Apoteoza studeničkom predelu

Grafička dela na ovoj izložbi u celosti nose uobičajeno obeležje ekskluzivne prepoznatljivosti ekspresivnog autorskog rukopisa, koji bez kolebanja, poput pečata sa heraldičkim znakom vlasnika, daje na znanje da to može biti samo Biljana Vuković. I koji neće dozvoliti zamenu sa bilo čijim ostvarenjem na čitavoj planeti.
Ovo obeležje podržava pasionirana odanost temi pejzaža, posebno onom jedinstvenom, oko manastira Studenica. Pogled ljubavi i neugasivog istraživačkog žara, Biljana, slikar-pešak a letač u ontološkoj suštini, veoma često upućuje na planinsku čistinu, zvanu Savine livade, sa još veće visine - iz Savine isposnice. U zavisnosti od doba godine žuta ili zelena, trbušasta oblina ovih livada samo je deo impozantnog tela nesaznatljive veličine, makar koliko pogled odatle sezao u daljinu. Segmenti ovog divovskog tela, njegovi pojedinačni pregibi, obla ispupčenja ili oštra uzvišenja, njegova jarko osvetljena mesta ili duboke senke koje kriju još nedokučene tajne, drveće i stogovi sena koji izniču iz njegove kože, kao iz kože ukletog kita iz ruske bajke o Konjiću Grbonjiću - svi ti delovi se protežu od otiska do otiska, čineći celinu, poput niza poglavlja kakvog junačkog epa.
Postupak oživljavanja predela i buđenja zaspalog diva, već decenijama započinje neposrednim radom in situ, hitrim crtačkim potezima, koji očituju nesvakidašnji energetski potencijal. Potom, on prolazi kroz složenost stvaralačkih procesa grafičkog postupka, u ateljerskim invokacijama, trpeći snažan uticaj Biljanine duševne metamorfoze. Pred našim očima je finalni ishod – grafički otisak, koji nikad nije tek putna beleška motiva. Slici se, kao i obično, ne može osporiti portretska istinitost odabranog kadra. Suštinom, ona je pre sinteza grafikona ličnog stanja umetnice i ishoda njenog pigmalionskog napora u pomeranju «brda i dolina», i oblikovanju vlastite planete, čiji se izgled samo nominalno oslanja na ono što poznajemo kao studenički predeo. 
Ono što ovde uočavamo, jeste novi izgled Biljaninih grafika, delo potresne vibrantnosti, ispunjeno masama kojima je život udahnut uobičajeno širokim potezima s jednog kraja oblika do drugog, ali pojačanim bojama, čiji gromoglasni, zaglušujući ton inicira posebno dramatičnu melodiku, aludirajući na vrisak koji se otima iz kaveza dobro čuvane intime. Ovo nije slučajnost, već potreba ili namera da se učini dubinski zahvat u vlastitu podsvest, čak i iza nje, u onaj deo nesvesnog, čiji su koreni najtešnje vezani za mitsko nasleđe. Biljani se ovo ne dešava prvi put, podsetimo na seriju snova o letenju iznad grada Maču Pikču (lokalitet ne može biti slučajan izbor, makar učinjen nesvesno, jer prevod koji glasi «Izgubljeni grad Inka» direktno aludira na traganje), kada se deceniju unazad našla u telu orla - oštrovidog visokoletača. Očito, ona nikad i nije napuštala ovo telo, o čemu svedoče sve njene vizure iz ptičje perspektive.
Davno začeta klica u potresu buđenja mitskog, gde pejzaž personificira bezimene divove, baš sada očigledno doživljava povoljnu klimu ličnog trenutka. Zamahom poteza, zvonjavom boja i čarolijom svetlosnih efekata, izvajan je kosmički amfiteatar, gde se u sudbinskom zagrljaju prepliću divovska telesa, a «k'o u tmini pojanje» - svetlucaju nedužni lampioni krošnji obasjanih poslednjim pozdravom sunca pri zalasku. Nežnost svetlosnih prosjaja, u gradaciji do bele, unosi neophodnu lirsku notu radi očuvanja ravnoteže sila. Podržavaju ih bele partije u prostoru predela, namerno ostavljene bez boje. Po Biljani, ta mesta ukazuju na tajnu. Jer, prema orijentalnom umetničkom kodu, belo nije praznina, a mi bismo dodali: ono je tajanstveno ogledalo još uvek neupoznate sudbine. Ako traganju uopšte ima kraja, sva je verovatnoća da će se naći u ovim simboličnim oznakama ponora proširenja svesti.

