VMart's side is one of the region's prominent post-avant-garde artists, whose work explores the boundaries between poetry, visual art and philosophy of language. His art does not belong exclusively to any of these expressions, but rather merges them into a unique practice that problematizes communication, perception and meaning. Exhibition Departments of poetry: paper, mirror, photography, installed in the Gallery of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Montenegro, curatorially conceived by Teodora Nikčević i Neve Lukic, opens up a space for reflection on his long-standing work, emphasizing the way in which word, image, and materiality shape a specific artistic discourse.
From the earliest works created within the framework of Groups of six authors, Martek engages in the dematerialization of the artwork, insisting on the process rather than the final result. His visual language relies on poetry, but not as a narrative form, but as a conceptual tool that explores the semantic and physical nature of words. Instead of classical poetic expression, he uses fragments, slogans and syntactic games that question the function of language in contemporary society. His art is not aimed at mere aesthetic value - it is a thought experiment, a space in which meaning is never fixed, but constantly oscillates between the visual and the linguistic.
Paper is one of the basic materials in Martek's work, but it is not just a surface for writing text or drawing. It is a physical element that bends, splits, transforms, becoming a carrier of meaning in itself. Martek's relationship with paper is very reminiscent of his relationship with language - he deconstructs and rebuilds it, showing how the medium affects the way we experience content. The mirror, which often appears in his works, introduces a layer of self-reflection and distortion, playing with the idea of image and identity. Its use in the context of poetry raises the question: What does it mean to see a word, and can a word be a reflection of reality or is it always just a construction of it?
Photography in his work functions as a trace, a document, but also as an intervention in reality. He often uses existing images, crosses them out, writes text over them, or changes them in a way that blurs the line between original and interpretation. In this way, Martek's art becomes an open system of meaning, in which nothing is taken for granted, but is constantly questioned. His works do not provide definitive answers - on the contrary, they insist on questions, on doubt, on breaking established patterns of thought.
An important segment of his work is also made up of performative gestures, in which the artistic act goes beyond the framework of the gallery space and becomes part of everyday life. This practice, present since the early seventies, often carries a subversive tone in Martek’s work. Through simple but powerful interventions, he points out the paradoxes of social norms and systems of power. His act of sharing cookies with the inscription “Lie to the State” is not only a provocation, but also a call to rethink language as a means of control and resistance. Through such gestures, Martek shows how art can operate outside institutional frameworks, communicating directly with the audience and provoking a reaction.
What makes this exhibition so relevant is its ability to raise issues that transcend the boundaries of art itself. In a time when language is often a tool of manipulation, Martek uses it in a way that exposes its mechanisms and opens it up to new meanings. His works remind us that words are not neutral, that every message carries context, ideology, and intention. Precisely for this reason, his art is not a mere aesthetic phenomenon, but an intellectual challenge - a call to reflection, deconstruction, and active participation in the process of creating meaning.
Exhibition Departments of poetry: paper, mirror, photography does not provide a retrospective view in the classical sense, but rather an encounter with an artist who is constantly exploring, questioning and shaping new ways of expression. His work cannot be reduced to one medium, one technique or one direction - it is fluid, changing and always in dialogue with the time in which it is created. Martek does not offer ready-made answers, but asks the right questions. Therein lies the power of his art - in its ability to remain alive, to surprise, disturb and make us think.
(The author is an art historian and theoretician)
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