Painting and Drawing

Awards:
2021. Second prize for painting, within the exhibition “Art Salon of Youth”
2020. Third place in the Batut Award Art Competition for the conceptual design of posters on the topic “Prevention of tobacco use” for 2020
2018. Second prize for drawing on the theme “Belgrade”, within the exhibition “That wonderful world of canvas”
2017. FLU Award for drawing – large format study, first year of basic studies

Solo exhibitions:
2021. Exhibition “Relations”, Modern Gallery Lazarevac

Collective exhibitions:
2021. Group exhibition “Artist in residence”, Cultural Center City, Belgrade
2021. Youth Art Salon, Mmc Gallery, Novi Pazar
2021. Group exhibition “Masterpieces”, Gallery U10, Belgrade
2021. Group exhibition “Look into the Unexpected”, Pavilion “Cvijeta Zuzorić”, Belgrade
2020. Exhibition “Inter / action”, Gallery “DOB”, Belgrade
2020. IX Biennial of Mosaics “Beauty of Tradition”, Gallery SKC New Belgrade
2019. Group exhibition “In the spirit of the Master”, Kustendil, Bulgaria
2017. Exhibition of works by awarded FLU students for the school year 2016/17, FLU Gallery, Belgrade

The everpresent motif of skin in Teodora Nikolić’s art-works represents a symbolic display of tactility, with its quality as a surface over which we feel everything, every person, every stimulation. All things that are exclusively ours, personally special and unique, simultaneously in-dividual and something each person possesses. These works of art introduce the viewer to multiple meanings they allow the skin to be perceived as purely physical and anatomical as the largest organ in the human body as well as a philosophically and metaphorically separate structure, as a sense through which we experience the world, as well as the agent through which the world experiences us.
Although her artwork isn’t a direct commentary on any particular contemporary event, it may be interpreted as an exploration of man’s individual nature in a world where it is increasingly easy to incorporate oneself into an anonymous whole.
A profound feeling of intimacy is present, a gaze at something that we shouldn’t see, an intrusion into some-one’s personal space. Some of her work has an erotic element that can be understood as a contemporary artistic manoeuvre where the remainder of the body is left to the imagination of the viewer.

My work was getting better and better and great artists from my country started recognizing me as one of the greatest talents in the country considering my age. That is always a great motivation to me to get better and to become world-wide known artist. In March of 2021. At the age of 17 I was contacted by NGO “Zinak” to have my first online exibition because of COVID-19 pandemic that was my only option to show my art to people. I was published on web page Fenomeni.me which is a page about talented people from the art community from Balkan region. I’m fascineted with portraits, human figures, and animales, and these are my favorite motives to paint and draw. This year I finished highschooll with the average grade of 5.0 which is the best you can get. In May this year, i won the second place prize for the design of a jubilee money for Museum of Money at Cetinje where my painting and the work of other people competing was exibited. In June 2022. I was honored to exibit my art at Cue hotel in Podgorica on a group exibition with my colleagues as we finished highschooll. Now my plan is to countinue my studies at faculty of fine arts in Cetinje.

The painting of a women sitting is a acrylic on canvas that was exibited at Cue hotel in Podgorica on group exibition. The dimensions are 100x80cm. The second painting is a male figure sculpture painted with acrylic on cardboard and by looking at I think you can notice my fascination with impresionist way of painting with pure brush strokes and the overall atmosphere of a dramatic renesanse painting, dimensions are 100×70 cm. The third painting is two portraits of a elderly couple painted with acrylic on canvas and the dimensions are 80x70cm. The fourth painting is a Raven done in combined technic with acrylic, black ink and sepia, dimensions are 17.5×25 cm. And the last but definitely nkt the least important painting is a portrait of my grandfather, and the painting that cought the eye of many people including the NGO that exibited my work, it is not the best painting I ever made, but it's most certainly the painting that means the most for me. For me this painting shows the power of art and why I love it, it shows how we can bring our loved ones to life, and it shows the real beuty of art and what we can do with it. Dimensions are 70×50 cm.

This project began (2018) with a simple observation: look towards my neighbors’ windows at night, while walking in the deserted streets of my village or in Brussels. This observation revealed several aspects: the position of the “voyeur”, bringing back to the point of view of the narrator; the window, this field or space delimited with its mullions, its panes, its outside and its inside; and the nightlife of the people. In reality, we do not see much except the play of black surfaces, which is why the fantasy and the narration of things perceived or felt are “released” in the surface of the paper. Then, with the confinement, investigations appeared at the level of the human being folded in on himself. Windows are sources of light where we can see life go on, but also see the fragility of our fellow human beings.

concept. my paintings are concerned with the connection between visual memories and the emotions that they evoke. my paintings are created from the layers of memories to create a new dreamscape, the forms and colours evoking the feelings that i had in those moments and memories. The forms and colours in my memories therefore creating something new from my mind to create an architecture in my mind, memories both good and painful to produce a new creation that can evoke new feelings in the present.

