Zona 2 2020

Curator: Here we have "Zona 2", an oil painting created by Dragan Ilić Di Vogo in 2020. What's your immediate take on this arresting composition? Editor: It has an aura of melancholic introspection. The figure's bowed head and clasped hands certainly suggest contemplation, perhaps even a quiet grief. Curator: Indeed. Considering Di Vogo's interest in figuration blended with elements of Surrealism, we can see how he presents a contemporary, almost hyper-real, representation that pulls at collective concerns and tensions. What’s fascinating to me is how he leverages oil paint in ways that recall surrealist masters, all while speaking to the politics of display itself. Editor: Absolutely. The sphere behind the woman certainly invites such a reading. Spheres historically signify completeness and the cosmos, yet here it feels strangely unsettled and terrestrial with that marbled effect of greens, reds, and yellows. Curator: Note too, the base of her dress seeming to dissolve, flowing and erupting outwards into geometric, tessellated forms. We see here an element of visual instability. Editor: And that destabilization is heightened by those geometric shapes – almost like tumbling dice or even flags signaling something unknown. Do they hint at chaos, the uncertainties of modernity? They feel deeply symbolic. Curator: It raises compelling questions. How do artists use familiar forms to explore anxieties around territory, borders, and control? “Zona 2," by its very title, points to demarcations. What cultural scripts is Di Vogo pulling at to convey his message? Editor: The beauty of art lies precisely in this ability to tap into deeply rooted symbols. This evokes both a sense of timelessness and an urgent, contemporary resonance. Curator: Well put. I think that's what will keep people contemplating it long after they leave the gallery. Editor: It's a work that remains resonant, open to reinterpretation long after we consider its form.