The online exhibition “Grafički listovi slikara” (Graphic Sheets of Painters) presents the May Day gift of students of second, third and fourth years, to all those who, in these unusual times that befell us, needed art to help them overcome everyday life and a moment to bring back the memory of the days when being overwhelmed with the aura of artworks was possible, which is something that today seems like an unattainable luxury. With this in mind, students of the Department of Painting, including scholarship holders of the Hastor Foundation Ana Milijević and Kemil Bekteši, decided to create for the world, that has changed overnight, the illusion of the normal, former life, at least for a short time.
Our scholarship holder Ana Milijević described the online exhibition ” Grafički listovi slikara” as follows:
“The exhibition will feature works created using various graphic techniques, letterpress and intaglio printing. The main difference between them is in the process of printing and preparation of graphic matrices. For us as future painters, adapting to this way of working was a challenge that we gladly accepted. Instead of applying paint as we were used to, on canvas, wood or other carriers that allowed us to intervene directly, this time we applied it to matrices, which need to be prepared in advance using various graphic techniques, creating a deep or convex surface. We were getting increasingly connected to a new world of graphics, which at first seemed foreign to us. Exploring and pushing its boundaries, we created works, within which we tried to think like a graphic artist, while incorporating our previous painting experience.
If we were to describe painting in one word, probably the first association would probably be color. For graphics, that would be a line. I think we need to leave behind this strict division, which distracts us from creation, and enslaves us in the shackles it creates, leaving us trapped within one way of creating art. Considering that the concept of art is too broad, never sufficiently researched, we did not allow ourselves to observe it by opening only one door, the door of painting. Our view is now refreshed, and art is open to endless possibilities”.
