Nezaustavljivi 2009

Editor: Dragan Ilić Di Vogo’s "Nezaustavljivi," created in 2009, presents a rather unusual scene executed in oil. There is this huge cliff that reminds me a bit of a gnarled tree stump emerging from the water. Perched on top, unbelievably, is a sailing ship. I'm captivated by the tension between realism and fantasy here. How do you interpret this work? Curator: I see the layering of realities. Note how the ship, traditionally a symbol of trade and colonial power, is placed atop what seems like organic detritus. The "cliff" isn't just a rock; it’s riddled with what look like manufactured candies, these saccharine forms embedded in the structure itself. Editor: Yes, it almost feels as though it is decaying. I also see a person in the bottom left, perhaps they could represent the everyman in modern society overwhelmed by all this decay. What do you make of that? Curator: I wonder if it signals the consequences of the ship's, and by extension, society's "unstoppable" journey. Consider how oil paint itself, derived from the earth, is used to depict this scene of industrial incursion and natural degradation. Does the medium reinforce the message here, underlining the extraction of resources? Editor: I hadn't considered the connection between the materials used and the commentary on society! It feels as though there's an argument for reading this less as a fantasy and more as a material history. Curator: Precisely! The very act of painting, the labor and materials involved, becomes a critical element in understanding the artist’s critique. What does the commodification of dreams through image-making say about the art market itself? Editor: It feels like it makes a grand statement, looking back I realise I made too many assumptions about surrealism and its function. Thank you, I really learned a lot looking at it in that way. Curator: The pleasure is all mine! It’s precisely this intersection of material reality and imagined possibilities that makes art so endlessly fascinating.