Zarko Smiljanic Graphics

,, When I saw the first prints of Zarko Smiljanic, a few years ago, I felt that I walked into another world, world of nature, peacefulness, lights, shadows, loneliness and silence… The world of exquisite aesthetic, highly unlike the one we spend most of our days of this worldly life…

,, There are no figural motifs, no people in Smiljanic’s prints...Only plants, objects, firmament or Pleiades (Seven Sisters star cluster) can be seen. It appears that there is no life at all, however, there is much life in his graphics, there are so many souls - only they have to be discovered there.

,, His graphic sheets are simplified and recognisable. That is a world of silence, emanating from the waving hills and fields of velvety softness, and beyond, a wide sky, grey or midnight blue lies. Seemingly, these are the simple scenes of nature, which consist of two, three wide surfaces, expertly selected and tightly composed in the entirety… Smiljanić has completely immersed himself into his poetic world, indifferent to evanescent, fashionable trends which are quickly fading in the art scene. These landscapes, inhabited by human figures are poetic visions of a distant and pure world, left to the infinite silence of time…

,, Graphic sheets of Zarko Smiljanic have been marked by the lyric, intimate contemplation. Nothing impulsive exists in his prints, but only restrained lyricism and serene, twilight temperament. The unison, sophistication and harmony are the ideological determinants that have permanently defined the graphic opus of the artist… This artist is interested in oneiric, archetypal landscapes of extremely complex range of light and shadow. In these gorgeous and desert landscapes, captured in the moment of dusk or dawn, he explores the mystical constellation between woods and time. The magic and metaphysics of Smiljanic’s scenes lie in the unusual beauty of wood, earth and sky, in their elusiveness, but also in the divine touch.

,, Smiljanić creates his prints with dedication, with infinite patience and precision, in order to perpetuate the expanse unspoiled by human touch and modern civilisation, far away from chaos, noise and hectic pace of modern everyday life. Not only that he brings into life sublimity and beauty of nature, but, in his tendency to present the forms in their tiniest details within his soft moves, he is creating a new world – fragile, thus poetic.

,, Prints performed in extraordinary skills. Smiljanic builds his plate carefully, patiently, in long-term processes, in classic techniques of printmaking, aquatint, vernis-mou, mezzotint. As the old masters had done long ago. In tradition of the noble craft skills. Usually in two plates, where the first plate often boasts mossy, grassy green, rich in structure, whilst the second plate, in its velvet black nuance, defines the scenery, light and shadow…

,, Zarko Smiljanic’s prints simply ask us to listen them and to understand their untouchable tranquility that they have been soaked with, impel us to dream for a while, to escape into untouched world that is around us, the world that we’ve unconsciously abandoned.

,, Through his fine graphic knitting, exceptional sensitivity and tonal shading, Zarko Smiljanic prints out parts of the landscapes… His stroke across the plate is sometimes meticulous, then vibrant, but still steady and accurate. Using the selected tone scale he evokes the poetic-lyrical ambience. Zarko Smiljanic possesses lavish sense for graphic art and specifically he digests the world and nature throughout. Combining various printmaking techniques, he achieves unique composition of subtle solutions and surreal atmospheric fairy-tale.