Pigmalion D 2019

Here's an artwork called 'Pigmalion D' by Dragan Ilić Di Vogo. Look at the surface, how he’s coaxing out of the oil paint, some kind of vision. I can imagine the painting coming to life through acts of layering, dissolving, scraping, and building. It’s almost like the artist is on a quest, trying to capture this image that exists somewhere between the material and the ethereal. It's a conversation, isn't it? Between the artist, the medium, and the subject, all wrestling for expression. The brushstrokes are soft and blended in this work and the way that they delineate the edges of the dancer creates a sense of otherworldly movement and flow. Di Vogo is exploring what paint can do, how it can create form, space, and atmosphere. This feels like a very personal quest and one that has a lineage back to Symbolist painting of the 19th Century. Artists like Moreau and Redon. It's all connected, this process of painting.