Žarko Smiljanić Grafike

,, 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…

,, Grafike Žarka Smiljanića jednostavno traže od nas i da ih oslušnemo i shvatimo nedodirljivu mirnoću kojom su sve natopljene, nagnaju nas da bar malo sanjamo, da pobegnemo u netaknuti svet tu iza i oko nas, svet koga smo se nesvesno odrekli.

,, 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.

,, Smiljanić svoje grafike stvara predano, sa beskonačnom strpljivošću i preciznošću, u želji da ovekoveči prostranstva neiskvarena dodirom čoveka i savremenom civilizacijom, daleko od haosa, buke i užurbanog ritma moderne svakodnevice. On, ne samo da oživljava uzvišenost i lepotu prirode, već svojom sklonošću da oblike predstavi do najsitnijih detalja u mekim prelazima, stvara novi svet – nežan, gotovo poetičan.

,, 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.

,, 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…

,, Lirska intimistička konteplativnost, obeležila je grafičke listove Žarka Smiljanića. Ničeg impulsivnog nema na njegovim grafikama, već samo suzdržane lirike i smirenog, sutonskog temperamenta. Sklad, prefinjenost i harmoničnost, idejne su odrednice koje su trajno obeležile grafički opus ovog grafičara... Ovog umetnika zanimaju onirijski, arhetipski predeli, izuzetno složenog registra svetlosti i senki. Na tim predelima raskošnim ili pustim, uhvaćenim u doba sutona ili praskozorja, on istražuje mističnu konstelaciju izmedju drveta i vremena. Magičnost i metafizičnost Smiljanićevih prizora jeste u neobičnoj lepoti razmera drveta, zemlje i neba, u njihovoj nedokučivosti, ali i božanskom dodiru.