, where the remaining works are what he says are his personal style he deals with and what lies behind the cities.
"Everything is toxic, bright, I love it," Pudejev said.
In those pictures of his, you could see symbols like the Fibonacci spiral, which is a mathematical sequence that is normally formed by adding each number to the previous one to get the next number. From these numbers, a perfect spiral is obtained, which actually occurs everywhere around us. The Fibonacci sequence combines art, architecture, science, nature, art, philosophy and spirit, so it makes complete sense that this is the subject of interest of this artist and that it fits perfectly with the idea of the exhibition about the spirit of Montenegro.
His paintings are characterized by different geometric shapes, strong colors, and the artist often uses motifs from nature, one of the most prominent of which is the Sun, which, he points out, he adores. He says that he is only now beginning to understand one of his favorite paintings. It is the basis on which he made many animations and is the most contrasting of his works. The symbol of the Sun in that painting is very specific and often appears in his work. He has a desire to make this very symbol his distinguishing mark.
Speaking of motifs, there is also fire, which carries a special message inspired by the thoughts of his friend, who said: "When you get something, you give something, it must be purified through fire".
In addition, in his works there is also a spark that he connects to Njegosha, then the motif of a bug circling the planet, as well as a painting that surprised even the artist himself, because it got its way and started smiling...
He is also inspired by encounters with people, as was the case with "the holy father at the station, who drank a lot and could not walk"... That event encouraged him to think about the possible reasons that brought that person to such a state. , and he later turned that experience into a work of art. Through his art, he explores human destinies and emotions.
His creativity conveys a transcendental experience, provides a lesson on the importance of living in the moment and not missing precious moments. Everything that appears in his works, whether through symbols, colors or motifs, represents a natural flow and link within his story. It is interesting that there are also works that were created before he fully understood their meanings, represented by color, light, sparks, lightning, a river of bright. It is particularly interesting that he uses the color green to represent love... Perhaps because of the connection of that color with the heart chakra, whose motto is "I love".
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