PRAYER FOR TRAVELERS
Solo show by Vojislav Radovanovic
MuzeuMM Gallery
October 13 – November 10, 2018
4817 W Adams Blvd, Los Angeles, CA
MuzeuMM Gallery in Los Angeles is pleased to announce PRAYER FOR TRAVELERS, a solo exhibition by Vojislav Radovanovic (a.k.a. Mr. Voice Love), Serbian born visual artist who lives and creates in Los Angeles. The art show will be held from October 13 through November 10, 2018, with an opening reception on Saturday, October 13 from 4 to 9 PM at 4817 W Adams Blvd in Los Angeles, California.
PRAYER FOR TRAVELERS is Vojislav Radovanovic’s newest body of work in two series: an art-installation featuring hand-painted flags and more traditional drawings on the gallery walls, creating a dialogue about the exhibition’s themes. As a recent immigrant to the USA, Vojislav deals with themes of displacement, identity, cultural heritage, and memory. The undercurrents touch upon his country’s war-torn past, the pain of Native American history, and contemporary political topics like the current US immigration policy.
The main motif among the featured works are weeds, wild plants generally defined by growing in places they are not desired. While weeds are often seen as unwelcome and intrusive, they come in an amazing and beautiful variety, some of them containing beneficial traits, medicinal properties, nutritious value, and most of all possessing the strength to survive harsh conditions and adapt to new surroundings. The weeds become poetic representations of marginalized people and immigrants.
Series one features handmade acrylic paintings on textile flags arranged in the center of the gallery imprisoned by chain link fence. Flags are objects used to define a collective group, ideology and/or country. The weed-covered flags defy traditional emblematic constructs and patterns, free to roam on the fabric as they wish. A second installation features video art of Vojislav raising the weed-covered flags among picturesque Los Angeles cityscapes and places beyond, redefining the claims and ideas of territory and conquest.
Series two involves works on paper, possessing another conceptional dimension: the process of recreation from destruction. When Vojislav Radovanovic came to America a year ago, he brought with him his own unique currency; a portfolio of previous works on paper. Inspired by the Los Angeles art scene, abstract expressionism and mid century modernism, he began a new series of drawings based on tearing apart the old works. He destroyed the past in order to create a new body of work in his new home country. This latest series involves a collage procedure that reassembles dozens of past works along with new drawings and paintings, pages torn from the bible, and various travel maps.
“Prayer for Travelers” proposes many questions, offering forth a different point of view for consideration while setting out on a very universal quest for love and understanding. Like previous bodies of work, Vojislav’s new series is oriented towards environmentalism, social ecology, and the understanding of ancient and contemporary culture.
About Vojislav Radovanovic
Vojislav Radovanovic, originally from Serbia (Valjevo 1982), now lives in Los Angeles, CA. Classically educated as a painter and printmaker, his work is usually based on traditional drawing techniques but very often expanded through gallery installations, performance, experimental videos, and even architectural atmospheres. His most recognized exhibition to date, “Theory of Unity”, is a site specific artwork installed at a 16th century Mosque in central Serbia. In Vojislav’s work spirituality and universal unity play very important role. He is fascinated by nature, particularly wild plants, widely known as weeds. Their determination to live and ability to survive have influenced his art for over a decade.
Vojislav graduated (BA, MA) from the University of Art in Belgrade, Serbia in 2005, and the Academy of Fine Arts in Salzburg, Austria in 2004. He also lived in Paris, France, acquiring inspiration from the amazing world cultural heritage preserved in Parisian museums and galleries. He has exhibited in more than 20 solo, and over 100 group exhibitions and festivals around the world.
“Prayer for Travelers” is his first american solo exhibition.
About MuzeuMM Gallery
MuzeuMM is a daring art gallery in the West Adams neighborhood of Los Angeles, a burgeoning creative enclave located directly between the gallery districts of downtown and Culver City. Founded in 2009 by Director Mishelle Moross, MuzeuMM is widely recognized as a gallery that always brings together carefully curated exhibitions and art works. Resisting the temptation of becoming a merely commercial place, Muzeumm has stood for nearly a decade, keeping their program of exhibitions selective while raising the bar of quality.
Official exhibition teasers
https://youtu.be/1nGg7m9-13E
https://youtu.be/W5i17hKzalk
https://youtu.be/TV8Z6EwFoBA
