The new media hegemony, along with global reception, has increasingly become a source of new iconography in painting and graphic art, creating new motifs and methods of (re)presentation. Painting has thus distanced itself from tranquil art— from synchronized humanism and philanthropy, from precision, from a reality that once blended ideal dreams and perceptions of the possible. Contemporary (or pseudo-contemporary) painting is now edging closer to the visions of medieval prophets such as Bosch and Bruegel, with their ominous foretellings of futures shadowed by miracles, monsters, conflicts, and events beyond the bounds of possibility. The question remains open: where do the borders lie between the real and the imagined, the transcendental and the future, the unfathomable and the long-foretold? When speaking of a painter, his legacy and artistic output, the works that legitimize him—in this case, the young artist Miloš Milićević—it is only natural to examine his technique (or technology), themes, and inspirations. This is especially relevant in our era, where many values have been replaced or have simply vanished, lost. Fortunately, our painter has not locked himself within a personal mental cocoon from which his artistic existence could only be inferred. In a concise yet revealing artist statement, he opens up, exposing personal dreamscapes dominated by conflict: "the conflict between the living and the inanimate, the human and the machine, the human being and itself—a battle with the chains into which we are born in this age." And yet, beyond this verbal expression, is there perhaps some other forgotten or repressed meaning hidden beneath the surface, the interpretation of which might reveal a disturbing, concealed trace? When observing the works that define Milićević’s profile, one thing is beyond doubt: he belongs to that generation of young artists who have carved their own path through the broken fences of classical art—fences that, for decades or perhaps even centuries, have restrained modern creation. The cycles Devouring, Crossings, and other works by Miloš Milićević represent unique and endless syntheses of visual symbolism. The symbolism of Devouring is perhaps the most pronounced—both visually and thematically. Milićević’s symbols unite the conscious and the unconscious, the past and the future, the rational and the transcendental. Starting from the depiction of teeth on paired or fused figures, he emphasizes their extremity, which serves as a paradigm for devouring. He lends particular weight to additional accents that emphasize the symbolism of the universe or the infinity of time, as he complements the figures with braided wire shaped into wheels, circles, or square rectangles. Symbol implies a sign, an emblem, a story in images. Symbolism highlights the expressiveness of external things that have internal and often hidden meanings—or, more precisely, allegorical and enigmatic meanings—that frequently dominate modern painting techniques. Numerous accents, such as spilled paint, pointillist color forms, figures merged into irregular rectangular shapes, and metal and braided wire rendered in Milićević’s elusive symbolism, hint at an unresolved inner trace—one that is not stated and not to be discussed. Latent conflicts are evident in the Crossings cycle, regardless of visual consistency (or inconsistency) in the depiction of the clashing elements. These conflicts are often interwoven—visually represented by intersecting bird beaks or caught in a depressive struggle aimed at the destruction of the other. We perceive conflict in elements of living beings entwined with traces of metal or machine parts. Again, these are terrifying cries torn from living creatures, who, in their mutual destruction, care least about each other. Milićević’s world is detached from any form of control and blindly rushes toward destruction. “If we allow ourselves to be seduced by the image, we may miss the essence—and that whirlwind of energy is deposited in the figures and their irritability.” In Milićević’s painting, the depicted violence, conflict, and signs of destruction are a kind of explosive condensation. His search for layered symbolism—hinted at and sensed in every panel or graphic—is his personal drama, likely a way of fulfilling his own individuality. It is known that the Latin word Obscenus has been interpreted in various ways, often according to one’s vocation or need. It generally denotes an omen—more precisely, a bad omen—something dreadful that inevitably comes... That connotation is often misunderstood, except by interpreters of the metaphysical or ritualistic, who linger on it at length. “It is a bad omen when something emerges from the night, for it may be the realm of the dead, or a terrible place where light dies. But the ultimate bad omen would be if, one day, the sun were to rise in the west…” Can we classify Milićević’s painting as obscenous art—more precisely, art of ill omen? Disregarding aesthetic conventions, perhaps a more effective definition would be that it is a direct projection of disturbing absurdity—perhaps a conspiracy of the unconscious. Ultimately, however, one thing is certain: the works of Miloš Milićević represent authentic painting.

Dragiša Milosavljević

Photographs by Srdjan Jankovic