HUMOUR, ESPECIALLY POLITICALLY INCORRECT HUMOUR, IS CENTRAL TO YOUR STYLE. DO YOU SEE HUMOUR AS A WEAPON, A SHIELD, OR MAYBE A WAY TO SURVIVE THE HEAVINESS OF YOUR SUBJECT MATTER?

I see the humour frankly as all of those things. It has a Swiss knife kind of quality, and I use it in all of those ways. I like to see someones face smiling or laughing at something I painted. More than that, I like to see someone bad start fuming through their ears all red faced when they recognise my not so kind depiction of them, their ideas or their foul deeds. In my private life I like to make jokes with my girlfriend, family and friends, and some of those humorous observations do wind up in my works.

YOU USE TRADITIONAL BYZANTINE PAINTING TECHNIQUES, BUT OFTEN IN WAYS THAT CLASH WITH POP CULTURE OR SATIRE. WHAT DRAWS YOU TO MIXING SOMETHING SO SACRED AND ANCIENT WITH SOMETHING SO COMMERCIAL AND EVERYDAY?

I don’t feel something to be sacred on it’s own, though I do respect the religious feelings of others. I was raised in a culture of orthodox christianity, and at that time I preferred the more naturalistic ways of depicting reality, even the metaphysical one, like religion. As I matured my tastes changed, and I started to like more the art which offers a rendering not of nature, but of artist’s own way of seeing it. The almost cubist way of rendering clothes, space, the illogical light sources, stylized figures- all those elements of the Byzantine iconography created a sense of otherworldly space beyond time and space that isn’t real but that we somehow still recognize as quasi real. The Icons themselves were meant to be like a comic or cartoon, painted in a way so that the illiterate masses could follow the biblical story. That is in a way very close to our understanding of illustration used in commercial art, and I simply blended those two concepts.

MANY OF YOUR WORKS USE VIBRANT COLORS AND CARTOON-LIKE CHEERFULNESS TO DISGUISE DARKER THEMES. HOW DO AUDIENCES USUALLY RESPOND, DO THEY LAUGH FIRST AND REALIZE THE DARKNESS LATER, OR THE OTHER WAY AROUND?

I think the laughter comes first. Currently my works are built like hard candies- colorful hard sugary glaze on the surface, in the center gooey darkness and misery. Humor is what makes it easier to swallow.

GROWING UP AND STUDYING IN BELGRADE, HOW DID YOUR SURROUNDINGS SHAPE YOUR OUTLOOK AS AN ARTIST? DO YOU THINK YOUR WORK WOULD BE THE SAME IF YOU HAD BEEN RAISED IN, SAY, LONDON OR NEW YORK?

I don’t think, I know it would be different. I would be a very different person, and hence my output would be very different, maybe not connected to socio political themes, maybe it wouldn’t be figural art at all. As for being in Belgrade, it is a decent sized city and it has a lot of cultural happenings. The collective history is what makes it unique in a way. Being raised in a capital city during a time where people decided- or were brainwashed to- completely dismantle their country and moral values via war, conflict and violence, that will affect you. Painting the cartoony minute assemblages of human stupidity and depravity is my way of processing all that lived legacy.

YOUR WORK OFTEN CONFRONTS THE IDEA OF EVIL HEAD-ON. WHEN DID YOU FIRST BECOME AWARE OF “EVIL” AS SOMETHING YOU WANTED TO EXPLORE THROUGH ART, AND HOW HAS YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF IT EVOLVED OVER TIME?

I think that it always fascinated me how some people were able to willingly do harm to others. I can’t recall at what age I truly began questioning what is right and what isn’t, but the theme of what is fair and what is not, what is good and what is bad, it feels like it was always in my thoughts. Exploring those questions felt natural in a way, and at some point those thoughts appeared in my art as well.

YOU’VE EXHIBITED INTERNATIONALLY, FROM ATHENS TO TOKYO. DO DIFFERENT CULTURES READ YOUR SYMBOLISM DIFFERENTLY, OR DOES SATIRE CUT ACROSS BORDERS?

