Život je igra – The game of life 2012

Dragan Ilić Di Vogo made this painting, Život je igra – The Game of Life, and what strikes me first is the surreal quality, achieved with a smoothly blended oil technique. The figures, the boy, the horse, the classical heads, seem poised on the edge of a dream. The paint handling is so controlled, it's almost like looking at a photograph. Yet, within this hyperreal space, there's this amazing sense of mystery. Look at the way the light falls on the boy's face, and the texture of the ancient statues. Then, notice how the horse is rendered with this almost ethereal quality, like a creature of pure imagination. The tension between precision and ambiguity is what makes this painting so engaging. It reminds me of artists like De Chirico, who also explored the realm of dreams and the uncanny. Art, at its best, invites us to wander, to question, and to embrace the unknown, and this is what Ilić Di Vogo invites us to do.