Sculpture exhibition Rajko Sušić, entitled "Faces of Ferrum", opened last night at the Velimir A. Leković Art Gallery, as part of the art program of the 38th "Bar Chronicle". This exhibition represents a cross-section of Sušić's latest works, which explore the relationships between industrial heritage, identity and human presence in the technological age, and the festival audience had the opportunity to step into the authentic, raw, but thoughtful sculptural world of one of the most interesting contemporary artists in Montenegro.
"The exhibition 'Faces of Iron' by academic sculptor Rajko Sušić from Nikšić will take us tonight into the world of symbols, moments, individuality, metaphysics and the inseparability of nature and man," said the curator of the Homeland Museum in Bar, opening the exhibition. Draginja Radonjić, explaining that the exhibited works represent an artist who, in search of innovative, contemporary image and expression, conquers sculptures in various techniques, in metal and iron, in which a wide range of artistic forms is expressed, presented through creative contextualization and complex artistic expressions. The exhibition, according to Radonjić, is marked by various aesthetic intentions, creative freedom of individual interpretation and creative ideas, as unique forms of artistic articulation.
"For Rajko Sušić, art is not just a language of research, it is a parallel flow of existence, a life alongside life, through which the personal and universal struggle between the inner impulse and the resistance of matter is reflected. The works of art that the author presents to us are based, above all, on the highly technical art of performance, authentic and visual interpretation of motifs and sovereign artistic poetics. Openness in accepting modern artistic concepts certainly ranks him among the significant Montenegrin sculptors of today. His sculptures carry ontological weight, they are not just objects shaped by hand, but traces of a thought process, places of transformation, where cold metal becomes the bearer of internal tension and symbolic movement. Each form, as if it stems from a struggle, not of domination over the material, but of a dialogue with it through welding, bending and joining, where traces of work are not hidden, but become visible signs of truth. The exhibition consists of various artistic solutions, which the sculptor builds with mass and volume, creating various forms and shapes, with virtuoso skill. Despite a certain artistic diversity, the sculptures in front of us have a strong thread that connects them, the autonomy of form, freedom of expression, the author's imagination, technique, material and the way they are made", said Radonjić, adding that the artist also finds inspiration in found objects, once functional, but today discarded industrial parts, which he incorporates into sculptures and with skillful artistic processing, they become an integral part of the work of art, and in this transposition from waste to spiritual, from raw to expressive, Sušić achieves what he considers to be the most important - he succeeds in elevating the sculpture to the level of a symbol.
"With a rich, multi-layered artistic vocabulary, Rajko Sušić strives to shape his unique thought code with an indigenous artistic expression that stems from unfettered creative freedom, distinctive creative principles, and the consistency of his own poetics. His sculptures range from figuration to associative forms expressed through various visual and artistic effects, achieved through various technological procedures. Whether it is a figural or abstract composition, his works are open to reading and exploring the psychological-allusive messages they carry. In them, the author explores various figural and zoomorphic forms with a recognizable artistic approach."
Radonjić concludes that the general impression left by the presented works is a strongly expressed individuality and a distinctive authorial stamp of a characteristic visual language, due to which the visual exposition represents a homogeneous whole that rests on the recognizable visual poetics and striking artistic inspiration of the author, and that the exhibition has quite justifiably found its place within the visual selection of this year's "Bar Chronicle" festival.
Rajko Sušić (1971, Nikšić) graduated and received his master's degree in sculpture at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Cetinje, in the class of professor M.A. Pavle PejovićHe has won several awards for sculpture, participated in numerous art colonies, and works as a teacher in Nikšić, where he lives and creates.
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