ZORAN PAVLOVIĆ: RETROSPECTIVE EXHIBITION, OFFICERS’ HOME
On Tuesday, April 7, a retrospective exhibition of Zoran Pavlović (Skopje, 1931-Belgrade, 2006), an artist, historian and art theorist, art critic, essayist, author of television shows and series about art, and university professor, opened at the Officers’ Home.
Zoran Pavlović’s artistic development had several phases stemming from his preoccupation with certain spiritual content and ethical issues, reactions to certain historical events and life situations, and a consistency with abstract artistic expression. By organizing his first solo exhibition in Belgrade in 1959, immediately after graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts in the class of Professor Nedeljko Gvozdenović, Pavlović entered the art scene by presenting himself with works in the spirit of geometric abstraction, placing composition at the center of events and exploring the role of light, which would also be present in his later works. The author’s self-examination and search for his own expression gradually brought him closer to Art Informel, in which he painted a series of works – collages, which were presented at a joint exhibition with Branislav Protić and Vladislav Todorović at the Museum of Applied Arts in 1961, and a year later, an apologetic exhibition entitled Art Informel – Young Belgrade Painters was organized by Professor Lazar Trifunović Trifunović at the Gallery of the Cultural Center Belgrade, where Zoran Pavlović, Branislav Protić, Vladislav Todorović and Živojin Turinski presented their work in the spirit of the new direction, attracting the attention and criticism of the wider and professional public.
The turning point in Zoran Pavlović’s work, according to art critics, is the painting In Praise of Julián Grimo from 1963, dedicated to the executed revolutionary during the Spanish Civil War. Highlighting the subject matter on the black background, which he used in those years, the motif of the crucifixion appeared, to which the artist later often returned. Introducing narrative, symbolic content and figure into a balanced composition, the author entered the post-informal phase of new figuration. With this composition, the artist performed as part of the Yugoslav selection at the Biennale of Youth in Paris in 1963.
The seventies and eighties were marked by large-format works, expressiveness in color, more recognizable forms and more clearly defined figures on a dark background, from which light radiates. In the 1980s and 1990s, Pavlović painted a series of still lifes, only to be later brought back to the theme of the crucifixion by wars, mass suffering, the collapse of the country, anxiety and hopelessness. During this period, inspired by the prevailing atmosphere in society and the artist’s personal feelings, a series of expressionist depictions of chairs resembling barber’s, dentist’s or torture chairs, but recognizable and placed in a realistic space, was created, which would foreshadow a later cycle of Procustica.
The 2000s brought innovations in visual expression. The works of a new character, gradually becoming more intense in color, with a background in a single, pure color resembling a poster, with expressive drawings with elements of pop art, were actually a picture of ironic reality and a mocking understanding of the moment, supported by the use of lettrism and depictions of birds of prey, beasts and kaleidoscopes.
The retrospective exhibition in Niš is an opportunity, two decades after he was no longer with us, to present the half-century development path of this prolific creator, who, with his artistic work and social engagement, significantly contributed to the formation of the Gallery of Contemporary Fine Arts Niš in 1970 and to the improvement of its work. The exhibition presents a selection of works from the private property of the Pavlović family, created in the period from the sixties to the two thousandths.
Of particular value are the paintings from Zoran Pavlović’s early, youthful phase, which have not been presented in retrospective exhibitions until now. They testify to his initial interest in the figure and geometric form, which later, by actively entering the art scene and freeing himself from the influence of educational dogmas, pushed the author into the world of abstraction and informel, only to continue his creative path by researching the field of new figuration, and finally, by allegorically presenting historical events and themes from the history of art, applying non-painting materials in the creation of paintings and objects, completing the cycle of continuous painting work.
During his fruitful and rich career, Zoran Pavlović organized a large number of solo and group exhibitions in the country and abroad. The rich opus of the creator, the subject of study by numerous curators and critics, includes thousands of paintings and drawings, which are part of gallery collections and museum collections throughout the country. His works of applied art adorn public spaces in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Kraljevo and Pirot. Pavlović is a winner of prestigious awards for his work. During his life in Niš, he presented himself three times (1968, 1981, 1988), was a participant in collective exhibitions and two convocations of the Art Colony Sićevo (1964, 1971). The collection of the Gallery of Contemporary Art Niš contains four of his works.
The exhibition will be open to the public until May 5th.