We are all living now in a time of a global mono-culture, so those cultural differences are somewhat flattened across most of societies. I specifically try to paint the works in such a way that they are broadly “readable”, and if I’m using texts it is mostly in English, a de facto lingua franca of our corporatised reality. I’ve had people from different parts of the world very accurately identify what is the meaning behind my pieces, the symbolism and the visual jokes I’ve planted, even in the pieces referencing events from Serbian history. I think all humans have basically the same neurological wiring and like to laugh, have the similar sense of irony and satire, though their local cultures do shape what is allowed to be laughed at and what is a considered to be a taboo.

YOU’VE DEVELOPED YOUR OWN VOCABULARY OF SYMBOLS. CAN YOU SHARE ONE OR TWO RECURRING MOTIFS IN YOUR WORK, AND WHAT THEY MEAN TO YOU PERSONALLY?

First one is that I paint regular ordinary people as blind crash test dummies (notice the black and yellow circles). Simply, because we are all dispensable interchangeable cogs in the machinery of our current global system. Second is the figure of the politician, a large grey skinned person in a black suit, representing avarice and greed. One thing those two- the leader and the follower- share is that they are both blind.

THE MIX OF RELIGION, ADVERTISING, AND POLITICS IN YOUR ART FEELS ALMOST PROPHETIC, LIKE YOU’RE BUILDING YOUR OWN MYTHOLOGY. DO YOU SEE YOUR PAINTINGS AS STORYTELLING, WARNING, OR DOCUMENTATION?

All of those things. I tell a story of this world through an imaginary world, documenting it more or less. That reality is similar but somewhat distorted version of our own reality. The narrative often connects the past, present and future. It can be a warning, but who listens or cares about them these days? Don’t think people cared about warnings in the past either.

AT 4BYSIX WE OFTEN TALK ABOUT HOW ART THRIVES IN PLACES OF TENSION, WHETHER THAT’S SOCIAL, POLITICAL, OR PERSONAL. WHERE DO YOU FEEL THE MOST TENSION IN YOUR PRACTICE RIGHT NOW?

The place where I’m living is for me the main source of tensions at the moment. The situation in Serbia is deteriorating and the current regime is increasing repression against it’s own citizens. After 10 months of non stop protests no demands were truly or fully met, only the police brutality intensified since July onwards. When I have to leave for the protest, that moment of trying to figure out how violent it might get and should I take the backpack with protective gear or not- that creates a lot of anxiety as I don’t know what might happen. It takes time to decompress and calm afterwards and return to painting, and it is hard to concentrate and be creative in such an abnormal living situation with constant threat of violence looming over you.

WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO GET INVOLVED IN THE 4BYSIX AUCTION? WAS THERE SOMETHING ABOUT THE MISSION OR THE COMMUNITY THAT SPOKE TO YOU PERSONALLY?

I think that having a tangible positive impact on the homeless community really spoke to me, that someone buying the piece will contribute to their wellbeing.

HOW DID IT FEEL TO CREATE YOUR WORK ON A SUSTAINABLE, UNCONVENTIONAL CANVAS RATHER THAN A TRADITIONAL ONE? DID THE SURFACE OR THE STORY BEHIND IT CHANGE THE WAY YOU APPROACHED THE PIECE?

The proportions inspired me to create a piece with a central focal point which can be viewed and hanged from all four sides. The surface inspired me to focus purely on painting without the use of gold or palladium leaf.

FINALLY, IF YOU COULD HANG ONE OF YOUR PIECES IN ANY PUBLIC SPACE IN THE WORLD, WHERE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE WOULD HAVE TO SEE IT EVERY DAY - WHERE WOULD YOU CHOOSE, AND WHY?

With this current situation I would hang the Iconostasis of Serbism series- all four pieces- in the Times Square, so that the ordinary folks could start paying attention to what is going on here. And the ideas depicted in those works are universal, and unfortunately for all of us in the world very current.