12 Jun 12

Under Realism Comes to Belgrade

The exhibition “Under Realism” showcases the new generation of Serbian and French painters who have revived the figural style of painting.

Nemanja Cabric

BIRN Belgrade

A poster for the exhibition

Three Belgrade exhibitions, showing works by 16 young contemporary artists aims to strengthen artistic ties between Serbia and France, and promote a new concept of “Under Realism” to Belgrade audience.

The main exhibition was opened on Monday at the gallery Progres in Knez Mihajlova, in an informal atmosphere and without traditional opening speech, allowing visitors to form an instant connection with the paintings.

Alongside the main exhibition at ‘Progres’, which is open until July 5, two more events are planned.

On Tuesday, six artists whose works are exhibited at ‘Progres’ will hold a performance called “Speed Painting” in the atelier of Kosta Kulundzic, near Belgrade's port, in the building of Srbijatekstil.

In only two hours, these artists will paint canvases 2 meters long and 1, 5 meters high.

“We have only two hours to perform some kind of stylistic competition, so we can see how much of ourselves we can give in this short time,” says Vuk Velickovic, the artistic director of the Serbian Cultural Centre in Paris.

The third event will take place on Wednesday at the “Krug” nightclub where the drawings made by the same artists will be exhibited.

Velickovic says that the original plan was that only 10 artists would take part, but more of them joined when they heard about the project.

The French Connection

All the painters represented are living and working in Paris. The exhibition includes works of artist of Serbian origin: Velickovic brothers (Vuk Vidor and Marko Velk), Stefan Pankreas, Kosta Kulundzic, Mihael Milunovic and Djordje Ozbolt.

The French artists are represented by Michael Gouery, Oda Jaune, Youcef Korichi, Axel Pahlavi, Simon Pasieka, Nazanin Pouyandeh, Leopold Rabus, Till Rabus, Raphaelle Ricol and Jerome Zonder.

“We started with the idea to bring five Serbian and five French artists… Our intention was to open ourselves to French audience and bring them closer to us, and to enter their artistic scene in Paris,” said Velickovic.

He added that now there are plans to expand the exhibition to include 20 artists and to show it in Luxembourg, Monaco, Switzerland and New York.

When asked to explain what is “under realism”, Velickovic said that the name came up spontaneously during the preparations for the exhibition at the Serbian Cultural Centre in Paris in March.

“I named the Paris exhibition so because of the various “isms” in the history of painting,” he explained, adding “We see ourselves as an artistic underground movement.”

The exhibition is organized by the Belgrade Port and the French association “Mosaic”, dedicated to connecting young Serbian professionals in Paris.

“Our goal is to work on the image of Serbia in France, in artistic, as well as in other ways, ” says Natasa Lazarevic, vice president of ‘Mosaic’.