Zdravko Joksimovic

Calling Joskimovic’s creations sculptures is possible and not inappropriate, more so because he is a trained sculptor who also teaches the subject of sculpture and thinks of himself as being a sculptor. At the same time his creations represent assemblages, collages constructs, objects found and processed, finished ready-mades or simply newly made things which along the visible also posses some additional meanings, a narrative quality without the usage of words. Proof that his latest creations are not so much sculptures as are collage-assemblages is evident in the author’s lesser use of space which he replaces by gallery walls to display his works on, as one does with paintings or relieves. If the nature of his products as artistic discipline is irrelevant, what matters then is that all of Joksimovic’s forms-objects are made very carefully, with great patience and attention to detail, and with the understanding of, and respect for, the natural characteristics of the material and responsibility towards the way it is handed, the latter being comparable to some noble craft. No matter to what extent these forms-objects are results of imagination rather than actual things, they are nevertheless a particular statement about existential circumstances and the times in which they were made. They stand to prove that art actually can be made from cheep, rejected and things found, on a condition that there exists the strength of mind big enough to create and experience art. It is as if this art – reticent and at the same time self-confident – is warning us that hardship and abundance do not depend on (not) possessing material goods. They rather depend on how the existing circumstances and conditions can be made use of in order to make some of them productive.

EXCLUSIVE WORK BY ZDRAVKO JOKSIMOVIC