What drives you?
Life as such (a mystical thing, isn’t it?). Love. Togetherness. Processes, both inner and outer. Work. Food. Music. Mostly basic things.
They’re all my children…
I don’t know what you’re talking about. I have one son. I don’t mess around. I love my wife.
What else do you do?
I paint, I focus on my family, I work as a professor at the Beogradska politehnika, I do graphic design, I cook, I meditate daily, I exercise (a bit of yoga, a bit of other things, running, some kind of mix), I read, I listen to music.
What should an artist possess, in terms of qualities and skills?
The term “artist” is so broad that this question doesn’t make much sense. If the question were what qualities a neurosurgeon or a gold miner should possess, there’s probably a branch of art where exactly those qualities are highly significant.
Criticism? Who and what can influence your work… its placement?
My work is most influenced by local social circumstances, in several senses. They affect the quantity of work, the scale of production (read: you get as much music as you have money), the placement and sales on the one hand, and the very content of the artworks on the other.
Who is your superhero? Who are today’s superheroes?
Greta Thunberg is a contemporary superheroine.
What is isolation for you?
Some time ago I burned out a bit from too much work and too many processes I was involved in (the paintings speak about that), and consequently too much communication. So I slowed down, reduced my workload, cut back on going out and socializing. Compared to how I used to live, I’ve been in moderate isolation for a while now. I have to admit that this world, the way it is, has become too intense for me—I can’t keep up anymore. For now, isolation doesn’t bother me.
What good can come out of this situation?
The planet will get a little breather. But I have no doubt we’ll hardly wait to continue destroying it with full force—and with a smile—once the pandemic is over. I’m afraid we won’t learn anything from this. For the planet, we are the virus. We are successfully destroying the planet’s lungs, the temperature is rising, the overall condition is worsening through extreme weather, toxicity is increasing, the planet is overpopulated. What’s worrying is that when a virus multiplies too much, the host dies. And with it, all the viruses. We are smiling, foolish, greedy viruses—that’s what we are.
Do you have a TV at home?
Yes, I do.
Do you listen to the radio?
Only internet radio — Radio Aparat, BBC Radio 6 Music, sometimes SomaFM, and occasionally Mjehur na mreži on Mixcloud.
Bicycle or sand?
Yellow or cat?
Are you vegan or vegetarian?
I’m neither vegan nor vegetarian, but I’m not a particularly heavy meat-eater either. You could say I’m slowly leaning toward vegetarianism, in the sense that I don’t mind having vegetarian meals more and more often. I think I’ll spontaneously become a vegetarian—or something close to it—before long.
Beer or wine?
Wine. And specifically local wines.
Do you recycle?
I’ve tried a few times, but the infrastructure doesn’t seem sufficiently developed. It often happened that I collected bottles, and when I took them to the designated container, I’d find all sorts of random waste inside. A few years ago, there was a cage for plastic packaging in my neighborhood. Just as I got used to collecting and taking it there, the cage disappeared. At one point, sorting containers appeared, but they were placed on Požeška Street, right next to the tram tracks, in a spot where I absolutely can’t stop the car—and it’s not close enough to carry everything by hand. Serious recycling requires serious infrastructure and determination at the level of society and decision-makers. That still hasn’t happened in our country.
Book / Film?
I’m a big fan of Karl Ove Knausgård and his six-volume novel My Struggle. At the beginning of the year, I bought the final, sixth volume—over a thousand pages long. There will be plenty to read in voluntary isolation.
In addition, I’ve been revisiting some science fiction. New editions of the Dune series were published, and I reread them after about 30 years.
As for films, I mostly watch movies with my son: the entire How to Train Your Dragon series, Kung Fu Panda 3, The Lego Movie…
When it comes to more serious films (I’m trying to come up with a sentence without using the term “adult films,” since that could be misunderstood), if a film makes me laugh and cry, then it’s a good film for me. Little Miss Sunshine, Captain Fantastic, the French film Le Grand Bain—mostly small films without visual effects, about people who can’t fly, aren’t green, don’t shoot fire from their fists, but instead more or less successfully struggle with their own problems.
And music…?
Bombay Bicycle Club, Mr Jukes, Anderson .Paak, Father John Misty, Beck, Alabama Shakes, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Tame Impala, The Growlers, Lucius, Buč Kesidi…
Recommend a website/portal/app…
I use the internet when I want to find something out; social media has never really won me over—I don’t hang out online. There are a few good apps, though: they’re called a hug, a book, a walk, a sun salutation, a glass of wine with someone, and things like that…
And my favorite portal to another dimension is my studio. Drop by sometime… Well, not now—now isn’t the moment. When all this passes… Until then, take a look at zoltkovac.com.