"Letters as Endemics" by Marta Pejčić

Marta Pejcic

Letters as endemics

Salon 77, 1 – October 16, 2026

The Gallery of Contemporary Fine Art ends its exhibition season in the Salon 77 gallery in Tvrđava with the exhibition "Letters as Endemics". This exhibition in the field of design, that is, the creation of typographic letters, is part of the doctoral art project of Marta Pejčić, an assistant at the Department of Applied Arts at the Faculty of Arts in Niš. The opening of the exhibition is on Thursday, October 1 at 7 p.m., and the public can visit it until October 15.

At a time when modern interpretations of the Cyrillic alphabet are of particular importance for its representation in use, Marta Pejčić during her doctoral studies created an authentic typographic family with complex structures, which was inspired by our endemic plants Natalija's Ramonda and Pančić's Spruce. As stated by her mentor, Ph.D. Ana Prodanović: "The author managed to put her idea into action in a way that exceeds expectations in both an aesthetic and a functional sense. Aesthetically, the letters reflect models in plant forms, but not in an illustrative way, but through their skillful design, they were achieved to be in agreement with the essence and nature of those forms. When observing each of the signs, you can enjoy the way in which its shape is defined, while this beauty does not disturb the harmony of the whole when using the letter to design the title. It is special interesting that the letter looks contemporary, but also evokes the traditional use of plant ornamentation in the design of the initials and the illumination of the manuscript. The noticeable sensibility of the female hand gives this work a special warmth and promotes the importance of the contribution of women in the field of letter design."

Marta Pejčić (Niš, 1999) graduated and completed her master's degree in graphic design at the Faculty of Arts in Niš. He is currently in doctoral studies at the Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade, on the Applied Arts and Design program. She is the recipient of a double scholarship from the Fund for Young Talents of the Republic of Serbia and several faculty awards for exceptional artistic results and contribution to graphic design. He has been working at the Faculty of Arts in Niš since 2023, as a teaching associate for the narrower artistic field ─ Lettering, Lettering and Typography, and then as an assistant since 2024.

She participated in over 40 group exhibitions in the country, USA, Poland, South Korea, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is the author of several typefaces, some of which were used in the design of logos for local entrepreneurs. She won an award for a typographical poster at the OITA Awards in South Korea (2023) and a commendation at the Third International Competition for the most beautiful Cyrillic handwriting and calligraphic work in Nevesinje (2026).

by Nebojsa

STRACHIL PETROVSKI

SALON 77

*The Architecture of the Invisible*, along with the *Traces* and *Invisible Graphs* series by visual and multimedia artist Strahil Petrovski, represents a key segment of his artistic practice—one rooted in post-conceptual inquiry and *Art Informel*.

Petrovski explores themes of memory, the passage of time, existentialism, and personal and collective identity.

Within the context of Petrovski’s body of work, the concept of "invisible graphs"—framed through the poetics of *Art Informel*—marks a natural evolution of his previous work involving materials, textures, and abstract networks. He deeply investigates materiality and the archaeology of the surface, where the painting is not merely a depiction but a physical effect. This approach fuses the essence of *Art Informel* with contemporary conceptual concerns—such as the synthesis of *Informel* with the concept of invisible graphs, color, and atmosphere, as well as the aesthetics of archaeology and technology.

He employs dense, tactile base layers—incorporating sand, pigment, bitumen, resin, or industrial materials—to create a rough, tangible structure. The surface appears scorched, eroded, or layered with sediment, lending the painting the character of a wall, a rock face, or a record unearthed from time itself. The term "graphs" refers to lines, networks, cartographic diagrams, or visual records of the digital and emotional code of modern man. He does not draw these matrices and networks in the classical sense; instead, he incises, imprints, or conceals them beneath layers of matter (an *art informel* mass). They remain invisible because they are not visually aggressive; they exist as fissures, furrows, imprints, or subtle geometric reactions within the very fabric of the image.

He combines a profound knowledge of material technology—gained through his work in conservation and restoration—with contemporary artistic currents; consequently, his works convey the impression of having undergone processes of aging, corrosion, and decay.

