Sve je u duhu 2020

Curator: This oil painting, "Sve je u duhu," or "Everything is in the Spirit" was completed in 2020 by Dragan Ilić Di Vogo. What strikes you first about it? Editor: There's a definite air of melancholic defiance about the figure. She's rendered with a classic sensibility, almost like a sculpture, but splattered with what look like…memories, or perhaps wounds? It’s unsettling, yet captivating. Curator: Precisely. The classical statue form anchors it, offering a sense of enduring strength. But that strength is clearly being challenged by the colourful, almost violent, marks. Notice how the artist juxtaposes the traditional artistic expression of Realism against elements of abstraction. It almost feels like the soul itself is being laid bare, exposed to both beauty and trauma. Editor: I find myself drawn to the dove, centered above the figure against that almost lunar disk. Doves usually signify peace, but here it feels… fragile. Like a hope constantly tested, caught between what this angel has witnessed or endured. Is it fair to say Di Vogo's using familiar symbology with some amount of intended disruption? Curator: Without question. Consider also the anchor nestled among her wings, the scattered dice and the chess piece, partially obscured along the lower-right of the canvas. Those are potent symbols, often representing hope, chance, and strategy in the face of conflict. He creates a potent visual narrative questioning how these ideas coexist in our spirit. I wonder if this painting became part of any socio-political commentary? Editor: Hard to say, precisely. Di Vogo began painting in the 1970's as part of Belgrade's alternative art scene. Even in the Serbian context, this feels exceptionally personal, though that doesn't preclude some implied universality to its messages. Perhaps Di Vogo’s drawing attention to the emotional and psychological scars of repeated cultural conflict in the Balkans by using well-established figures in our consciousness to do so. Curator: Indeed. It’s this dance between personal revelation and larger cultural commentary that gives "Sve je u duhu" such resonance. Editor: A truly evocative image; one that certainly sticks with you after viewing it. Curator: Agreed. Its layers invite prolonged meditation. Thank you for your observations.