Habitats, 2024
wood, paint, terracotta, dimensions variable (Museum of Vojvodina collection, Novi Sad, Serbia)
production: artist, Museum of Vojvodina
photos: Kristina Karaičić
The work is called HABITATS and it problematises the cutting of forests in general, and above all throughout our, once much greener, country.
HABITATS is a work consisting of several old drawers and terracotta figures in the form of cut trees that he placed in them. The artist wonders how far we have come as a civilization, why we cut down so many trees, how many new ones we planted and how many plant and animal species we exterminated along the way – because each tree is an ecosystem. One healthy, but cut tree entails the disappearance of numerous birds, insects, and mushrooms that used to live either on it or in harmony with it. That’s why all unplanned cuttings of the so-called “lungs of the planet” are a significant ecological disaster.
The artistic expression of this sculptor with a degree in painting develops through the constant revival of discarded objects, similar to Šejka’s “garbage” aesthetics.
Nikolić “breathes in” new life to old, discarded things and presents them in a different context, closer to the present moment. A special segment of his work is his relationship with the material. So, in this case, the sculptor makes terracotta figurines that represent parts of trees and places them into drawers, which are made of some kind of wood semi-product. Thus, the artist ponders the tree’s destiny here as a material, thinking about its physical and expressive properties, the origin and the status they occupy in the very process of work and the materialization of an idea.
Along with the critical point of view, he takes in his work, there is often a touch of humour in Nikolić’s work. But that humour is complex. He never laughs from the heart, but he also has a hint of irony and bitterness that may make an attentive spectator feel depressed. This author plays with reality in a clever, sardonic, and amusing way.
Dragana Garić Jovičić