Virtual Gallery of the Regional Museum of Jagodina
“(Ap)perception”
The title of the solo exhibition (Ap)perception, by artist Nađa Milivojević, alludes to the interesting relationship and play of two terms that it contains. The first term (perception) refers to perception as a type of process in which an individual from his environment seeks, selects, adopts, processes and interprets various attractions that affect his senses. The second term (apperception) is related to the next stage, ie. through the process of human cognition and understanding of various objects, phenomena and spaces perceived in previous experience with the help of activated senses and thoughts. How are these two processes correlated? What is the position of the human being who lives and works during the mentioned processes? How does he act, how does he perceive and does he react at all? What happens when a person (ap)perceives the self? Is it possible to visually show or evoke the sensory stimuli and activities that an individual experiences?
These are just some of the questions that the artist opened with her works of art. Examining potential answers and visual solutions related to the mentioned questions, Nađa Milivojević initially provides an insight into a wide range of diverse stimuli from the environment which, represented as structural layers of one dimension, interact with man. The stimuli presented have a distinct texture, which is often coloristically resolved in the works by juxtaposing warm tones of red, orange and pink with cold tones of blue, navy and grey. The artist often fills the surfaces of defined stimuli with multiplied geometric motifs such as circles, rectangles, rhombuses, crosses, etc. The various textures surrounding the “protagonist” figures are additionally emphasized by the combined technique that the author often uses during creation, which, among other things, includes an approach similar to the zgrafito technique. At the same time, the relief of the surfaces and the contrast of smooth, thin and thick layers of paint were achieved. The undefined characters of the painted figures give the impression that it is about the process of a person merging with the stimuli from his environment, or even completely surrendering to them.
Although the figures do not have clearly defined facial features, the artist has precisely painted around the eyes, nose, mouth or ears, i.e. the zones that should mark the sensory organs are “marked” with an identical color that is transmitted through the displayed stimuli. This can be seen in the works Envy, Couple, Perception, Burden, Expectation. In an identical way, the artist implements this idea in the series of portraits called Experiences and Feelings, in which she accentuates the areas of the head around the brain with pink tones, evoking the work of brain cells. The observed leitmotifs in the works of the artist, in a symbolic way, visually portray the essence of (Ap)perception.
The observer, by perceiving the works of the author Nađa Milivojević, which contain a unique narrative of the mentioned processes, but also by observing and considering the entire concept of the (Ap)perceptions exhibition, becomes part of her main narrative. Parallel to the artist’s actors, the observer becomes the protagonist of his own environment, whose stimuli, in this case the work, become, consciously or unconsciously, the main drivers of the (ap)perception process.
Nevena Bogojević,
art historian
CONTACT:
e–mail:
nadja.milivojevic@fpu.bg.ac.rs
nadjamilivojevic1@gmail.com
phone: 065/207-83-53
Instagram: @nadjolinah
Nađa Milivojević was born in Jagodina in 1997. She graduated from the High School of Art in Niš, and in 2019 graduated from the Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade, in the department of applied painting, in the class of professor Nikola Božović and completed her Master of Academic Studies in 2020 at the Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade, at the Department of Applied Painting. She is currently a PhD student at the same faculty, at the Department of Applied Art and Design. Since 2021, she has been working at the Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade as a researcher-intern and a teaching assistant in the Дepartment of Аpplied Painting, within the subject of Painting Techniques.
Nađa Milivojević is a member of ULUS and ULUPUDS. She is a scholarship recipient of the Fund for Young Talents of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Serbia and also the recipient of a scholarship for exceptionally gifted students of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia. She lives and creates in Belgrade.
PRIZES:
- ULUS The Spring Exhibition Award, “Cvijeta Zuzorić” Art pavilion, Belgrade, 2021.
- Prize of the Аrt competition “Black Box” within the Mikser festival, Zornića House, Belgrade, 2021.
