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…

,, 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.

,, 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.

,, 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...

,, 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…

,, 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.

,, Na Smiljanićevim grafikama nema figuralnih motiva, nema ljudi... Tu su biljke, predmeti, nebeski svod, sedam Vlašića. Učini nam se da nema života, međutim mnogo je životnog u tim grafikama, tu je život, tu su ljudi - samo ih treba otkriti.

,, 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…