Aleksandar Jestrović Jamesdin, Untitled, 2007
When you come by to Mercator shopping mall, down Boulevard Umetnosti coming from the centre, wishing to compensate for the loss, maybe you will stumble up the IN/OUT sculpture. You will search in vain for the data on the author. It’s not there. There were numerous problems about it but we are no telltalers. It was made by Branislav Nikolić (and, as far as I know, his dad, also an artist, helped him with the mould and casting). That is one of few sculptures that you can find in Novi Beograd public space, which was installed after the revolution and which has to do with contemporary art. Actually, I know of no other. Although rumour has it that very soon a competition will be announced on the city level in cooperation with big companies for the proposals for sculptures placed in front of banks and shopping malls. It will be for the artists younger than 35 years of age, so maybe I will make it, but, B.N., you are too old now.
The concrete letters that the above mentioned sculpture consists of, say a lot, it seems to me, about the time we live in and, as far as I am concerned, this piece of work is year IN, year OUT. Depending on the IN/OUT list and the vogue of the moment one can find topics of other sculptures and drawings this artist has created. I am mentioning the ones I remember and they are: cakes, tyres, coconuts, TVs, jackets, kiosks & churches, windows, planets and Wunderbaum trees.
Such a free approach to topics and sculptural work derived from pop-art, trash and minimalist procedures allow you to think of them what you will and the visual pleasure and communication with these pieces of art will depend on your capacities and knowledge. Another quality of these pieces is the awareness of material recycling, which is a part of modern tendencies and actions that this artist has adopted during his studies in Holland. Such a method and approach to the materials in our condition makes additional sense because it allows easier experimenting and increases the awareness about the forms and objects that surround us. I can confirm that it is not often the case here, because I was myself witnessing a discussion among our young curators who were at a contemporary art fair abroad complaining that they did not get it why the collectors buy some “rubbish” made of cardboard and planks.
I have to thank B. Nikolić for promoting me into a model at a fashion show and performance of the New Remote group whose member he is and whose work I find very interesting. I met the only Indian woman in my life there (Camilla Singh) and spent a couple of unforgettable moments with Miss YU – just in our underwear.
I am sorry for breaking one of your little fires – my hands ached. I have been unloading beer boxes in Sex and the City Bar.