- Special prize for the painting of the Youth Art Salon in Novi Pazar, Gallery MMC, Novi Pazar, 2019.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
- “(Ap)perception”, Cultural Center Čukarica, Belgrade, 2022.
- “About views”, Art Center of the University Library “Svetozar Marković”, Belgrade, 2019.
COLLECTIVE EXHIBITIONS (selection):
- “The Transfiguration of Man”, Art salon 30×30, The Museum of Srem, Sremska Mitrovica, 2023.
- Collective exhibition “Art is feminine”, Shopping center “Big Fashion”, Kragujevac, 2023.
- Exhibition of works by newly admitted members of ULUPUDS in 2023, SULUJ Gallery, Belgrade, 2023.
- 17th exhibition of Art salon “30×30”: “Transfiguration of man – Jesus did it, can we do it too?”, Contemporary Art Gallery, Pančevo, 2023.
- 17th Art salon “30×30”, House of Đura Jakšić, Belgrade, 2023.
- Exhibition of preparatory works of the FPU and FILUM stained glass workshop, part of the accompanying program of the exhibition “On the Glass Road: Glass Art and Representation in Serbia (1850-1950)”, Museum of Applied Arts, Belgrade, 2022.
- Sales exhibition of ULUS members “Everyone exhibits”, “Cvijeta Zuzorić” Art Pavilion, Belgrade, 2022.
- 17th Art salon “30×30”, Cultural Center Zrenjanin, 2022.
- Belgrade Mosaic Festival III, Heritage House, Belgrade, 2022.
- Small Format XVI Mosaic, ULUPUDS Small Gallery, Belgrade, 2021.
- Mosaic exhibition “Beauty of tradition”, Felix Romuliana, Zaječar, 2021.
- ULUS Spring Exhibition “Invisible Portrait”, “Cvijeta Zuzorić” Art Pavilion, Belgrade, 2021.
- Miniature V, ULUPUDS Small Gallery, Belgrade, 2020.
- Biennale of Mosaics IX: “Beauty of Tradition”, Gallery SKC, New Belgrade, 2020.
- Small Format Mosaic XIV, ULUPUDS Small Gallery, Belgrade, 2019.
- “Stone in Architecture and Art”, RTS Gallery, Belgrade, 2019.
- Youth Art Salon, MMC Gallery, Novi Pazar, 2019.
- 11th Exhibition of sculptures and mosaics Stone Colony, Belgrade Fair, 2019.
- “Dev9t” Festival, Club of Heavy Industry Fans, Belgrade, 2018.
Participation in international art colonies, workshops and conferences:
- 22nd International Multimedia Art Colony Vuk’s Tršić, Loznica, 2022.
- 21st International Multimedia Art Colony Vuk’s Tršić, Loznica, 2021.
- “Blackbox” art workshop, Mikser festival, Zornića house, Belgrade, 2021.
- “SmartArt – Art and science in application: experience and vision”: Second international scientific conference of the Faculty of Applied Arts, presentation of professional author’s work: Mosaic in Yugoslavia: Review of political propaganda in mosaic achievements after 1945; Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Belgrade, 2021.
- Art workshop of Katarina Hinsberg: “Notes on Approaches”, Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade, 2019.
- International art colony “Sandžak inspiration of artists”, Novi Pazar, 2019.
- International Art Colony “Kumanovo”, Kumanovo, The Republic of North Macedonia, 2019.
- International Art Colony “Đurište”, Sveti Nikole, The Republic of North Macedonia, 2018.
PERFORMED WORKS:
- “Elementum”, in collaboration with Sofija Rakidžić, installation in public space, Zornića House, Belgrade, 2021.
PUBLISHED SCIENTIFIC AND PROFESSIONAL WORKS:
- Milivojević D. Nađa: “Mosaic in Yugoslavia: Review of political propaganda in mosaic achievements after 1945“, Proceedings from the Second International Scientific Conference SmartArt – Art and Science in Application: Experience and Vision, Faculty of Applied Arts, Belgrade, 2022 (ISBN 978- 86-80245-45-4)