{"id":28987,"date":"2026-04-28T09:19:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T07:19:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jagodina.museum\/exhibitions\/ilija-ika-vukicevic\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T09:25:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T07:25:28","slug":"ilija-ika-vukicevic","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jagodina.museum\/en\/exhibitions\/ilija-ika-vukicevic\/","title":{"rendered":"Ilija Ika Vuki\u0107evi\u0107: in the world of silence and small creatures"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Gallery of the Regional Museum Jagodina\n<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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EXHIBITION DURATION: April 25 \u2013 May 5, 2025<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Author of the exhibition:\u00a0Jasmina Trajkov<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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BIOGRAPHY\n<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Ilija Vuki\u0107evi\u0107 was born in Jagodina in 1934. He came from a distinguished Vuki\u0107evi\u0107 family. His grandfather, also named Ilija Vuki\u0107evi\u0107, was a priest \u2014 the parish priest of Ribare village from 1892. His father, Branko, was a judge, and his uncle, Du\u0161an, a history professor and the first director of the Regional Museum of Jagodina.<\/p>

After completing elementary and high school, Ilija studied General History and Archaeology at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade. He worked as a volunteer at the National Museum in Belgrade and as a part-time illustrator both there and at the Archaeological Institute of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. He was also employed as a permanent part-time laboratory assistant at the Zoological Department of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics in Belgrade. These engagements later had a great influence on the formation of his artistic expression.<\/p>

From 1963 to 1974, he worked at the Regional Museum in Jagodina as a preparator and documentalist in the Archaeological Department, but he also assisted in educational programs and photographic documentation. He was a man of broad interests \u2014 fascinated by archaeology, history, and art. He was an avid mountaineer, collected over 500 specimens of spiders, and even tagged bats in the Ravanica Cave.<\/p>

He began painting as an amateur in the early 1950s, when he also exhibited for the first time. He learned from Vojkan Veli\u010dkovi\u0107 and Ljubodrag Jankovi\u0107 Jale. A decade later, he held his first solo exhibition. He was a prolific creator, exhibiting his works at group and solo exhibitions throughout Serbia until 1985. He passed away after an illness on St. Nicholas Day, December 19, 1992, and was buried in the cemetery in Jagodina.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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FROM THE OPENING\n<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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EXHIBITION CATALOG\n<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The art scene of Jagodina in the second half of the 20th century developed in two directions: the realist, led by Vojkan Veli\u010dkovi\u0107, and the surrealist, strongly influenced by the Belgrade group Mediala. In the early 1960s, the latter experienced a true flourish, provoking great public interest. The founder of Jagodina\u2019s surrealist movement was Mihajlo Stefanovi\u0107, followed by Vojslav Jaki\u0107, Aleksandar Uro\u0161evi\u0107 Matra, and Ilija Ika Vuki\u0107evi\u0107, who would become one of its central figures.<\/p>

Vuki\u0107evi\u0107, educated in Belgrade during the formation of Mediala, returned to his hometown when surrealism was already taking root among local artists. His painting, infused with his knowledge of natural sciences and speleology, can be divided into two phases. In the first, during the 1960s, he drew inspiration from the microscopic world and natural forms. He painted caves, underwater landscapes, and the \u201cworld of silence\u201d devoid of human presence. In these works, his imaginary landscapes filled with strange organic shapes emerged.<\/p>

At the beginning of the 1970s, a second phase began, marked by the themes of macrocosm and microcosm. In the era of major space explorations, Ika created visions of barren planets and primordial landscapes, reflecting on the origins of life and humanity\u2019s desire to understand the infinite. His paintings, according to critics, represent a \u201cmelancholic stage\u201d – landscapes of silence, solitude, and eternity. Vuki\u0107evi\u0107 also saw the world of microorganisms as an equal universe – a \u201csecond world of silence,\u201d full of beauty and harmony.<\/p>

Color was the primary means of expression in his works: \u201cA painting, for me, is just a little color skillfully arranged.\u201d He painted at night, accompanied by classical music, without sketches, guided by intuition and rhythm. He believed a painting was complete when it was \u201cunfinished,\u201d leaving room for the viewer\u2019s imagination.<\/p>

With his own hands, he built an atelier in the yard of his family home. This studio, according to his contemporaries, was \u201cthe first, last, and only artistic salon in Jagodina\u201d and \u201ca gathering place of the town\u2019s creative spirit.\u201d From this atelier emerged many future artists.<\/p>

Through his prolific oeuvre and distinctive artistic language, Ilija Vuki\u0107evi\u0107 secured an important place on Jagodina\u2019s art scene. With his dedication and creative energy, he sought to revive and enrich the cultural life of his hometown. His works today are held by the Regional Museum of Jagodina as well as in private collections worldwide.<\/p>

Forty years had passed since his works were last exhibited publicly, and several initiatives to publish a monograph about his art had not been realized. This exhibition, featuring works from the Museum\u2019s collection and private owners, revived the memory of a colleague, artist, tireless advocate for culture, and above all a good man.<\/p>

Although it was planned to last for a month, the exhibition was interrupted a week after opening at the request of the Assembly of the City of Jagodina. Since it coincided with the May Day holidays, it remained open for only five working days. The Museum\u2019s gallery space was then given to the Historical Archive of Jagodina for an exhibition on the liberation of the city in World War II, organized to welcome delegations from Russia and Kazakhstan.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Exhibition setting\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Gallery of the Regional Museum Jagodina EXHIBITION DURATION: April 25 \u2013 May 5, 2025 Author of the exhibition:\u00a0Jasmina Trajkov BIOGRAPHY Ilija Vuki\u0107evi\u0107 was born in Jagodina in 1934. He came from a distinguished Vuki\u0107evi\u0107 family. His grandfather, also named Ilija Vuki\u0107evi\u0107, was a priest \u2014…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26371,"parent":6377,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-28987","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jagodina.museum\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jagodina.museum\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jagodina.museum\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jagodina.museum\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jagodina.museum\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28987"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/jagodina.museum\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28991,"href":"https:\/\/jagodina.museum\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28987\/revisions\/28991"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jagodina.museum\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6377"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jagodina.museum\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jagodina.museum\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}