Artist

Vladimir Dunjić (1957)

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Profound sadness

My visits to galleries in Belgrade and other European cities have become fewer and fewer. Even a glance through the window is enough to convince me that the exhibits are demiurgical daubings and if I am not alone, then I invariably make the excuse (feigning sadness) that I am out of touch with contemporary art. It evokes in me memories of the various artists, who in their vanity proclaim, with a misguided sense of their own self-importance, "I painted them all in just three weeks!" Incidentally, why always just three weeks?

I entered the ULUS gallery in Knez Mihailo Street almost by accident, knowing nothing of the exibition being held there. The moment I saw the paintings I realized that intrinsic to these paintings was the whole life of creativity. Nothing is there by accident which is the basic principle for an art form. I was immediately struck by the familiarity of the works evoking in me a profound emotion, as if I were at home. Unvielded before me was the authentic world of colours, metaphors, ambiance, so familiar to my inner world.


Insurmountable loneliness



Art critics, as a rule, when making observations about this artist’s work, generally comment on the composition, colours and links with his artistic predecessors such as Mediala, the Flemish school, Byzantine iconography, Expressionism and Cubism and others; I am no expert but I would add a more Old Masters to this list including Luka Kranach and Paolo Uchelo! Neither am I an Art critic, but Vladimir Dunjić convinced me thro­ugh his paintings that he is very familiar with these Old Masters, so much so, that I had the sensation that I was not in an art gallery but in a museum. A sensation at once dangerous, exquisite and beautiful, for judgement of contemporary art is risky but should the sensation come then it comes as a blessing.

The subjects of Vladimir Dunjić’s paintings are very similar, linked by the impression of insurmountable loneliness, even in intimacy. Their facial expressions depict that they are hostage to their sins; desire, fear, hatred, avarice, misanthropy, faithfulness… Even the eyes of the figures clearly reflect their sinner’s soul and others have grotesque expressions. Interestingly, the artist doesn’t condemn any of his characters, rather an indictment of mankind or perhaps even God. To his figures he only offers his mercifulness and the sorrow he expresses is not soft and tender but paradoxically strong, it’s power drawn from the very morbidity of the painting, a morbidity created through his treatment of light as in prosaic works such as: "Waiting Room", "Factory", "Gardener", "Mayor His Wife Children and Dog"...

Now, let us select one of his paintings as representative of the atmosphere of this world, ultimately our world, seen through the inner eye of Vladimir Dunjić. At the exhibition, the first painting we come upon is called "Red City". Presented as a window, it depicts a woman, dressed in black, cuddling a large white dog. They are both looking at us and in the background we see the outline of a desolate and abandoned town veiled in a gloomy red light, giving the impression that the source of the light is from a fire somewhere near and that the town is damned. In one small window in the distance, amongst the gloom, glimmers a tiny light, a small beacon of hope. The woman cuddling the dog is reminiscent of the final scene from the classic film adaptation of a book by Daphne Du Maurier called Rebecca, when a servant revenges herself upon her master by burning both herself and his mansion.



Psychological and cosmic darkness



The female figure and dog in the painting have a dimension that does not exist in the Film of Rebecca, for the reasons behind the hatred, solitude and vengefulness is left to the observer to decide. Cruelty, evilness and blind trust radiate from this figure, and the presence of the dog as a symbol of faithfulness and demons poses the question, is she is a victim of the cruelties of this World, personified in the town in the background? Notwithstanding the gloomy suspicion that the woman bears more than immortal sin, it induces in the observer a sense of mercifulness towards her. She left the people, but the people left her first.

No explanation is offered with this painting and there is no moral dilemma, therefore only those with hearts of stone would fail to be saddened by this work. The darkness emitting from the woman’s soul, even though it is at the centre of attention, can not be compared to the cosmic darkness which vibrates from not only this painting, but from most of Vladimir Dunjić’s other works too.


Gordana Cirjanic


 




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