Alumni of the visual arts program Nevena Jeličić and Marko Prešić are making a name for themselves. They invite you to the art center of the University Library (71 Bulevar kralja Aleksandra Street) to see the winning drawings from the best drawing competition START 5.

The exhibition of these two artists is open from Tuesday, October 13. Both of them graduated from the Faculty of Contemporary Arts, Department of Painting, in 2019, in the class of Professor Đorđe Stanojević.

Nevena Jeličić: painting series Future in the Valley

Nevena Jeličić will present her painting series Future in the Valley to the audience, and here is what she says about it:

– It is a research, an experiment of shape and color, using the oil on canvas technique. The research and work on the inner colors, sensations of the involved colors is transferred to the canvas (object) as a vision, directly, without copying or imitating the natural environment, but depicting the inner, existential one.

– By objectifying the inner experience, new forms are born, symbols that fill in the void and establish a connection, giving more fullness to the whole. The whole is beyond specific explanations, beyond reason, which is why it must be felt and experienced. My search is primarily focused on specific color composition which, under certain circumstances communicate with other elements on the canvas. By trying to release the color from any conventional form, I experience it as a being, as an object. This creative process is also based on my experiences of the outdoors, in the woods and mountains of Serbia.

– Experiences arise from my travels through dark regions, woods and meadows. I surrender myself to nature, as a being that is part of it. That experience exudes magical sensations, where my soul communicates with nature’s soul, unlike the psyche which has an aversion toward darkness. We are shrouded in a cloud of changing images and endless hues so much so that one desires to say nothing is real. We are the image of infinite worlds, the last secrets of creation and destruction reside within us, and had we not possessed all of it, we could never comprehend it. The painting contains the depths of our own, and I represent it as such, in the alternating levels and overlapping folds, creativity and destruction. That process unifies the beautiful and the ugly, the being and its shadow, darkness and light, it fuses the hot and the cold.
Nevena Jeličić

Marko Prešić: Profusion

Marko is the winner of the best drawing award at the START 5 exhibition for 2019, and he participated in numerous group exhibitions. He will present his exhibition Profusion to the audience, and here is the review of the art historian Slavica Obradinović.

– Fascination with painting and primal artistic inspiration are a welcome breath of fresh air that the young painter Marko Prešić brings to our art scene. With his first solo exhibition, the artist dared to present his works to the audience and draw the attention of art lovers and connoisseurs. When we see Marko’s paintings done in classical painting techniques for the first time, and his selection of motifs deeply rooted in the history of art – female nude and portrait – we are exposed to powerful, well-rounded and authentic works of art. Female figures and faces placed indoors or outdoors are contemporary, poetic, and deeply personal. Knowledge of the human anatomy, space, composition, light and skillful use of the acrylic on canvas technique is complemented with a carefully chosen color palette. A unique choice of intensive, basic, pure colors and their combination creates a vivid atmosphere of the painting, lending it an unparalleled emotion and meaning. Marko Prešić builds his paintings with color, and creates an additional aesthetic effect with an intensive color palette. Fascination with life, emotions and love as a whole is the backbone of Marko Prešić’s work. The artist conveys his inner world to the canvas by remaining faithful to the painting, and not falling victim to the contemporary trends. Marko reintroduces us to the beauty and possibilities of painting which incite emotion by focusing its view on profusion and exuberance of life in its various aspects. Paintings created at the very beginning of the artist’s career arouse our senses and reach even the subtlest of feelings, exuding a genuine joie de vivre.
Slavica Obradinović

Visit the art center of the University Library Svetozar Marković and enjoy the artworks of two exceptional young artists.