Artist Highlight

Contemporary mixed media painter and sculptor Milenko Katic (b. Serbia) most notably depicts a world spanning lifetimes by merging childhood naivety with a matured adult perspective throughout his work.

His process begins with representational drawings, progressing to crayon and then broader more abstract brush strokes of paint to create a base for each multi-layered painting. He often works in a rhythmic cycle until the layers have come together to convey his intended vision.

The merging of worlds also carries over to Katic's landscape paintings in a series he regards as "fantasy-scapes". Borrowing directly from life two or more vistas within a common geographical area, Katic' combines these incongruent perspectives to create a new reality. Working with acrylic, pencil and wax pastel on cradled wood panels, Katic' opens our eyes to not only our surroundings, but also to our own existence and effect on the world.

Katic' relies on dreams , memory and observation as he contemplates composition, form and color, each canvas becoming a  detailed storyboard charged with the sensation of one's life flashing before their eyes. The cornerstone of Katic's message speaks to the simple notion that we are born "pure", and gradually under the weight of societal influences and expectations, we lose our innocence. There is a sharp contrast between

Katic's earlier works and those more recent as he surrenders the simplistic childlike drawings to more complex renderings of "then" and "now; the adult figures depicted showing signs of becoming robotic and emotionless, while the children appear unburdened and in tune with their yet unspoiled unconditional love of family, animals and nature.