Art is there to awaken emotions and questions

The topic of the eighth session of the forum "Imaginarium", which is edited and led by an art historian and program editor at the "Zahumlje" JU, Kristina Radovic, was the connection of image and design, and the guests were Ilija Nikcevic i Milovan Mico Kadovic, graphic designers and founders of the graphic studio "Bad Brain".

Speaking about the history of graphics, the guests pointed out that it was originally created as a medium to mass fine art, to bring it closer to people, that it entered interdisciplinary waters, and later became independent.

"When we enrolled in the Academy and just started studying, we had no idea what graphics was and what its possibilities were. After the Academy, I focused on graphics for a while and made a dozen exhibitions, while Mićo started working with collages", said Nikčević and added that their experience in graphics helps them in their work as well.

And Kadović, who, as he said, loves color very much, uses his experiences from graphics "abundantly in design", and the fact that, as he pointed out, there is no graphic studio in Montenegro, and there are very few artists who exclusively deal with graphics and for whom it is the dominant medium. Both of them found their expression in other media - Nikčević in illustration and comics, Kadović in collage.

According to the words of graphic designers, the love for art mainly appears in childhood, so Kadović, even as a boy, drew and modeled, while Nikčević was in the world of comics, which he still loves today, and he knew, as he pointed out, that his work will be related to drawing and narration, because those expressive possibilities have always attracted him.

Design, according to them, is graphic communication that allows them to develop ideas, which "provokes" them enough to express themselves in a special, unique way and thus enter the market.

While Nikčević, who is the author of the illustrated book "Krtica i sunce", likes projects related to books and illustrations, Kadović points out that the work of a lecturer, which at first did not interest him, is now quite interesting, that it is a nice feeling when you pass on knowledge to others, and that he is proud that around 60 participants have passed their training.

"I don't know if art can change a lot in reality, but it can in those small realities of an individual person, guide him, open his horizons. Its possibilities are such that it acts on an individual, an individual who has an interest, who is freer and more inclined towards something that is artistically contained", said Nikčević.

Kadović believes that art today requires a certain amount of education, which was not the case before.

"I think that these good practices need to become part of everyday life and that everyday education. Art is not there to please anyone, but to awaken certain emotions and questions. I think that art just needs to be shown to people a little more," Kadović pointed out.

A conversation with graphic designers and founders of the graphic studio "Bad Brain", which has been in existence since 2016, was organized by the "Zahumlje" JU as part of the March repertoire of the Nikšić cultural scene.