Text from the exhibition catalog "Quo vadis?" held at the Sales Gallery Belgrade, November 2020.
STAIRS OF THE SOUL
"QUO VADIS, Domine?", St. Peter
A new series of paintings, from the prolific visual oeuvre of Mila Gvardiol, titled Quo Vadis, have stairs as its key motif and confirms the artist’s fascination with the contemporary, both in form and expression. Biographically, Mila is a representative of the middle generation of already established Belgrade visual artists who constantly re-examine issues and relationships from their immediate surroundings. First, she feels and then transposes, in various art techniques, impressions of life close to her putting the observer in a position to make up his own mind. The urban motifs of Mila’s works are not only fascinating because of their complexity, grandiosity and dimension, but also because of the magical power to enchant and draw us into the picture by inviting us to participate. We cannot remain indifferent, our gaze always finds a direction or line to continue to follow to the very edges of the canvas, and beyond ... Linguistically analyzed, the name of Mila’s cycle, has its roots in the ancient legend according to which St. Peter leaving Rome to escape martyrdom, has a vision of Christ and frightened asks him “Quo vadis, Domine?”/“Where are you going, Lord?”. It is quite clear that the artist is interested in the symbology of stairs, that she has explored their history and meaning being attracted precisely by their duality and dilemma of whether we are climbing up or going down. Architecturally, stairs are a constructive element by which we vertically join spaces of different levels, and Mila’s can emotionally be read as the stairs of our souls. The link between what has passed and what we expect on our way, a combination of different decisions and states – scalinata as a universal symbol of our rises and falls. Looking at the works from the series Quo Vadis, we notice that the artist skillfully toys with our existence in space and time as she always offers only a detail of the staircase, we can never see the whole architectural construction. The observer must focus on “hic et nunc”, on this given moment of his existence, the past and the future are both abstracted. Mila paints fragments of stairs frame like on large-format canvases, and while looking at them we have the feeling that they are not stationary but moving like Calder’s sculptures. The complexity of the motif is also reflected in the fact that its decoding is ambivalent, it can refer to metaphorical movement but also to the real, the physical. In addition, depending on our point of view, stairs have the power to be simultaneously perceived in two ways, they are a symbiosis of successes and failures. The solution of the visual puzzles is in the eye of the beholder as well as the decision of whether to opt for the conformist path or the more difficult one, the anti-conformist one.
Mila’s paintings, from the Quo Vadis cycle, offer the observer several possibilities: constant striving for higher levels, goals and paths, coming back to the known and already seen, or perhaps not moving and remaining in the present. Sometimes, it is inevitable to take a step back in order to boldly take a step forward into the future, “descent” and stagnation are not necessarily symbols of degradation and decline. If you instinctively “run” your gaze over Mila’s stairs, you will unmistakably know what your path is.
"QUO VADIS, Domine?", St. Peter
A new series of paintings, from the prolific visual oeuvre of Mila Gvardiol, titled Quo Vadis, have stairs as its key motif and confirms the artist’s fascination with the contemporary, both in form and expression. Biographically, Mila is a representative of the middle generation of already established Belgrade visual artists who constantly re-examine issues and relationships from their immediate surroundings. First, she feels and then transposes, in various art techniques, impressions of life close to her putting the observer in a position to make up his own mind. The urban motifs of Mila’s works are not only fascinating because of their complexity, grandiosity and dimension, but also because of the magical power to enchant and draw us into the picture by inviting us to participate. We cannot remain indifferent, our gaze always finds a direction or line to continue to follow to the very edges of the canvas, and beyond ... Linguistically analyzed, the name of Mila’s cycle, has its roots in the ancient legend according to which St. Peter leaving Rome to escape martyrdom, has a vision of Christ and frightened asks him “Quo vadis, Domine?”/“Where are you going, Lord?”. It is quite clear that the artist is interested in the symbology of stairs, that she has explored their history and meaning being attracted precisely by their duality and dilemma of whether we are climbing up or going down. Architecturally, stairs are a constructive element by which we vertically join spaces of different levels, and Mila’s can emotionally be read as the stairs of our souls. The link between what has passed and what we expect on our way, a combination of different decisions and states – scalinata as a universal symbol of our rises and falls. Looking at the works from the series Quo Vadis, we notice that the artist skillfully toys with our existence in space and time as she always offers only a detail of the staircase, we can never see the whole architectural construction. The observer must focus on “hic et nunc”, on this given moment of his existence, the past and the future are both abstracted. Mila paints fragments of stairs frame like on large-format canvases, and while looking at them we have the feeling that they are not stationary but moving like Calder’s sculptures. The complexity of the motif is also reflected in the fact that its decoding is ambivalent, it can refer to metaphorical movement but also to the real, the physical. In addition, depending on our point of view, stairs have the power to be simultaneously perceived in two ways, they are a symbiosis of successes and failures. The solution of the visual puzzles is in the eye of the beholder as well as the decision of whether to opt for the conformist path or the more difficult one, the anti-conformist one.
