Art is Everything

 

 

"I was always an immigrant, no matter where I went", says Milena Dragicevic, born in what was then Yugoslavia, currently teaching the class Meet the artist, find the image at the  Alte saline Hallein and today holding a lunch talk about her work there. This was a very good position to create art from, she adds. "It's always about a way of surviving, of playing with contradictions, also of uniting them."

 

 

As she shows an overview of her recent and older works, it soon becomes apparent how involved the artist is with her pieces. They all stem from a deep, very individualistic process. For instance, one of her latest series of works, called Supplicants, are born from the photos of friends that she then begins to change and twist as she transforms them onto a canvas. "But", as she says herself "I don't deliberately push for the grotesque, the weird, it just comes to me and actually feels very natural." Asked if this process of transformation is just as natural, she concurs, saying it's actually very hard, albeit in words I, for the sake of correctness, dare not repeat here. She adds, smiling "It's also really amazing, though. The feeling of creating art is incredible. You can't be an artist for a few hours and then put it aside, it's your life." The audience seemed to agree.  mp