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The artist opposes the firmness, the cold luster and sharpness of the contours of the black granite to the velvetyness of the surface, the gentleness of the contours and the luminous whiteness of the marble thus emphasizing the essential properties of the gentleness and fragility of the female being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On figurines in metal (bronze) a tougher modeling is observed; shapes are stricter; the principle of cubic reduction to basic geometric shapes is present to a greater extent, especially in the treatment of the head. The emphasis is more on the relation of mass and shape, and less on the fleshliness of the naked body, which is largely conditioned by the possibilities of the material itself. Being well aware of the possibilities of expression of the material, Smilkov uses bronze as a material in which the sharpness and slimness of the shape can be most clearly achieved, as well as the “soundness” of the material itself. By placing bronze figurines on a stone base, the artist measures the ratio of bronze and stone, opposing the two states and levels of the visual effect of the surface’s luster, but also the sonorousness of bronze \u2013 to the muffledness of stone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Finally, it can be said that the latest cycle of Nikola Smilkov’s figurines on the theme of the human body reveals the artist’s extremely nurtured sensitivity to the material\u2019s expression. It is precisely the respect of the nature of the material that has essentially determined the modern sculpture at the beginning of the 20th century, which enabled a crucial shift in relation to the European sculpture of the last few centuries that “suffocated” in details in the representation of figures, which frequently annulled one of the essential characteristics of sculptural work, that is, above all, the expression of the material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The significance and the radical change that brought about a new approach to the material in modern sculpture are testified by artists\u2019 superlative works, most prominent in the tendencies of respecting nature and possibilities of expression of the material itself, specifically in stone \u2013 primarily all the works of Constantin Br\u00e2ncu\u015fi at the very beginning of the 20th century, but also by Isamu Noguchi, Vojin Baki\u0107 and others during the second half of the 20th century; and, in the domain of bronze, i.e. metal – Alberto Giacometti, Henry Moore, Julio Gonzalez and others; and today, at the beginning of the 21st century, especially the works of Richard Serra. The basic guideline in Nikola Smilkov\u2019s works has been so far precisely on that line of seeking and finding the possibility of expressing the essential properties of materials, primarily stone, but also of bronze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By exhibiting several of the most successful works of this cycle in a public space of monumental proportions, first of all, the sculptures Awakening<\/em> (2015) and Anticipation<\/em> (2015), in the well-established relationship of the sculpture itself with the surrounding space, the very essence of the female being would be “immortalized” in a modern but also timeless manner, and their full expression would be realized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rajka Boskovic PhD<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Art Historian and Theoretician <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Friday, October 20th from 6 to 8pm: The artist opposes the firmness, the cold luster and sharpness of the contours of the black granite to the velvetyness of the surface, the gentleness of the contours and the luminous whiteness of the marble thus emphasizing the essential properties of the gentleness and fragility of the female being.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":10832,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[5,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gallerymc.org\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10828"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gallerymc.org\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gallerymc.org\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gallerymc.org\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gallerymc.org\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10828"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.gallerymc.org\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10828\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10836,"href":"http:\/\/www.gallerymc.org\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10828\/revisions\/10836"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gallerymc.org\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gallerymc.org\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gallerymc.org\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gallerymc.org\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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