Leviathan

Studio, July 2013

The upcoming next year show..still in progress

Unsolicited

Departure

The last series of work i made, entitled Sweeping Confetti From the Floor of the Concrete Hole tried to analyze and point out certain aspects of love relationships gone wrong. I was interested in confusion, frustration and misguided ideas tied to the concept of love. 
Departure is likely to be the last in this series, concluding it symbolically, addressing the issue of leaving or being left abandoned. Basically, I tried to show a situation evoking a very specific, brief and often traumatic period of transition from the relationship. This particular moment in time is composed out of a mixture of an actual physical space, where the action takes place in, and the mental image or a state of mind of the imaginary protagonist ending the relationship.  
As i may have mentioned earlier, what i find particularly interesting is exploring the possibility of notions such as time and action inside the painting which is evidently very static and mute. 
I used the form of triptych to show development of events presented in their chronological order as i imagined them unfolding through the eyes of my imaginary protagonist. Departure shows the space filled with the personal artifacts belonging to the two people who used to share life. Each panel shows three stages of separation inside a single space, ordered chronologically from left to right. First one showing the stuff in space prior to collapse while the relationship was sailing happily along. The second, central panel, shows the protagonist in the moment of transition, immersed in reorganizing and packing material artifacts that surround him. The third panel shows physically and emotionally empty space, alienated from the human presence, uninhabited reminder of life and love that used to occupy it.

Sweeping Confetti From the Floor of the Concrete Hole / Lauba House

Photos / Damir Žižić 

Joy Division

This one was hard. It was hard to make, hard to title and as hell hard to photograph. The idea behind it follows further development of love matter, focusing on the role of male friends in break-up. So i wanted an image where the main protagonist, obviously plagued by hurt and despair caused by ending relationship is surrounded by his male friends. 

But they don't have a clue what to do.

The image aims at the vague territory of the support we all kind of need in moments like these, but fail to receive..the way it would be of help at least. Not like there's no right intention there, the opposite really. Friends are there for good or bad, but mute, without any good or satisfying word of comfort that you can believe in. 

There was this one time when my soul was broken, two of my friends took me on a trip to the end of the world. We drove there for couple of days. I felt like a mental patient most of the time, but as we traveled along fun we had was getting better by the hour and by the time we got back i was reborn. What they did, even though it wasn't more than just being there, was beyond words. 

But i guess if you're in a need for a word of advice, you're in trouble. There is none. So i wanted a work about that, how mute support really is and how those who love you cannot help you. Painting it got really tough as i moved forward. We had a photo-session where i shaped the image and it took me ages to get the painting done.

The troubling name of 'Joy Division' was the best one by far. Leave out the implication of monolith band behind the name, It felt right in so many ways: 'division' suggest a very male thing going on and 'joy' is what they're there for. But then there is the band and the chances of disregarding it when seeing the title are minimal i know, and the world war two implication..trouble. Still the title sounded perfect for this work and despite its dangers, i'm keeping it.