Through the tactile layering characteristic of *art informel*, a monochrome palette, and the transformation of texture and words into physical objects, Petrovski has developed a distinctive aesthetic language in which matter itself serves as a witness to time.

By merging tradition with contemporary media—ranging from object-paintings to video installations—his work offers more than just a visual experience; it invites the viewer to engage in deep introspection and to re-examine issues of social and personal responsibility.

Strahil Petrovski has established himself as one of the most consistent and authentic representatives of contemporary post-conceptual art in the Balkans. His body of work functions as a visual and sensory manifesto on human existence in contemporary society.

Strahil Petrovski was born in 1974 in Kumanovo. He graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Skopje, where he also completed his postgraduate studies. He is employed at the National Conservation Center in Skopje as a senior conservator-restorer and is active on the art scene as a painter and visual artist. His work encompasses a wide range of media—from traditional painting and drawing to conceptual performance art, video installation, and photography.

He has received numerous prestigious awards and international accolades for his artistic work. He is a member of the Association of Fine Artists of Macedonia and boasts an extensive artistic career, featuring dozens of solo exhibitions and a hundred group exhibitions both at home and abroad.

Strahil Petrovski’s exhibition will run from September 10 to September 30, 2026.

by Nebojsa

Lena Jovanović ''Convergences of Stars''

Lena Jovanović
Star Convergence

August 25 - September 6, 2026

The opening of the ambient exhibition Star Convergence, by artist Lena Jovanović, is on Tuesday, August 25, at 6:30 p.m. The opening hours deviate from the usual summer practice in the exhibition spaces of the Gallery of Contemporary Art because daylight is of great formal importance for the current exhibition in Salon 77.

Specially conceived for the space of the former Bali Bey Mosque, the ambience of Star Convergence is based on the relationship of continuity between the interior and exterior space, on the light that comes in and the architecture that accepts it. According to Lena Jovanović, “This project is conceived as a subtle artistic gesture that does not aim to fill the space, but rather activates it – with attention, light, silence. ... I am interested in how art can influence the way we inhabit space – not as an object to be viewed, but as a structure that slows down, opens up and invites us to experience reality differently. As a silent but constant presence, this work addresses the viewer not through spectacle, but through a state of attention – as an invitation to listen to the space, its layers and shadows.”

Lena Jovanović (Zaječar, 1986) received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sculpture from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade. She will enroll in doctoral studies at the same faculty in 2023, with the topic “Marginal Fields: An Experiment in Intermedia Artistic Research”.

She has also held six solo exhibitions and participated in over 40 collective exhibitions in the country and abroad. She has participated in the work of several art colonies and workshops. She is the winner of several awards, the most significant of which is the Golden Chisel, 2024.

She exhibited at the 7th Niš Salon: 12/2 (2022) at the Officers' House and at the final exhibitions of the DMV Art Colony (2025, 2026). Her works are represented in the DMV Art Collection.

She is a member of ULUS (2023), with the status of an independent artist (2025). She serves as the president of the sculpture section of the association. She lives and works in Belgrade.

by Nebojsa

Magdalena Pavlović Ostojić

"The Balkans as an Ontological Space of Transformation" by Belgrade-based artist Magdalena Pavlović Ostojić.

The exhibition is an immersive, multimedia installation.

Magdalena Pavlović Ostojić was born in Belgrade in 1989. She completed her undergraduate and master’s studies in the Sculpture Department at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade, under the mentorship of Professor Dušan Petrović. She obtained her PhD from the same faculty in 2019. Since 2017, she has been employed at the Faculty of Arts in Novi Sad, where she has held the rank of Associate Professor since 2022. She has held 13 solo exhibitions (in Belgrade, Golubac, Užice, Podgorica, and Novi Sad) and participated in numerous group exhibitions both at home and abroad (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Montenegro). She is a recipient of the Savski Venac Municipality Award for metal sculpture (2012, 2013, 2014). She has previously exhibited in Niš as part of the "Young" exhibition organized by the Niš Art Foundation (2017). In her latest body of work, addressing the values ​​that fundamentally define us, Magdalena Pavlović Ostojić purposefully takes the Balkans as her starting point—not approaching the region through geopolitical, ethnographic, or historical lenses, but rather perceiving and interpreting it as an ontological space of constant flux that endures through its capacity for transformation, where new forms of life continually emerge from accumulated memories and a blend of positive and negative experiences. Guided by a personal intellectual and philosophical approach, the artist creates works characterized by an essentially abstract sculptural vocabulary—minimalist in style yet charged with existential resonance. Magdalena Pavlović Ostojić consciously avoids recognizable, pre-existing symbols; instead, she crafts her own forms that suggest movement and aspire toward the vertical, feeling familiar to us even though they lie outside our realm of lived experience. Observing them, we seem to sense a coexistence of the momentary and the eternal, of space and time, the real and the mythical, the material and the immaterial.

Magdalena Pavlović Ostojić’s works engage in a unique dialogue with the exhibition venue—Salon 77 in Niš, a former mosque—thereby contextualizing the relationship between a specific space steeped in layered history and the artist’s subjective process of conceptualizing and shaping form. As the artist herself states: "Through a synthesis of the Niš region as a historical crossroads, architecture as a testament to permanence, and metal as a medium of testimony, these sculptures become messengers within their given setting. They neither belong to the past nor imitate tradition; instead, they offer a contemporary, stripped-down perspective on a region that embodies the various manifestations of transition."

Metal is the primary sculptural material for Magdalena Pavlović Ostojić. She re-examines its qualities—such as solidity, indestructibility, and resilience—through constant experimentation and the exploration of formal and semantic possibilities, treating manual fabrication processes (welding, cutting, forging) as an extension of primordial existence. In the exhibition catalog's foreword, art historian Jelena Simić writes: "The 'Balkans – A Place of Transformation' cycle represents a significant contribution to contemporary Serbian sculpture precisely because it treats the material not as a passive foundation for the artwork, but as an active principle of thought and shaping. In Dr. Magdalena Pavlović Ostojić’s forms—minimalist yet powerfully present—metal becomes a bearer of traces, resistance, and time; its abstraction is not a departure from reality, but a way to perceive reality in its deeper structure."

The exhibition runs until July 20.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpqbrsN232w

by Nebojsa

ENERGY VERTICALS

ENERGY VERTICALS

Archive of Line Correlations

Zorica Milisavljevic and Selman Trtovac

Salon 77

In 1981, in a conversation with Klaus Rinke at the Stuttgart Kunsthalle, Joseph Beuys expressed the idea that there is an element of drawing in every person’s life, regardless of profession, experience or artistic education. At the heart of the work of the authors of this exhibition, Zorica Milisavljevic and Selman Trtovac, is the view that the art of drawing transcends the framework of craft skills and classical visual performance. Following and deepening the thought of Joseph Beuys, they follow the idea that the act of drawing a line is a universal, human action, a fundamental impulse that belongs to everyone.

Starting from this premise, the authors consciously reject virtuosity, technique and learned control. Instead, they turn to traces that emerge from a shared, collective consciousness, that segment of human nature that, through basic gestures and movements, runs through the entire history of culture. In this sense, they include other people in the universal, shared process of drawing, thus overcoming the exclusivity of personal expression.

As part of the exhibition at the Gallery of Contemporary Art in Niš, the drawing process takes place performatively and ritualistically. Through a fifteen-minute action of concentrated drawing of vertical lines, together with participants of different generations, professions, genders and physical constitutions, the authors discover an ancient element of human consciousness that has been materialized into culture and civilization throughout history.

Participants are invited to immerse themselves in a state of meditative presence for fifteen minutes. During this time, they perform a series of continuous, simple strokes that function as energetic verticals: imaginary channels that connect up and down, sky and earth, conscious and unconscious. Each line becomes a short-term record of life force, a moment when the thought process passes into physical vibration. The resulting drawing is not a representation but a trace of the very essence of life.

There is no failed outcome in this approach. Each resulting drawing is a visual consequence of a short-term drawing process, and together they form an Archive of linear correlations through a long-term process of collective drawing.

At the opening of the exhibition, the artists placed large-format papers, approximately the dimensions of the human body, on the gallery wall, creating an anthropological framework for the act of drawing. At the bottom of the gallery, two screens are installed on which the previously started process continues, a kind of visual instruction, but also an open invitation to visitors to access their own inner rhythm and join in drawing together.

Zorica Milisavljević

Born in 1967 in Sremska Mitrovica, SFR Yugoslavia.

She studied at the Kunsthochschule Weissensee in Berlin (1987-1989), and graduated from the Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade (1992). She was the conceptual creator, mentor and one of the founders of the self-organized artistic and activist youth collective, Gradska Gerila (2010-2017), as well as the artistic collective Društvo udružene odgovornosti (d.u.o.), founded in 2020. She has exhibited in the country and abroad. She lives and works in Belgrade.

Selman Trtovac

Born in 1970 in Zadar, SFR Yugoslavia.

From 1990 to 1993 he studied painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade. In 1993 he transferred to Klaus Rinke's sculpture class at the Düsseldorf Academy of Arts, where he was declared a master student in 1997. He became a member of the International Art Guild in 2003. Creator and co-founder of the Independent Art Association Third Belgrade and the Research Station for Contemporary Art Perpetuum Mobile. He received his doctorate in 2012 from the Department of Sculpture at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade. He lives and works in Belgrade.

The exhibition ENERGY VERTICALS at Salon 77 is open to the public until June 30.

by Nebojsa

ИЗЛОЖБА РАДОВА НЕВЕНКЕ СТОЈСАВЉЕВИЋ

ИЗЛОЖБА РАДОВА НЕВЕНКЕ СТОЈСАВЉЕВИЋ

Уметнички опус Невенке Стојсављевић истакнуте београдске графичарке и сликарке представља један од најдоследнијих примера истраживања односа између природе, светлости и графичке материје у савременој српској уметности.
Њен графички лист није само прозор ка природи, већ математички промишљена површина. Радови су чврсто утемељени на јасним осама. Хоризонтала обично сугерише мир, док вертикала даје композицији ритам и стабилност. Динамична геометрија је у њеном раду граматика визуелног језика и разума, док је боја емоција. Управо та синтеза чини њено дело јединственим и препознатљивим у савременој српској графици. Стога, радови функционишу као визуелни алгоритми. Линије се преклапају, ломе и укрштају, стварајући утисак непрекидног кретања унутар строго контролисаног система. Критичари је деклеришу као "уметника истраживача" и "уметника окренутог себи", зато је и њена геометрија истовремено егзактна (научна) и дубоко интроспективна. Употреба металик тонова (сребрне у комбинацији са црном и белом) није декоративна. Она служи за хватање реалног светла у простору галерије, чиме графика престаје да буде статична слика и постаје светлосни објекат. Одсуство јарких боја у најновијим циклусима указује на филозофску зрелост – сведеност на суштину, где контраст светла и сенке мења потребу за нарацијом, можемо рећи да постиже хроматску тишину.
Док су њени ранији радови (70-их и 80-их) били "тешки" од урбаних мотива и текстуре бакрописа, најновији радови на папиру теже дематеријализацији. У сериграфијама постигнута је таква прецизност да облици делују као да лебде. Геометрија овде не "затвара" простор, већ га отвара и чини га прозрачним. Фокус је на структуралности: Линија је постала носилац енергије, а не само граница облика. Најновији опус може се дефинисати као "Математичка духовност".

Стога слободно можемо закључити да је Невенка успела у најтежем уметничком подвигу – хуманизовала је геометрију. Њени најновији радови нису хладне конструкције, већ записи о хармонији космоса. Она је београдску графичку школу извела из оквира традиционалног пејзажа у сферу чисте, етеричне апстракције која комуницира са универзалним принципима реда и светлости. Овим радовима она доказује да геометријска строгост не искључује лирску осетљивост; напротив, код Невенке, једно без другог не може постојати. Она остаје бескомпромисни чувар интегритета графичког листа, претварајући га у савремени портик кроз који посматрач улази у простор тишине и апсолутне равнотеже.

Невенка Стојсављевић је завршила Факултет примењених уметности 1977. године, а посдипломске студије 1980. на Факултету Ликовних уметности у Београду. Студијски боравила у Паризу 2009. године. Награђивана је четрнаест пута за свој уметнички рад. До сада је приредила тридесет осам самосталних изложби, а учесница је на преко 300 колективних у земљи и свету (Француска, Норвешка, Шпанија, Немачка, Белгија, Јапан, Словенија, Македонија, Мађарска, Пољска, Хрватска, Чешка, Босна и Херцеговина, Црна Гора …

Учествовала је на многим симпозијумима у земљи и иностранству. Члан је Удружења ликовних уметника Србије од 1978. године. Радила је као професор у Школи за дизај и на Вишој школи ликовних и примењених уметности у Београду. У Нишу је самостално излагала 1991. и 2005. а била је и учесница Ликовне колоније Сићево. Њени радови налазе се у власништву многих музеја, галерија као и у приватним колекцијама.

Изложба ће трајати до 7. јуна 2026. године.

by Nebojsa

Nikola Milanov

Nikola Milanov "Monologue of Emotions"
April 21. - May 10. 2026
Salon 77

Nikola Milanov’s solo exhibition, titled “Monologue of Emotions”, features a series of paintings and drawings that the artist began during his undergraduate studies and further expanded during his Master’s studies  t the Faculty of Arts in Niš. Intrigued by the question of human emotions and the impact of  the environment on their origin and transformation, the artist begins his research by studying personality psychology and re-examining his own being. In a series of portraits and self-portraits, implemented in oil on canvas and mixed media drawing, the artist has turned the emotions of his subjects into various physical expressions to bring us closer to the manner the individuals project their feelings onto the world around them. Fleeting
emotions are immortalized through gestures and distorted facial expressions; thus, expressions of surprise, helplessness, astonishment, and pain, as well as psychological and physical torture, are visible on the depicted faces.

Environmental influences, which are fundamental to creating these reactions, are depicted through red threads attached to the subjects’ eyes and mouths. These threads pull at the features in specific directions, suggesting an invisible force that shapes and controls their expressions. In some instances, the tension is stretched to its limit, prompting the subjects to furrow their brows or tilt their heads in an effort to resist these external pressures. In a number of works, the artist explores the theme of complete constraint, where thicker red lines appear to press firmly against the skin. This completely deprives them of movement, which is why their main means of expression become their eyes and mouth.

Throughout his works, the young artist illustrates how facial expressions serve as a mirror of the individuals′ internal state and the profound impact that society and the environment exert upon them.

Asst. Prof. Andrijana Golac-Čubrilo, PhD

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Nevena Kostić "The Other Face of Silence"

Nevena Kostić

The Other Face of Silence

Salon 77, August 26 - September 21, 2025

An excerpt from a dozen drawings from the landscape cycle by artist Nevena Kostić forms a new exhibition at Salon 77. Predominantly using the technique of charcoal on paper, which she mixes with watercolor, pastel, ink and collage, the artist assumes systems of expressive lines with small colored accents, painted or glazed passages, but most often with inverse drawing with an eraser. The tension of the scene in some works manifests the aesthetic category of sublimity, which is somewhat limited today, while in others, the sequence of plans in depth leads the observer to meditative reflections. One gets the impression that the works in which these two treatments meet are particularly successful because they seem to support the thesis that beyond tense situations lies a world of peace, completely immune in its ignorance.

Nevena Kostić (Kragujevac, 1988) completed her undergraduate and master's studies in mural painting at the Department of Applied Arts of the Faculty of Philology and Arts in Kragujevac, in the class of Professor Zoran Ivanovic. She has participated in the work of numerous domestic and international art colonies. She has exhibited in a large number of collective exhibitions, and has realized seven solo exhibitions. She has won four awards for drawing and mosaic. She has been a member of ULUS since 2015.

The exhibition "The Other Face of Silence" can be visited by the public until September 21 at Salon 77.

by Nebojsa

"Word and/or Image, Ethics and/or Aesthetics" by Irena Vuković

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"Center" by Andrea Moračan

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