Pesnik 2011

Curator: Here we have "Pesnik," or "Poet," a 2011 watercolor by Dragan Ilić Di Vogo. My immediate impression is one of somber reflection. There's a textural juxtaposition at play that's rather striking. Editor: It evokes a fragmented, dreamlike state, doesn't it? Look at how the artist balances the solidity of the sculpted head with the fluid washes of color and almost abstract shapes surrounding it. Note the cube—a recurring visual element in Di Vogo’s ouvre—contrasted with the soft flower. Curator: The head, presented in profile, possesses a statuesque quality. I'm intrigued by these red and brown droplets seemingly suspended around his head – could they represent the weight or inspiration that burdens or accompanies poetic creation? Editor: Precisely! Consider how poets often explore both the beautiful and the tragic. Flowers historically symbolize ephemerality, or the beauty of existence, whereas that rather hefty, dark stone perhaps indicates grounding or reality. Curator: I notice how the color palette shifts—from earthy browns and grays in the sculpted head to the brighter, more saturated hues around the perimeter. This serves to visually isolate the figure and almost objectifies its being. It almost brings forth the surrealism element of the piece. Editor: That stark black and green cube really locks it in, I think. In Jungian terms, cubes often reference the Self, that fixed and knowable anchor we often desperately seek amidst chaos. Here the poet has one but can't look to it, suggesting the artist’s ambivalence or challenge when examining the notion of poetic identity. Curator: Di Vogo clearly manipulates watercolor masterfully here to create these various levels of opaqueness. In several passages he has thinned the media out greatly while, in others, the concentration is notably high; an impressive contrast. Editor: True, there's a tension between the fleeting, transient quality of water media and the timeless, lasting nature of poetic expression… that is reinforced by his approach here. Perhaps the juxtaposition of such ephemerality with an enduring stone lends a unique spin here as well, since any poem can last much longer than any poet, too. Curator: It definitely gives you food for thought, particularly with its unique arrangement of objects within its picture plane. Editor: Agreed, Dragan Ilić Di Vogo certainly presents an insightful, perhaps melancholic, interpretation of the poet's soul in this intriguing work.