This is how Olivera Jonovic defined the challenger, she has her personality
brought in life to challenge everything that came before her and succeed
with a full conquest.
Art has been the vehicle used in numerous battles; we can consider it
self-taught but tell me if he can’t be a better teacher than a dad
considered a perfect master.
She was born in Pristina in Serbia, former Yugoslavia in 1960, and her first experiences
Until the age of 16, I was next to her father, born in 1919.
Still lifes are his initial works by him, captured on canvas or panel by
snowy landscapes of his country of origin to the sacred icons of religion
Orthodox where the face of Christ is represented in all his suffering
as if we were experiencing it today.
Olivera learns and develops the versatility of her father’s art as her, a capable artist.
I use the term Polyhedral to indicate the different facets of
his attitudes about him, his skills and his knowledge about him.
Having reached maturity, she goes from being a paternal pupil to an artist with a
her personality; she completely changes her way of perceiving both the world and of
consequence the way of making art.
Versatility becomes an integral part of her work; but it’s in the technique
The more noticeable this change is, the more traditional tempera comes from
added the experimentation of new ways of operating, the canvas or table comes
skilfully overturned, soil is used and spread on the support that is used to
give more prominence and depth to the painted subject or to the inserts of objects on the canvas
like glitter, used above all to give greater prominence and thus greater beauty and
brilliance in mask portraits.
The versatility can also be seen in the painted subjects, passing (but not
abandoning completely) from landscapes to the variation of subjects: Canvases by
spider web, explosion and formation of new worlds at barbed wires; the latter
subject in particular helps us better understand a fundamental peculiarity
of Olivera’s work di lei or meticulousness (certainly learned from his father di lei),
in fact he manages to capture details of verisimilitude and formal perfection
with attention to detail, making this detail the subject
of the work.
To complete and better grasp this passage of his life, we will be able to
talk about color; from the first cold colors perceptible in his primitive landscapes
snowed in the transition to warm colors and a unique diversity, which they did
come to light of new landscapes where the peculiarity lies in the exultation of
colors.
Painting for her is a game of glazes, the color is applied in multiple layers
less transparent, which made the painting bright and shiny allowing for
define the different consistency of the surfaces down to the smallest details.
Another subject that we will be able to admire in an exhibition of hers is the mask
particularity of the Masks is the femininity of the subjects; in fact Olivera
he prefers the female face to wear her masks. These
masks take on life behind it lies a personality, a ready life
to tell us about his life vicissitudes, his worries, his joys, i
of her di lei successes di lei of her di lei me also of her disappointments di lei, portrays “real” eyes that peer at us from
behind these “real” masks.
The reality of her masks is also made possible thanks to the use of
matter, in fact, as already mentioned, the use of glitter attached to the canvas or the
experimentation with new materials makes the subject become reality.
In the Masks Olivera’s work is completed and we can see all of his
of her of her work of her and change of her; Meticulousness, a riot of vivid, sometimes warm colours
cold times, to the use of new innovative materials.
We must also remember that Olivera worked as a set painter
theatrical, perhaps a maternal reference, in fact Olivera’s mother was an actress.