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Kosta Milovanovic, author Good evening. Let me first thank you all for coming to this exhibition.
If I ever again feel lonely I will punch myself in the head.
There is a web site where you can punch in data about your material wealth.
It works something like this... You have 65 square meters flat,
you drive Opel Cadet manufactured in 1992, maybe you even have some land somewhere.
And when you press the button, it shows that you're 900 millionth man by wealth...
It means that there are some 5 billions humans that are materially poorer than you.
But, anyway, as in that richer part of the world, collective anxiety and discontent rules here.
Why is it like that? Although, hundred years ago there was a stormy climat, there were wars, crisis etc.
But, the heroes existed. Today, we live in an era of cynicism, as some modern prophets say...
We are left without heroes... It is impossible to be a hero today...
On any level. Look at the fact that your parents were your heroes when you were young.
I have children now, and so do my friends, and we don't have an impression that we are...
some kind of heroes to those children of ours. If I'm talking to my dad and my mom I would say...
that even Spiderman is not what he used to be, even he has become black and other super heroes
have become some obscure characters that fight with each other under antidepressiv drugs.
Even on that level things don't function as they used to.
In everyday life, if you remember all those petty town heroes, those madmen we knew until 10 years ago
that you saw on the streets, pulling your sleeve, asking for a cigarette... They don't exist anymore.
They existed once, seems that we've wasted them in vain. I don't know how will we tell who's normal anymore...
if we don't have anyone to point to as abnormal. It seems that we shared it all on even pieces by consensus.
In those times, in the beginning of the last century, the pessimism ruled in art for some time.
But, even that pessimism gave birth to some very potent artistic movements.
In this era of cynicism you can see, as a product of art, at least of the figurative art that was my interest,
other bad jokes or painting of death, or jokes about death. There are no heroes anymore.
I didn't want to paint that kind of fine art and so I found a salvation
in this beautiful art of illustration, where you still have a handicraft level,
where there still is a space for invention, game, diversity, scribbling.
To tell you the truth, it is not always the case, but it happens,
when I finish one of those little paintings and see it on my monitor at the end of a working day,
usually late in the night, I feel that I have fulfilled my mission, even if it’s for a short period of time and partial.
And then I feel good.
Thank you for coming tonight, enjoy the exhibition!