Večna ljubav – Eternal love 2012

Dragan Ilić Di Vogo made "Eternal Love" with a paintbrush, probably quite a few of them. Looking at this painting, I can imagine Di Vogo in the studio wrestling with these forms that feel classical and contemporary all at once. There's a statue-like man, a loving couple, and then this field of ambiguous colors and floating shapes all jostling together. The paint is applied in thin layers, but it feels like it’s built up over time, a history of decisions that the artist makes as they respond to what's already on the canvas. That sweeping gesture, that red and white line at the bottom, feels like a roadmap, a symbol of the lovers journey. The way the dark forms float around the figures reminds me of the dreamscapes of someone like Odilon Redon, but with this distinctly contemporary sensibility. I get the sense that it is a conversation between two very different artistic traditions. The whole thing makes you wonder: how do we make the old new?