Mila’s paintings, from the Quo Vadis cycle, offer the observer several possibilities: constant striving for higher levels, goals and paths, coming back to the known and already seen, or perhaps not moving and remaining in the present. Sometimes, it is inevitable to take a step back in order to boldly take a step forward into the future, “descent” and stagnation are not necessarily symbols of degradation and decline. If you instinctively “run” your gaze over Mila’s stairs, you will unmistakably know what your path is.
Miona M. Markovic, painter and art historian
Text from the catalog of the exhibition "Crossroads" held in the Block Gallery, Belgrade 2014; Gallery of Contemporary Art Smederevo 2015; Gallery Milotić, Pula 2015; Art Salon KC Novi Sad 2015.
Starting with New York's school, through minimalist art, and all the way to artists originating from these regions such as Miodrag B. Protić, Aleksandar Tomašević, Julije Knifer or Radomir Damnjanović Damnjan, geometric abstraction has introduced vast areas of expressive painting possibillities. The poetic and visual effects present on Mila Gvardiol's earlier works (i.e. the works from the cycle "Predeli Duše" – eng: Landscapes of Soul) have now evolved into a purified mental space which is adorned in the experience of geometric abstraction itself. Warm, lyrical cadences from the previous endeavours of this artist have now been overpowered by the concept of mathematical thought which pays respect to puristic ideals of cleanliness and exactness, peace and harmony of the painting structures and the compatibility of spatial plans. For Mila Gvardiol, geometry is only a starting point of personalized artist’s contemplation on the theme of crossroads. A crossroad represents an important cultural and mythological magical place in many Indo-European nations. It is an epiphanic place of assembly, the center of the world from which the envisaged paths extend. At the crossroad, we are meant to gather and collect our thoughts deep down. From the crossroad, we set out into the unknown and the adventure begins.
Mila Gvardiol'spolyptychs point to the symbolic importance of crossroads. After all, doesn’t our beingrepresent the crossroad where various aspects of our identities face each other? Mila Gvardiol has avoided general places and iconic patents of geometric abstraction by activating the individual mythology and confessions of her inner eye. She, therefore, presents the inner crossroad of the spirit and the soul, thus revealing new artistic horizons to an observer of a sensitive soul. The painting field is herein a place of assembly, a crossroad, a polygon, a collection of possible roads. It is a mental and imaginative space of open and stripped imaginative roads. The white and grey parts which intersect on a black mat tone suggest something vitally moveable. With a kind of autonomous symbolism, we are here presented with a dynamic painting field which possessesa distant echo of Esher’sillusionistic and graphic metamorphosis.
In the steadfast and consequently shaped polyptychs which are in no way liberated from the influence of inspirational visible reality, emotional restrain was brought to exactness. By keeping her clear aesthetic opinion and the integrity of abstract synthesis, Mila Gvardiol has found her intimate psychological disposition.
Mila Gvardiol'spolyptychs point to the symbolic importance of crossroads. After all, doesn’t our beingrepresent the crossroad where various aspects of our identities face each other? Mila Gvardiol has avoided general places and iconic patents of geometric abstraction by activating the individual mythology and confessions of her inner eye. She, therefore, presents the inner crossroad of the spirit and the soul, thus revealing new artistic horizons to an observer of a sensitive soul. The painting field is herein a place of assembly, a crossroad, a polygon, a collection of possible roads. It is a mental and imaginative space of open and stripped imaginative roads. The white and grey parts which intersect on a black mat tone suggest something vitally moveable. With a kind of autonomous symbolism, we are here presented with a dynamic painting field which possessesa distant echo of Esher’sillusionistic and graphic metamorphosis.
In the steadfast and consequently shaped polyptychs which are in no way liberated from the influence of inspirational visible reality, emotional restrain was brought to exactness. By keeping her clear aesthetic opinion and the integrity of abstract synthesis, Mila Gvardiol has found her intimate psychological disposition.
Dragan Jovanovic Danilov, art critic, poet, essayist