Artists Are the Best Ambassadors

With his exhibition at King Nikola’s Palace, as part of the winter programme of the Bar Chronicle Festival, the painter Aldemar Ibrahimović brought to a close, in the finest possible way, a year in which he had been highly present on the Montenegrin art scene. Before Bar, he had exhibited in Rožaje, Bijelo Polje, Podgorica, and Herceg Novi. In a conversation with “Vijesti, which began with the observation that this was, in fact, more than the previous year, when he had marked thirty years of creative work, Ibrahimović said that we often speak of coincidence “although there is almost nothing accidental. “I had planned the previous year as an anniversary marking the completion of the Academy, but in 2017, all the exhibitions came about by invitation. Perhaps the time has come for others to invite me — for me to show, here in my own country as well, what I do, what I think about, what I live with…

“The definition of contemporary painting and art is that it is a subjective representation of objective reality, a transformation of everything that constitutes our surroundings into something that is pictorial expression. In my own case specifically, it is a fragmentation of life experiences and settings from birth to the present day. I am provoked by the destruction of architecture in our region, which has reached alarming proportions. Through my colour palette and pictorial expression, I try to give form to what I am thinking about within the formats of rectangles and squares, in a palette that should perhaps change. It simply draws me to keep working the way I do says Ibrahimović.

When asked by “Vijesti whether the people and cities in his paintings are imaginary or have their own names, the artist replied that they belong to the world that surrounds him, a world he has “simply experienced.

Thanks to his work, he was fortunate enough to travel extensively, particularly “in those times of conflict when visas were necessary; that was how I recharged my batteries, so that I could persevere, work, and believe in what I do.

“On these journeys, images of cities take shape, and they contain, above all, what I come from — my childhood, what I remember, the streets and alleyways of Rožaje, which, had the advice of the renowned architect from the former Yugoslavia, Jovan Krunić, been heeded, would have been placed under UNESCO protection, at least one street in Rožaje… But that is the past. In my paintings, there are also moments, details, and colours reminiscent of the Mediterranean, manifested through the palette of Mediterranean light. This certainly came subconsciously, because I spent a long time in Greece, Turkey, and Croatia; and I believe that Rožaje, too, is Mediterranean, for we are a peninsula deep in the south of Europe, Ibrahimović pointed out.

For quite some time, the artist has not departed from his figuration, his tonal values, or his thematic concerns. Asked how important continuity is to him as an artist, whether he is considering a shift in discourse, or whether he has not yet said everything he wishes to say in this phase of work, Ibrahimović recalled the words of his professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo, Radoslav Tadić: one should not take breaks in one’s work, “for if we do, we will not be at the level at which the break began.

“One has to work continuously, as in any other profession. I went through a period in which I painted only urban landscapes — rooftops — because figures seemed superfluous to me; I was afraid to include them. Over time, however, the figure appeared, bringing dynamism and movement to the composition itself. I notice that there are fewer and fewer people in these urban spaces of ours. In the street where I live, my son practically has no one to play with — there are no children — and I am glad whenever I see people; and if urban spaces are without people, then what are they for?, says Ibrahimović.

Commenting on his observation that artists are the best ambassadors because their works endure, he noted that few people other than historians would know who was in power in the Netherlands when Van Gogh was creating his works.

“I was fortunate enough to visit the famous Salon d’Automne in Paris on its centenary — to walk through its enormous pavilions, where I had expected quality to be the primary criterion, but where quantity nevertheless prevailed. At the time, I concluded — subjectively, perhaps — that the section featuring our artists was among the best. That was in 2005. When, upon my return, I said so here, everyone claimed that I was biased since I came from that milieu. Yet the very next year, and later as well, Miodrag Šćepanović won the Grand Prix of that Salon. Therefore, in the field of art, Montenegro has capacity, added Ibrahimović, who, in 2018, wished above all for a little respite, “for all of this to be sublimated, and perhaps for a new cut to be made.

Radomir Petrić Vijesti, 17. december 2017.