Žarko Smiljanić Grafike

,, 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.

,, 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.

,, Kada sam pre dosta godina video prve grafike Žarka Smiljanića, osetio sam da prelazim u jedan drugi svet, svet prirode, spokojstva, svetla, senki, osame i tišine...
Svet naročite estetizovanosti, veoma različit od onoga u kojem provodimo većinu dana svog ovozemaljskog života...

,, Njegovi grafički listovi su jednostavni i prepoznatljivi. To je svijet tišine, koja zrači sa zatalasanih brda i polja baršunaste mekoće, iznad kojih se prostire široko nebo, sivo ili tamno. Naizgled, to su jednostavni prizori iz prirode, koji se sastoje od dvije, tri široke površine, znalački odabrane i čvrsto komponovane u cjeline...
Smiljanić je sav uronio u svoj poetski svet, nezainteresovan za prolazne, pomodne trendove, koji se brzo smenjuju na likovnoj sceni. Ovi predeli, nenaseljeni ljudskom figurom su poetska viđenja jednog davnog i čistog sveta, prepuštenog beskonačnoj tišini vremena...

,, 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.

,, 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.

,, 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…