The multimedia exhibition "Ja Ti (The Return of Unity)" by the Montenegrin artist Admir Bambura, opened in the Santa Marija gallery in Budva, as part of the post-festival program of the Grad Theater. The new cycle is the fruit of Bambur's work over the past three years, and the exhibition consists of fourteen large-format paintings and drawings and three art installations.
Bambur surprised the art audience with an atypical opening, without the presence of critics, with which the artist wanted to avoid intermediaries and invite those present to follow him personally on the path of self-discovery.
After a long break, Bambur introduced himself to the Montenegrin art audience, and on that occasion we talked about his new art work under the unified title "Ja Ti (Return of Unity)".
"I haven't exhibited independently in the country for a while. I often stayed abroad, where I presented myself with the previous cycle independently and at collective exhibitions. Also, I was dedicated to doctoral studies in Belgrade. I have always maintained that an artist must feel a responsibility towards the audience. That is why my choice has always been to appear in front of the audience only when I have something new and valuable to say. In art, it's not how often you appear, but how mature your ideas are."
The exhibition is presented as a multimedia project consisting of 14 paintings and drawings and three art installations, and in addition to the tangible ones, you also worked on other interventions in the space (light, sound, smell)?
"At first glance, you can see the universal symbolism of human figures and contrasts such as male-female, light-dark... On a deeper level, I symbolically presented the constant internal struggle of a man torn between polarities such as: love-fear, good-evil , strength-weakness, consciously and unconsciously, etc.
I found inspiration for this cycle in different spiritual traditions (hermeticism, Kabbalah, Vedic spiritual tradition).”
With the exhibition in Budva, you distanced yourself from the usual forms that accompany the opening. By avoiding the intermediary between the artist and the audience, did you want to create a more direct/intimate connection with the viewers or?
"That's right. The exhibition was not opened by an art critic, but symbolically, with the help of light, music and scents, I wanted to invite those present to follow me independently in the search for answers to some of the universal questions. In this case, the text in the catalog was an integral part of the concept, not a preface. With that, I wanted to point out once again the topic of unity, wholeness, connecting two people."
What answers, what situations did the question you dealt with - Who am I?
"By asking the universal, primordial question 'Who am I?', I dealt with the contrasts, the extremes in which we live. The way out of that eternal oscillation between polarities, I saw in an authentic relationship with another being. I - You symbolizes our eternal search for wholeness through unity with another person."
What does not change stagnates, and that is not good
With your new opus, you create a multi-layered distance in relation to your earlier expression? How much of a risk is there to completely move away from what is already recognized and successful?
"The beginnings of this cycle could probably be found in the period when, without the intention of preparing an exhibition, I began to explore the universal symbolism of different traditions.
During that time, as my knowledge matured and my view of the world changed, works were created that carried a different message. Changes in expression in art often involve risk, but are also necessary as an integral part of maturation. What doesn't change stagnates, and that's not good."
Bonus video:
