Slavica Obradinović
A Female Belgradian Under Water,
Sales Gallery Belgrade, 2019
The artwork of Ivana Živić has been drawing attention of both the critics and the public
in Serbia for many years. Her artwork has continually been acclaimed, marked by a
change of style, approach and pictorial expression that certainly enriches it and brings
freshness and points to Ivana’s constant orientation towards experimentation.
Her paintings are noticeable by her infatuation with water, swimming, the human body,
the interior, and drapery that produces artwork of recognizable visual expression. Her
talent and mastery in drawing is demonstrated in large size oil on canvas paintings.
Dealing with this topic since 2013, she has produced a cycle of paintings Rooms of
Water where she stays faithful to the realistic approach in painting. The Sales Gallery
Belgrade showcases her latest paintings from her mature phase, characterized by a
purified style, reduction of elements and enlargement of colored surfaces. She chooses
the details carefully, still paying great attention to them, superbly processes them and
successfully emphasizing the structure of the material they are made of. Thus, she
creates a surreal, fantastic, imaginary world full of imagination, visions, hope, freed of
movement and a loneliness that liberates.
Ivana approaches the treatment of the topic meticulously while conceptualizing and
choosing the painterly paradigm carefully. Her insight into film directing and the art
of film is evident as each image is a sequence from a film with a masterly positioned
participant. She painstakingly prepares each scene paying attention to the interior/
scenery, costumes, the swimmer and each most minute detail on the painting. The
models are dressed in designed clothes made of richly draped material of various
structure as they swim making dynamic and interesting movements. Paying special
attention to the costumes she collaborates with our young fashion designers, this time
with Nevena Kragić. She takes photos of the detailed and well thought-out underwater
scenes of models swimming in a pool and subsequently inserts them into the
representative real interiors such as: the crypt of the St. Sava Temple in Belgrade, the
drawing-room of the Spitzer Castle in Beočin and the mosque in Isfahan in Iran.
As a painter Ivan has remained faithful to easel painting with dominant intensive color.
She applies the colors in broad brush strokes covering larger surfaces thus constructing
an image with prevailing blue and green shades positioning next to them red, yellow,
golden and other pure and intensive colors of the spectrum. Placing a certain tone in
the first plane, she emphasizes the emotion of the image and defines the observer’s
stream of thought.
She skullfully processes the refraction of light in contact with water, thus the visual
forms of the kaleidoscope are sensed in her paintings. The play of light and shadow
and excellent dealing with different vantage points as well as the use of perspective
contribute to the dynamics of the image.
Ivana Živić has integrated her own being into her artwork, her paintings are well
thought-out and she is committed to their execution. The cycle of paintings Rooms
of Water is constantly and gradually evolving and it is certain that she will achieve
completely new visual artwork equally powerful and innovative in following period.
A Female Belgradian Under Water,
Sales Gallery Belgrade, 2019
The artwork of Ivana Živić has been drawing attention of both the critics and the public
in Serbia for many years. Her artwork has continually been acclaimed, marked by a
change of style, approach and pictorial expression that certainly enriches it and brings
freshness and points to Ivana’s constant orientation towards experimentation.
Her paintings are noticeable by her infatuation with water, swimming, the human body,
the interior, and drapery that produces artwork of recognizable visual expression. Her
talent and mastery in drawing is demonstrated in large size oil on canvas paintings.
Dealing with this topic since 2013, she has produced a cycle of paintings Rooms of
Water where she stays faithful to the realistic approach in painting. The Sales Gallery
Belgrade showcases her latest paintings from her mature phase, characterized by a
purified style, reduction of elements and enlargement of colored surfaces. She chooses
the details carefully, still paying great attention to them, superbly processes them and
successfully emphasizing the structure of the material they are made of. Thus, she
creates a surreal, fantastic, imaginary world full of imagination, visions, hope, freed of
movement and a loneliness that liberates.
Ivana approaches the treatment of the topic meticulously while conceptualizing and
choosing the painterly paradigm carefully. Her insight into film directing and the art
of film is evident as each image is a sequence from a film with a masterly positioned
participant. She painstakingly prepares each scene paying attention to the interior/
scenery, costumes, the swimmer and each most minute detail on the painting. The
models are dressed in designed clothes made of richly draped material of various
structure as they swim making dynamic and interesting movements. Paying special
attention to the costumes she collaborates with our young fashion designers, this time
with Nevena Kragić. She takes photos of the detailed and well thought-out underwater
scenes of models swimming in a pool and subsequently inserts them into the
representative real interiors such as: the crypt of the St. Sava Temple in Belgrade, the
drawing-room of the Spitzer Castle in Beočin and the mosque in Isfahan in Iran.
As a painter Ivan has remained faithful to easel painting with dominant intensive color.
She applies the colors in broad brush strokes covering larger surfaces thus constructing
an image with prevailing blue and green shades positioning next to them red, yellow,
golden and other pure and intensive colors of the spectrum. Placing a certain tone in
the first plane, she emphasizes the emotion of the image and defines the observer’s
stream of thought.
She skullfully processes the refraction of light in contact with water, thus the visual
forms of the kaleidoscope are sensed in her paintings. The play of light and shadow
and excellent dealing with different vantage points as well as the use of perspective
contribute to the dynamics of the image.
Ivana Živić has integrated her own being into her artwork, her paintings are well
thought-out and she is committed to their execution. The cycle of paintings Rooms
of Water is constantly and gradually evolving and it is certain that she will achieve
completely new visual artwork equally powerful and innovative in following period.