On Thursday, May 9, a solo exhibition of Dr. Bojan Otašević, full professor at the Faculty of Philology and Arts in Kragujevac, was opened in the Pavilion in Tvrđava. The exhibition consists of large-format graphics from the “Waiting Room” cycle, created in the last ten years and realized in the algraphy technique with multiple colored passes.
Bojan Otašević has been developing an authentic oeuvre that is compact in its uniqueness and consistency for more than twenty years. From the very beginning, he opted for the world of figuration, that is, for a traditional genre repertoire that is predominantly based on portraits and human figures. However, Otašević uses the motifs that have been the basis of artistic expression since time immemorial as a means of speaking about the current social moment. His lonely figures with lowered shoulders and averted gaze, most often nudes, are a symbiosis of the state of alienation and confusion of a modern man caught in the labyrinth of existing events, which are such that they inevitably cause existential and emotional concern over one’s own destiny. The artist presents the figure in close-up, often in a sitting position, without movement, but behind that physical staticness hides an eruptive inner energy, a swirl of thoughts and feelings, which Otašević achieves with a skillful combination of artistic elements based on the force of gestures, the light-dark relationship and counterpoint. gorgeous color spectrum. Calling his latest cycle of prints “Waiting Room” from nameless individual portraits and figures, Otašević creates a kind of group portrait of people from the social margins who are waiting for better times and are potential bearers of necessary changes.
Bojan Otašević was born in Kragujevac in 1973. He graduated, master’s and doctorate at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade. He organized fifty independent exhibitions in many cities of Serbia and in Canada, Lithuania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. He is the winner of 23 awards, among which are significant national recognitions for graphics: the ULUS Golden Pin award (2002), the Small Seal (2015) and the Large Seal of the Graphic Collective (2018), as well as awards at international events: the Bronze Pin at the 12th International Biennale “Dry Needle” in Užice, Grand Diploma at the 12th International Biennale of Portraits in Tuzla and Special Recognition for Contribution to Graphics in the World at the Triennial of Graphics in Bitola.
The exhibition will last until May 26