As part of the art program of the jubilee XXX Festival "Grad Teatar", at the beginning of August this year, an independent exhibition of specific graphic works by the prominent Montenegrin artist Igor Rakčević (Podgorica, 1971) was organized in Budva's Santa Maria. Rakčević graduated from the High School of Fine Arts in Podgorica, graduated (1995) from the graphics department of the FLU in Cetinje in the class of prof. Anke Burić, M.Sc., and completed (1998) master's studies in graphics at the FLU in Belgrade, in the class of prof. Velizar Krstić. So far, he has prepared numerous independent explications of a national, regional and international character, and he has represented Montenegro at important manifestations of contemporary art, the Biennale in Venice, the exhibition of Balkan art in Kassel, etc. He deals with research in the field of contemporary graphic techniques and artistic media, cultural management and informal art education. He is the current president of the ULUCG Presidency, constantly living and creating in Podgorica. The exhibition is accompanied by a color catalog with an introductory text by the writer Pavle Goranović.
In the old town's centuries-old sacred building, founded on a stone pontoon over the sea, which in previous decades, due to carelessness and inadequate use, experienced extreme devastation, twenty-five specific graphic creations, entitled "With Angels II", realized with the "stencil" graphic technique, were presented ” on a padded MDF board, and the works were created in the previous few years. Many admirers of the Goddess of Art could easily convince themselves that this very dilapidated, gray and rather darkened stone environment, full of moisture and sea salt, accepted Rakčević's conceptually subtly designed and creatively artistically executed explication extremely well. It is necessary to emphasize that every work of art is truly a true work of art if it is harmonious to the human eye and beneficial to the human soul. And that's certainly what these recent, completely sung, very melodic and very rhythmic explications of Igor Rakčević are. He simply magically made this sad and mournful sacral environment enchanting and truly unreal by moving his charming angelic creatures into it.
Unlike the previous ones, in his latest works, Rakčević greatly developed the chromatic scale and led to rich and very meaningful polychrome values. In these very harmonious color combinations, warm or cold tones prevail, in fact, Rakčević consciously builds very diverse atmospheres, insisting on various periods of the day, indicating dawn, morning, day, evening, night, or looking for specific conditions of different seasons. , spring, summer, autumn or winter. Although we are talking about a reproductive performing process, which is very characteristic of graphic works, here we can also talk about specific, monotypic painting achievements, regardless of the fact that during the creative-artistic execution "clichés" are partially used, which repeats and multiplies certain forms. and forms.
Rakčević's artistic creativity is of a figurative character, and more decisively, it belongs to the spheres of the symbolic and associative. Comprehensively researching various symbols, he expertly and very thoughtfully chooses them from the ambient environment, there is a head, hand, sun, moon, star, tree, branch, leaf, flower. But, at the same time, the main protagonists of the entire visual narrative are imagined, depersonalized, eternal heavenly guardians of peace, happiness, health, pleasure and love, benevolent angels. Rakčević, in his recent cycle, seems to be narrating the universalist, Šeherezada skits from "One Thousand and One Nights". And those little winged creatures, those adorable cupids, from the divine heights, permanently emit calming vibrations. Developing the basic idea and working for several years on the "Angela" cycle, Rakčević, like a composer, expertly elaborated the theme, based on the base matrix, tried to play as many different melodies as possible, so that each one was different but had a similar character, as if is from the same flock. When you look at the titles, you undoubtedly come to the conclusion that the entire thematic-artistic matter is deeply immersed in romantic waters, especially when they are known: "Remembrance of Adam and Eve", "Among the Stars", "Olive Branch", "Mercy", "Pilgrimage", "Tree of Life". With these very meaningful names, Rakčević expands the associative levels even more intensively. Finally, regardless of the fact that all the works are very modernly articulated, which seem immediate and fresh, the general impression is that they inherit something from the old Eastern traditions, something that is associated with papyri and the wisdom of archaic worlds.
From ancient screen printing to stencils
In his earlier graphic works, Rakčević used a very old silk-screen printing technique, the substrate was paper-cardboard, and the color scale was completely reduced to a few shades. The latest artistic creations are the result of his many years of research in the field of contemporary graphics. This time, Rakčević uses "stencil", a specific graphic technique, which is used by artists who create on the street, who make large murals and urban interventions.
In fact, in the previous procedure, Rakčević cuts out numerous "clichés" in cardboard, combines them, thins them, multiplies them, performing color layering, by spraying with a special pump, "Air brush", or spray.
Bonus video:
