MIRJANA MIRA MAODUS RETROSPECTIVE EXHIBITION THE LIGHT OF MONPARNASSE OVER NISHAV

Officers’ Dormitory, Tuesday, May 12, 7 p.m.

The SLU Niš Gallery invites you to the grand opening of the retrospective exhibition by Mirjana Mira Maoduš entitled The Light of Montparnasse over Nišava, which will be held on Tuesday, May 12 at 7 p.m. at the Officers’ Dormitory.

Mirjana Mira Maoduš belongs to a group of artists who began their artistic journey by acquiring their first academic knowledge and skills outside the borders of our country, presenting their works mainly abroad, and after five decades of work confirmed by awards and recognitions, she continued to create in her studio in Belgrade, in the area to which she is linked by memories from her childhood and early youth. The author’s rich oeuvre is part of numerous domestic and international gallery, museum and private collections. The retrospective exhibition in Niš, organized by the SLU Gallery and the Cultural Institution Gallery 73 Belgrade, is an opportunity to present the painter’s works created from the late 1960s to the present day to the wider and professional public of this region.

Mira Maoduš was born during World War II in an Italian military camp in the Serbian town of Medak. She completed primary and secondary school in Belgrade, and acquired her first painting skills while studying at the School of Applied Arts in Frankfurt. Acquaintance with the German scene influenced the author’s poetics, which expressed her emotions, inner unrest and socially engaged attitudes through the contrasts of bright colors. Training at the Academy in Venice (Accademia di belle arti) and contact with the Italian school of expressionism gave rise to the works she presented at her first solo exhibition in Verona in 1973. After completing her master’s degree in art history in Milan, Mira Maoduš moved to Paris in search of new experiences, where she continued her studies of painting at the Academy (Ecole National Superieur des Beaux-arts), approaching the Fauvist understanding of art.

Mira Maoduš’s developing artistic path was undoubtedly contributed by the cosmopolitan spirit and life circumstances, which, after studying and working in Italy and France, took her to Moscow, New York and Tokyo. Details from nature, landscapes, faces devoid of individuality and the atmosphere on the streets were the motifs that, as in the very beginning, occupied her attention, until her stay in Japan, a country that cherishes calligraphy as a traditional form of artistic expression, had a decisive influence on her further creativity. By creating her own calligraphy, encouraged by the correspondence between Van Gogh and Gauguin, she began to express her nature, spirit and emotions. At first, she transferred parts of verses by Rimbaud, Cocteau and other French poets to the canvas, and by conceptualizing a layered colored field, based on the experiences of the art of Lettrism, she built abstract compositions rich in visual and meaningful content, giving the picture a relief structure and plastic content.

In the nineties, the world began to look at her people differently. Driven by a patriotic need to right injustice, she began her struggle by sending a message through her art and her works. Without wanting to give her work a political context, she began to express her national pride and love for her country by painting canvases with the words and verses of Jovan Dučić, Đuro Jakšić, Vladislav Petković Dis, Pushkin and Yesenin. Over time, using red, blue and yellow along with black and white, she introduced letters into her works that lead to a sign, syllables that refer to a concept or idea, words from the Serbian or Russian languages, names that direct her to what moves her and what she strives for. Thus was born the Cyrillic cycle, which the artist, in her constant search for the answer to the question Who am I, continues to explore and refine, intending to follow contemporary tendencies and modern influences and express her devotion to her roots and heritage.

The exhibition at the Officers’ House will be open to the public until May 31st.