Images of our subconscious

That decades of quality work bring deserved recognition from the audience was demonstrated at the artist's solo exhibition of paintings Milovan Miki Radulović, who attracted many visitors to the Art Pavilion in Podgorica this Tuesday with his imaginative style.

To call the exhibited paintings merely imaginative is not a good enough description, as they depict a deeper element of the surreal, skillfully creating a visual bridge between the subconscious and the viewer. The lack of inherent meaning of the visual form presented here serves as an invitation to individual interpretation that creates a dialogue.

This dialogue is also part of these paintings, which makes them in a way expansive, because this art is not limited to the canvas on which it is painted, but spreads beyond the viewer, connecting with his inner “self.” This is the convincing mark of great art, because only it can be transcendental in the way it includes the viewer, and through the viewer it expands further, rejecting the limits of technical limitations.

Speaking about the coherence of the visual composition, it should be noted that the paintings have a certain “torn” structure, where the lack of composed complexity is replaced by light visions and suggestive symbols. Here, a brilliant technique is revealed that, using symbols that seem unfinished at first glance, creates a surreal world precisely by using the subconscious imagination of the observer. With this method, the artist avoids forcing a specific composition and leaves it to the observer to instantly construct their own visions, which makes these paintings a certain mirror of our subconscious.

Let's connect this with a concrete example from the presented images, where one can often see a pale circle that can be seen as the Moon. The moonlight is just a reflection of the sunlight, just as the meaning and sense of these images is a reflection of our already existing sense.

In addition to the composition, we must also talk about the “absence” of an objective motif, because a motif requires an intention, while in these paintings there is no intention as such. Instead of the integrity and reality of the form created under the dictates of the motif, here there are shadows, silhouettes and fragments that are realized into a complete whole only in the subjective view of the observer. While a strictly defined motif in its visual construction can have only one meaning, Radulović's paintings offer infinite meaning precisely because of the lack of inherent meaning.

These are not paintings of a defined intention with a specific goal and trajectory, but descriptive visions of a pure state, a beauty in itself. Paradoxically, this very method allows for unlimited trajectories and movements of meaning than if they were defined by one strong but rigid motif. Striving for nothing, these paintings achieve everything.

One should not mistakenly think that due to the lack of coherence or motif, these images are cold and distant, but quite the opposite. Without imposing certain barriers, these images are very close to the viewer, because they are what the viewer wants them to be. Therefore, this interpersonal character of this technique reveals a serenity of our authentic existence that is increasingly forgotten in the triviality of modern existence.

Radulović told "Vijesti" that there are no tricks or specific methods in painting, but rather subconscious painting that becomes more convincing over time.

"You don't have tricks or certain ways in the craft. The craft is achieved over time, through painting, subconsciously, you make those moves unconsciously. If you turn on your mind, it's already transferring things to the canvas. As pikaso "I said, paint a dog with five legs as convincingly as if you've seen it somewhere," he said.