#8 But in the centre of this branching artistic universe stands this painter’s independent and ever recognisable personal sensibility, like a pillar that brings all those quests into unison. Wherever he finds his stimuli, whatever tradition he relates to, painting pagan satyrs or Christian angels, Macedonian dance reels or the night chimera of distant mythologies, Čemerski unites them with his strong and manifest individual style, impressing the unique seal of his exceptional personality upon them. With a culture that reaches far beyond the boundaries of the fine arts Gligor Čemerski is, above all, a representative creative figure in the contemporary Macedonian spiritual climate. Yet, his significance certainly surpasses national frontiers – he is an artist with a distinguished place in the European constellation and whose reputation in the world constantly rises.
#9 A permanent duality abides in Čemerski’s painting, ceaselessly putting in opposition its own principles, without allowing one to prevail over the other. Namely, this painter never gives up not only figurativeness but also that which we might call “a story” – in his paintings we always recognise elements of action, but we also recognise his striving for that which we might call “pure painting art” that, giving up the intention to remain faithful to the description of what is unfolding on the thematic plane of the painting, succumbs to the dictate of the gesture, follows the freedom of the hand and sets the expressiveness of the brisk instinct-driven movement as the high principle of artistic creation. #10 As a result of this play of opposite elements, in these paintings we sense and perceive the drive that comes from reality; yet it never appears as consistently mimetic or clearly descriptive but transformed into an associative arabesque, into an inextricable weaving of recognisable natural details and their abstract doubles. In order to penetrate the real content of Čemerski’s paintings one needs to invest visual and intellectual effort, and, despite all the difficulties along that journey of discovery and perception, the reward to all who do so are realisations and experiences that enrich the eye and the spirit.
A dynamic relationship between equally powerful and equally essential forces is what lies at the core of this art. There, the longing for completeness and fulness intertwines with the abiding drive to break all steadiness – just like the earthly and the heavenly, the dark and the light, the Dionysian and the Apollonian, cruelty and beauty stem from each other and complement each other in his work (like yin and yang in the Chinese symbol tai-chi).
#11 On these canvases an extraordinary painter tries to solve perpetual and fatal dilemmas – and the more aware he is how insoluble they are, the more fervidness and passion he introduces in his essay and, by means of a highly creative sublimation, he manages to transform that fervidness and passion into a gesture, a stroke, into a powerful and inspired visual handwriting that excites and carries away.
the art is inside
