Pigmalion C 2019

Dragan Ilić Di Vogo’s “Pigmalion C” invites you to observe a figure enmeshed in a flurry of surrealist gestures and vibrant colors. I can imagine the artist building this image up layer by layer, working into the skin tones, and letting strange shapes emerge like figures in clouds. I wonder what it felt like for Di Vogo to make this, to place these unexpected shapes on the back and arms of this figure? To have the confidence to let those brushstrokes stand out and be what they are. They remind me of Miro or even Guston in a weird way. Like, what if Guston had gone surreal? The paint is so smooth, like it has been rubbed and blended. I love that Di Vogo left the marks, gestures, and figures right there on the surface as a record of what he was thinking and feeling. Painting is a form of conversation across time, a way of seeing, feeling, and imagining.