With a rich program, almost without a break, young, intimate and close, significant and interesting, the "F 64" photography gallery revived artistic photography in Podgorica and Montenegro. After the presentation of a luxurious monograph in Serbian and English by a long-time photographer the night before last Branislav Strugar "Photographic Expressions", already tomorrow the repertoire continues with the exhibitions "Abundance of Life" Ana Ivanovic and "Shadows in the Stone" Goran Pajović, which will be opened at 19 p.m.
Strugar recently presented himself with a retrospective exhibition in this gallery, which aroused great interest from the professional and lay public. Gallery owner and photographer Dejan Kalezic he pointed out at the promotion that during his fifty-year career, Strugar made a great contribution to the popularization of Montenegro and the Montenegrin area. This is supported by the fact that he is a professor rank Radovic called "the gardener of the Montenegrin landscape", which was reminded by prof. Ph.D Saša Popović.
"In his search for unusual and unreal motives, Montenegro is his inexhaustible source of inspiration. It was not for nothing that Prof. He called Ranko Radović the 'gardener of the Montenegrin landscape'. Among his 13 publications are: Kotor, Montenegro - ecological state, Montenegro on postcards, Montenegro and Budva. "Montenegro on the postcards is printed bilingually, and all the rest are special editions and most of them are published in seven to eight world languages," Popović pointed out.
He also pointed out that the monograph "Photographic Expression" provides an insight into a (unique) universe of photographs that Strugar has been carrying in himself and for himself for 50 years. However, that universe is no longer only Strugar's, but the author offers every observer and reader of the monograph the privilege to sink into it and adapt it to themselves. Like artistic paintings and fantasies, Strugar's photographs additionally communicate with their names, which the author succinctly invents and gives, while he seems to whisper to the observer which way to go when it comes to the content of the photograph. Each of them evokes different feelings and emotions in the viewer, and what makes the monograph stand out and makes it even more attractive are the author's notes and memories related to the chosen work.
"I wanted to collect in one place the photos that I have been doing for half a century 'for my soul', as we photographers like to say. The recordings made on purpose, during the implementation of various projects, were printed in monographs, magazines, calendars, prospectuses... These recordings, which I called 'for my soul', were created out of the need to express my feelings in visual language. When creating such works, freedom of access and work is complete," Strugar pointed out.
He especially emphasized that he dedicates the monograph, which is a kind of crown and the very pinnacle of his creativity so far, to his life companion, Vlatki Rubinjoni Turner who was always a special and significant support when making key life decisions, and whose opinion, comments and criticism were always valuable.
A new journey and the eighth exhibition
Strugar's journey and photographic adventure have been going on since 1968, and the adventure and journey of the "F 64" gallery continues with the presentation of new artists and their unique and original ideas. Tomorrow's exhibition will be the eighth this year, and it is about authors whose concepts the Art Council of the gallery has evaluated as compatible for joint presentation.
"Ana Ivanović is looking for abundance of life, and surprisingly - she finds it, where it seems to us that there is hardly any life itself. The concept of the exhibition finds its place in the village cemetery, which is a phenomenon in itself. It is not a memorial park where you come to pay your respects to your ancestors. People come here to dine with their ancestors, to talk, to consult, this is where life establishes a vertical that connects worlds and erases the boundaries between the past and the future, that's why these places abound with life," the announcement states.
With his black-and-white photographs, Goran Pajović approaches the concept of similar motives and motivations through the installation "Shadows in Stone"
"Just as Ana's exhibition has its roots in the village cemetery, so the cycle of photographs 'Shadows in the Stone' includes photographs of stećaks, unique cultural and historical monuments in a natural environment from various locations in northern and northwestern Montenegro. These are photographs that, in addition to the aesthetic, also have an emphasized spiritual dimension, which is reflected in the setting and in the choice of motifs - on the one hand, we have mountains and karst as a Montenegrin national, specific sign of recognition, while on the other hand, we have stećaks that carry 'common meanings' for wider the cultural area of the Western Balkans, representing a specific thesaurus of cultural and historical information and which as such carry and strengthen certain ideas about heritage", the announcement reads.
Bonus video:
