The Master and the Comment

/, Gallery, Blesok no. 46/The Master and the Comment

The Master and the Comment

(Aleksandar Stankovski, exhibition at Cultural center Tocka)

#1 In the twentieth year of his acquiring the academic “license” for professional esthetic drive on big and small topics through the serious irony of life and times, Aleksandar Stankovski exhibits only nineteen paintings. By chance or on purpose, but the way of thinking of the artist indicates allusions to the ceremonialisms of the social, political, religious and other types of drives for various personal and collective idolatries, finalities, symbolic un-dryings of the time.
#2 Stankovski has read the signs of his time, he thinks abotu them and practices them artistically, and at the same time in fragments or in tehe very signs of the “new” artisanship he shows a mastery of the history of the autonomous area of painting. Let us only recall the “Ala Disney Last Supper” of 1991 or the parody of Hitler (an aspirant for a “soter”-savior), striking in their topics and demystification of the “big” topics, issues, personalities, but also in the comments of the educated and incisive person. Stankovski has applied the art of the visual media of 20th century, from movable images to the “infantile” magi of the cartoons, comics, caricature. It is in these media that the “big” topics are effectively twisted and placed in the “childish” and adventurous valleys of communication; while the world laughs and “joyfully” gives in to the same issues of good and evil, serious and unserious, possible and impossible, real and surreal. Wrapped in seriousness, strictness or divine norms they touch into the conscience and fragile spiritual baggage of the people. #3 Stankovski has not remained indifferent when showing or suggesting that these two lines are the same travel, and yet with different scripts. As the road to “flag of the bread of this world and the bread of that world”. In this mixed expression, the esthetics and spirituality (idea) of the painting are complete. In a humorous-grotesque paining expression, the issues of religion, sexuality and politics in these paintings open the memory to the “miracle, secret and authority”, the three unique big forces of this world since the Great Inquisition of Dostoyevsky. The question on what one should bow to/subdue to is open, but the need remains passionate. With respect to this, these seemingly easily cartoon-like paintings penetrate with the power of their thought and on these questions of the millennium speech of the Great Inquisition. The seriousness and humor that borders irony have been merged by this artist and they are just fine. Stankovski is open to ideological-political, social and ethic topics of complicated character in the global political, civilization, colonial, religious, sexual, local, Skopje, and other processes of the so-called freedom. The tree of life contains everything, and it is filled with obvious things and secrets. The events happen at once and all the time, parallelly and in inevitable intentional or accidental, noticed or unnoticed mutual relations. #4 The spiritual line and the strive axes (passions, sexuality and appetites) are natural, prone to social techniques of politics and church. But there are couples so the synthesis is not the trinity, but a couple with the prothesis. The outcomes are just altered or moved positions. The allocation of sexual and religious connotations of “power” has such a so-called universal value that it can not but hit the target in our reality as well. In the point that has not been upset since the Bogumil movement until nowadays, and an indicator of an open consciousness is the heresy of the sane and possibly light thought, which has to be defended by esthetic and spiritual in a starting or final point, or in its own contents. Just like in this case!

Translated by: Elizabeta Bakovska

AuthorLjuben Paunoski
2018-08-21T17:23:17+00:00 February 1st, 2006|Categories: Reviews, Gallery, Blesok no. 46|0 Comments