NEBOJŠA VUKOVIĆ

ANTI WORLD

28.5. – 8.6.2010.

These are the fruits of my struggle, of descending into the depths of my being. It is a ritual of confrontation with myself, what C.G. Jung described as delving into the dark areas of one's psyche, locating, confronting and meeting your own personal dragon which, ultimately, I try to overpower. According to the basic fairy tale or myth, the road is paved with numerous obstacles and deceits. It is my belief that we cannot truly love or be true to ourselves as long as we avoid the unknown and deny certain parts of ourselves... but if we become aware of the obsessions, we can make the dark demons face the light and disappear. In a similar vein, the journey through the darkest darkness is a dangerous way to travel, but also the safest way to get to know who we are and what we really want - if we make it back alive, that is. Most people give up when they reach the edge, without even looking over it and realizing that there is no edge, after all. Fear of the unknown enslaves us and that is the Anti-world – fear of the world outside and the inner negation of it. In my opinion, reason fights against vitality by explaining and controlling things, instead of understanding them. Eliphas Levi said: "I believe, because that is irrational" – that is my motto as well. I value art according to the irrationality translated into a language suitable to the rational mind. It is a communication tool with the unknown through symbols. The symbolic thought abolishes multiplicity and strives to unite the world. The same principle is applied in my visual understanding of it, with contradictory techniques and expressions that adapt to memories, visions and subconscious impulses. David Cooper's language of madness is one of the most inspiring stimuli for my work, stressing the importance of dreams as the fabric of our collective consciousness, political reality and liberation. Mental health is connected to madness and stands in opposition to normalcy. A sentence that best sums up the point of this endeavour is: "When dealing with madness, there is no better weapon that your own madness."

The most suitable medium for the expression of the madness is collage in a wide range of variations, because it clears boundaries, literally and symbolically. The Anti-world revives images impressed into my subconsciousness that come as a surprise both to myself and to anyone else. It is a chaotic free flow, a sediment of visual materials that have been piling up since childhood, now falling into place like tarot cards, indicating something in a sort of a puzzle. Certain elements were used to illustrate archetypes of the subconscious. Each of these collages is a unique interplay of images, associations and symbols attempting to unite as many layers as possible. It interweaves personal details (childhood drawings and photographs), impersonal details (documents, posters), figurative and abstract elements (wallpaper and x-ray patterns which I came across that elicit memories), elements and situations which I lived through, consciously and subconsciously. It results in an analogue relation between collage and the subconscious because both represent an intertwined dark matter. The more walls we tear down and the deeper we go, the more information it provides.

                                                                                                Nebojša Vuković