levity. 90 x 150 cm acrylic and oil based paints mix on canvas
rift 90 x 150 cm acrylic and oil based paints mix on canvas
cascade 120 x 180 cm acrylic and oil based paints mix on canvas
marseille 160 x 100 cm acrylic and oil based paints mix on canvas
invasion 90 x 150 cm acrylic and oil based paints mix on canvas

My practice combines an exploration of the history of my motherland, as well as my personal experiences of growing up within it. Within each work I try to contain different histories from the past. For several years I have been living with a question lingering in the back of my head- why can't I escape the memories from the past? What does the past mean to me? Why are so many people so fixated with and stuck in it? Unable to break the chain of repeating fragments and scenarios from the past, I wanted to face the history of my habitats and explore its landscape as well as my relationship to it, in hopes of 'releasing' it in the medium of oil paint. Painting has allowed me to manifest the past into the present world, revive it, and bring it closer to the viewers, inviting them to 'walk' through various hidden histories contained within each work, as well as introduce them to the landscape full of secrets and danger.

Working with the imagery of both the natural landscape and historical urbanscape photographs taken in my home country, I try to bring the history and personal memories to the present, with the use of textured surfaces, heavy layers of paint and fluid, chaotic brushstrokes. The specifically prepared surfaces and thick paint, mixed from pigments, help me manifest the vague past to something material and real, something having a presence of its own- a history, seducing viewers to come closer, almost touch it and get lost in the work itself.

A- “Untitled”, Oil on canvas, 165×120 cm, 2022
B- “Sibire”, Oil on canvas, 175×120 cm, 2022
C- “Memelio vėliavnešys”, Oil on canvas, 55×55 cm, 2022
D- “Untitled”, Oil on canvas, 55×55 cm, 2022
E- “Untitled”, Oil on canvas, 185x122cm, 2021

He was one of the finalists in the Art Revolution Competition Taipei in 2014 and the same year his works Madness Continuous and Depth were selected by visual art platform see.mee to be presented at the famous Times Square in New York. First solo exhibition Tales of Love took place at the Gallery Boris Smoje in 2014. in Sarajevo. Later that year the same exhibition was presented in Memorial Home of Svetozar Corovic in Mostar. One of his most significant professional exhibitions were: “Initiation”, Collegium Artisticum – Sarajevo, Gallery 25N – New York, “The Wall” – Historical Museum in Sarajevo, Post-election Trauma – Sarajevo, “Where is the Exit” – Gallery JAVA in Sarajevo, “Diggin”, Maineouevre – Berlin. Some of his projects include illustrations of the books as well. He was one the main participants of the first Festival of Street Art (FUU) in Sarajevo, during which his creative work was transmitted into public space. After that, he soon joined forces with the important street art initiative for Mostar Street Art Festival. In 2016 he was invited to paint a mural inside the Sarajevo Youth Theater expanding his field of interest into the world of public art. Next step was first video exhibition Children Joy in Sarajevo projected on 1000m2 screen. Exhibition “Suscitans Conscientia” was held in City Hall of Sarajevo which marks the beginning of his new artistic expression and plans for the two new exhibitions in Brussels and Vienna. In 2019 he painted a mural in Brussels and in 2020 started residential program at Almuñécar, Spain. In february, Rikardo paints a replica of an airplane from WW2, which is exhibited in Historical Museum of BiH in Sarajevo. Later on, for the birthday of his hometown Sarajevo, he organises exhibition “Was is Walter“, where the “replica“ was firstly shown to the public. During the start of the Covid Pandemic, Rikardo makes his first video exhibition, through  which he collects money for a charity organization “Pomozi.ba“. After that he starts  working on his new project “Awakening Solidarity“, in which he paints 5 murals in 5 different cities in Bosnia&Herzegovina. Rikardo lives and works in Sarajevo.

My creative world is intuitive. My expression is connected with the lens through which I look at the world. What I see are political, racial, ideological polarizations all around. People don’t seem to be able to live with each other. We ( contemporary man and women) dont accept the differences and have lack of respect for other people`s opinions, world views. This results with endless quarrels and never greater polarization. My artworld is different. Ii is inclusive . Through my art I try to make my microworld a better place. On canvas, I a paint a world as I imagine it. People, all races, animals,beings, all different but all working together in harmonius ways, together. I use my art as a platform, through which I collect money for charity organizations in my country. We had three projects so far (Awakening of Conciousness) and luckily had great succes. One of the great contemporary problems as I see it is materialization, which results with great spiritual loss. Without spiritual guidance people dont have deeper meaning and their sense of purpose is loss. That problem is also adressed in my artworld. In my stories I try to bring ancient wisdom to life.