Prostor 2004
Dobrodošli u park skulptura u Bregu. Ako želite da čitate na ovom sajtu na srpskom, kliknite na ovaj link.
Prostor 2004 was based on the successful recipe for the inaugural event and once again the Serbian side of things appeared to be put together at the last moment by Zoran. In retrospect I now realise he was already unwell although at the time of the colony he appeared more relaxed and at peace with life than I could ever remember.
Despite his frequent dizzy spells, we spent much time together in the early summer chatting about his art, the 2 exhibitions we had put on for him in London at the ‘Affordable Art Fair’ and what we should do for this 2nd sculpture colony. By this time, we had settled on 5 artists as being the optimal selection given both the location, and communication and co-operation between individuals thrown into close proximity.
It was again to be an all-male colony due partly to the difficulty of hosting a mixed group and secondly the paucity of female sculptors. Paul Smith was keen to take part again and was now working regularly in England on a larger scale. This time he wanted to work more in mixed media incorporating wood, metal & wire. We made sure all the necessary material was ready for him so that he could complete the piece in the short duration of the colony.
Paul Smith - Black Horse
Metal Frame and Wood Tiles
Winter Scene 2005
The largeness of scale compared to the 1st colony was to be the theme for Prostor 2004 partly due to our youngest son who was by this stage reading history of art at university and who suggested we start to think more ‘monolithically’. This led us to procuring a large slab of marble from our local stonemason Novice, which, duly arrived prior to the colony opening. We owe many thanks to Novice, his father & their team without whom the marble slab would never have been delivered in one piece, turned and safely erected, all manually, as can be witnessed from some of the photos of the process.
To go along with the marble slab was an accomplished sculptor Tom Allan from Scotland who I had met several times as a result of exhibiting at art fairs across the UK. I was immediately attracted to his work, and he to the idea of attending a colony in Serbia. He was at that time attending regular workshops in Carrera, Italy, where he became familiar with the necessary experience of working with marble. Our piece of marble weighed around 1 1/2 tons and was to be the largest piece that Tom would have worked on to date. He has subsequently worked on larger marble pieces and regularly still goes to Italy for workshops in marble sculpting.
Sunrise
Tom Allen
Solar Disc 2004
Macedonian Marble
Solar Disc Closeup
In the meantime Zoran had decided that he would like to see some young blood at the colony and the 2 sculptors he invited were to be recent graduates although both coming from backgrounds where their fathers were renowned artists. Zoran himself had decided to take part on a more passive basis and intended to spend his time returning to his more familiar theme of landscape painting. I don’t think this was due to his ill health, but simply due to the fact that he had already experimented in sculpture in the 1st colony and felt that this was sufficient. In actuality, following his tragic death immediately after Prostor 2004, ‘On I Ona’ is the only private/public sculpture known to exist in Zoran’s portfolio.
Tom’s piece, a solar disc, was based on work that he had already completed back in his studio in Glasgow, but on a much smaller scale and in alabaster. He was at once captivated by the beauty and tranquillity of our hill area, and was also fascinated by the haystacks dotting the countryside. This later inspired him to paint a landscape including 2 haystacks for exhibition back in Stratford-on Avon, which we bought and is back in our house in London.
Milos Vaseljovic
"Pretty Flamingoes"
Scrap Car Exhausts
2004
We had enquired through Zoran what the 2 young Serbian artists chosen media was, and had assembled scrap metal car parts including petrol tanks & exhaust pipes for Milos Vaseljovic who arrived from his home town of Novi Sad, and a large piece of poplar (‘topola’) wood found as debris washed up along the Drina river which Bogdan Vukosavljevic would work in.
And so once again in August 2004 we were ready for the sculpture colony, hosting all the artists in our house on the hilltop. Within 8 days they would be ready to produce their respective objects (in the case of Milos 2 pieces). As before each piece deserves a full explanation despite accompanying photos.
