Večna ljubav – Eternal love 2012

Dragan Ilić Di Vogo made this compelling image, ‘Eternal Love’, using paint to explore a rather classical theme with very contemporary eyes. I find myself drawn to the way Di Vogo doesn’t hide the traces of their process. The colors are layered, sometimes muddy, but always alive, giving the impression of something built up over time. The textures vary from smooth, almost translucent washes to more opaque, scumbled marks, creating a push and pull effect that keeps your eye dancing across the surface. Look at the hands, for example, how they seem to dissolve into the background, yet are rendered with such anatomical precision. There's a tension between representation and abstraction here, a dialogue between the seen and the unseen. It brings to mind the work of Francis Picabia, another artist unafraid of mixing it up, of letting the process be visible, and of embracing the contradictions inherent in artmaking. It reminds me that art is always an evolving conversation, open to endless interpretations.