Vesna Todorović, marta 2007.

ENGLISH VERSION

An Apotheosis of the Studenica Landscape

All the prints in this exhibition are distinguished by the supremely recognizable expressiveness of the artist’s hand, which, like a seal with the owner’s heraldic device, unequivocally proclaims that their author can be no other than Biljana Vuković, and which does not allow them to be mistaken for the work of any other artist in the world.
Another of their distinctive features is a passionate commitment to landscape as subject-matter, particularly the unique scenery around the Studenica monastery. The artist Biljana Vuković, who is a great walker and yet in ontological essence a flyer, repeatedly directs her gaze full of love and unquenchable exploratory ardor towards the mountain glade of Savine Livade from the elevated vantage point of Savina Isposnica. Yellow or green depending on the time of year, the rotund curves of the meadows are only a part of a vast body of immeasurable size, which stretches into the distance as far as the eye can see. Segments of this immense body, its individual folds, its bulges or sharp elevations, the brightly lit areas or deep shadows hiding still unfathomed secrets, the trees and haystacks sprouting from its skin, as if from the skin of the Monster Whale in the Russian tale The Little Humpbacked Horse – all these carry over from print to print, constituting a whole, like a series of cantos in an epic poem.
For decades now, Vuković has gone about bringing the landscape to life and awakening the sleeping giant through work in situ, sketching with rapid strokes of remarkable vigor. The complex creative process of printmaking has then been carried on in the artist’s studio, bearing the powerful imprint of Vuković’s spiritual metamorphosis. The final outcome – the print itself – is never merely a traveler’s sketch. Although the image customarily bears an undeniable likeness to the chosen motif, it represents, in essence, a synthesis of the charts of the artist’s state of mind, and the outcome of her Pygmalion-like endeavor to “move mountains“, and shape her own planet, only nominally resembling the Studenica landscape as we know it.
What is evident in this exhibition is a new quality in Vuković’s work. The prints, filled with masses into which the artist has breathed life with her characteristically broad strokes that model a shape from end to end, continue to have a deeply moving vibrancy, yet the colors are now more intense, and their booming, thunderous tones create a particularly dramatic melody, suggestive of a scream escaping from the cage of her well-guarded innermost self. This is no coincidence, but rather an expression of the need to delve deep into one’s subconscious, or even beyond it, into that part of the unconsious whose roots are most closely interwoven with one’s mythical heritage. There is a precedent for this in Vuković’s work, namely, the series of dreams about flying over the city of Machu Picchu (the choice of site is certainly no coincidence, even if made unconsiously, since the translation – “The Lost City of the Incas“ – is a direct allusion to a quest), when, a decade ago, she found herself in the body of that keen-sighted high-flying creature, the eagle. Judging by all the bird’s eye views present in her works, it is a body that she has obviously never left.
The seed sown long ago in the process of awakening the mythical, in which the landscape is a personification of nameless giants, is now evidently sprouting thanks to a favorable personal climate. Vigorous strokes, vibrant colors and magical light effects combine to shape a cosmic amphitheater, where gigantic bodies are entwined in a fateful embrace, while the innocent lanterns of the tree tops, illuminated by the setting sun’s farewell rays, glimmer “like a chant in the dusk“. The gentle highlights, ranging all the way to white, introduce a lyrical note necessary for preserving the balance of forces. In the landscape itself there are larger areas of white, which have deliberately been left without color. In Vuković’s own words, these places hint at a mystery, for, according to the code of Oriental art, white is not a blank; it is, we might add, the mysterious mirror of a yet unrevealed destiny. If there is any end to the quest at all, it will most likely be found in these symbolic emblems of the abyss of expanded consciousness.

Vesna Todorović, March 2007