Origin 2007

THE KING OF DUST

The adherence to figurative and portrait presentations of Ivona Pleskonja (1974) has recently become evident once again in her exhibition The Source at the Belgrade National Gallery. She makes monumental portraits and self-portraits, using acrylic and coal on canvas and paper, to talk about little-big people, the greatness of human beings, emancipation, fears and ways of overcoming them…

The portraits, reduced in colour and representatively framed on canvas, demonstrate urban iconographic artistry of Ivona’s works in much the same manner as the works from her previous exhibition Heroes, held last March in Beograd Gallery in Kosancicev Venac Street, did.

I stick to figuration simply because abstract art isn’t close to my heart. I’ve always wanted to make human portraits and also wanted the observer to interpret my messages in his or her own way. This exhibition shows that the focus my artistic search is on the origins of the man, his nature, his essence, ways of gaining knowledge which also explains the title although at first I didn’t have a very clear idea whether to give the exhibition any name at all. ICleaner and New World King, has reminded her of a pharaoh. CLEANER