Rada Selaković
(Belgrade, 1952-2008) graduated in painting in 1976, and received her master’s degree in 1978 at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade. She continued to specialise during study stays in Greece in 1980-1981 (Greece Government Scholarship), the USA in 1985-1986 (Fulbright Scholarship) and in France in 1994 (Cité Internationale des Arts). She held 39 solo exhibitions in Yugoslavia, USA, France and Germany and also participated in over 400 group exhibitions and projects in the country and abroad. Selaković won 22 university, national and international awards.
Her works are in the collections of museums and galleries, such as the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade, the National Museum of Serbia in Belgrade, the Belgrade City Museum, the Zepter Museum and others, as well as in private collections in the country and abroad.
The artistic creativity of Rada Selaković is difficult to place within the framework of a specific movement or stylistic direction at the turn of the 21st century, a period during which she created. Her oeuvre is characterized by several different phases, ranging from figural to geometric abstraction. There is a continuity in the use of gold, which is evidenced by the posthumous exhibition organized as a tribute to her work, titled “Gold”. Through her artistic practice, she used various media, such as painting, prints, sculpture, photographs, objects, videos, assemblages, and even works of applied art (Winged Chair, 2004).
Through all phases and cycles, the body occupies a significant place in her work in ways that depict different, very complex interpersonal relationships. Mythological themes and postmodern tendencies are present in her artwork, most likely influenced by two scholarships that turned out to be of the greatest importance to her career. These were scholarships from the Greek Government and a specialization in Athens and on the island of Rhodes, and a scholarship from the Fulbright Program for studies in the USA that helped her conduct research work in the field of augmented media and video at the Pratt Institute in New York.
In the early works of Rada Selaković, figuration and drawing dominate, while geometric compositions are increasingly represented in the later phase. When it comes to drawings, she paid special attention to the selection of materials, thus many drawings were, for example, executed on rice paper, or embroidered with gold paint on fine paper.
PMMA is also largely represented in her oeuvre, especially when we talk about the research that she conceived to be in four parts, but due to her untimely death it remained a trilogy: “Air” (2001), “Earth” (2005), “Water” (2007) and “Fire” (unfinished). Through these three cycles, the artist explored the planet Earth, which she perceived as the core and essence, emphasizing the unity of man and earth. In this way, she drew attention to ecology through its multiple layers, but she also examined subjects that go much deeper and beyond and are concerned with social systems, physics, ethics and aesthetics.
Through the example of the last finished cycle “Water”, we can discern the importance she gave to the selection of materials in creating a certain atmosphere of the setting. Namely, it is an ambient installation in which she emphasized the state of art and the water environment through paintings, cartoon objects, animation projections of painted scenes, diving into the water, air bubbles, light refractions and differently colored PMMA plates, which aimed not only to produce the illusion of water through reflection, but also to evoke a view of the screen image. Additionally rounding the ambience and making it complete was the audio recording of the heartbeat and breathing rhythm of the Diver.
With a combination of the real and the abstract, thorough research, carefully thought-out details, and works executed with artisanal precision, she dealt with the fate of humanity, the relationship between art and community, with the premise that alienation of the artist from the community is fatal.
Rada Selaković (Beograd, 1952-2008) diplomirala je slikarstvo 1976. a magistrirala 1978. na Fakultetu likovnih umetnosti u Beogradu. Posle studija nastavlja stručno usavršavanje na studijskim boravcima u Grčkoj 1980-1981. (Stipendija grčke vlade), SAD 1985-1986. (Fulbrajtova stipendija) i u Francuskoj 1994. (Cità internationale des arts Paris). Imala je 39 samostalnih izložbi u Jugoslaviji, SAD, Francuskoj i Nemačkoj. Učestvovala je na preko 400 grupnih izložbi i projekata u zemlji i inostranstvu. Dobitnica ja 22 univerzitetske, nacionalne i međunarodne nagrade.
Njena dela se nalaze u zbirkama muzeja i galerija u zemlji, kao što su Muzej savremene umetnosti Beograd, Narodni muzej u Beogradu, Muzej grada Beograda, Muzej Zepter i drugi, kao i u privatnim kolekcijama u zemlji i inostranstvu.
Stvaralaštvo umetnice Rade Selaković, teško je smestiti u okvire određenog pokreta ili stilskog pravca kraja XX i početka XXI veka kada je stvarala. Njen opus karakteriše nekoliko različitih faza, koje se kreću od figuralnog do geometrijske apstrakcije. Ono što se može uočiti kao kontinuitet jeste upotreba zlata, o čemu svedoči i posthumna izložba priređena kao omaž njenom radu i to upravo pod nazivom „Zlato“. Kroz svoju umetničku praksu koristila je različite medije, poput slikarstva, grafike, skulpture, fotografija, objekata, videa, asamblaža, pa čak i dela primenjene umetnosti (Krilata stolica, 2004).
Kroz sve faze i cikluse, telo zauzima značajno mesto u njenom radu i to na način koji oslikava različite, vrlo kompleksne međuljudske odnose. U njenom radu prisutne su mitološke teme i postmoderne tendencije, što je uticaj dve stipendije za koje se ispostavlja da su bile najznačajnije za njeno delovanje: stipendija grčke Vlade i specijalizacija u Atini i na ostrvu Rodos, sa druge strane stipendija Fulbrajtovog programa za studije u SAD uz pomoć koje je sprovela istraživački rad u oblasti proširenih medija i videa na Prat insititutu u Njujorku.
U ranim radovima Rade Selaković dominiraju figuracija i crtež, dok su kasnije sve više zastupljene geometrijske kompozicije. Kada su u pitanju crteži, posebnu pažnju je obraćala na odabir materijala, pa je tako puno crteža na primer izvedeno na pirinčanom papiru, ili izvezeno zlatnom bojom na finom papiru.
Klirit je takođe prilično zastupljen u njenom opusu, naročito kada govorimo o istraživanju koji je planirala da bude četverodelni, ali je zbog njene prerane smrti ostao trodelni: „Vazduh“ (2001), „Zemlja“ (2005), „Voda“ (2007) i „Vatra“ (nerealizovano). Kroz ova tri ciklusa, umetnica se bavila istraživanjem planete Zemlje, koju doživljava kao jezgro i suštinu, naglašavajući jedinstvo čoveka i zemlje. Na ovaj način je skretala pažnju na ekologiju kroz njene mnogostruke slojeve, ali je tretirala i teme koje idu mnogo dublje i dalje od toga i tiču se društvenih sistema, fizike, etike i estetike.
Kroz primer poslednjeg izvednog ciklusa „Voda“ možemo uočiti značaj koji je pridavala odabiru materijala u kreiranju određene atmosfere postavke. Naime, u pitanju je ambijentalna instalacija u kojoj je naglasila likovidno stanje i vodeno okruženje kroz slike, crtane objekte, projekcije animacije slikanih prizora, poniranja u vodu, vazdušnih mehurića, svetlosnih prelamanja i različito obojenih kliritnih ploča koje su imale za cilj, ne samo da proizvedu iluziju vode kroz refleksiju, već i da asociraju pogled na ekransku sliku. Ono što je dodatno ispunjavalo ovaj ambijent i činilo ga potpunim bio je audio zapis otkucaja srca i ritam disanja Ronioca.
Kombinacijom realnog i apstraktnog, temeljnim istraživanjem, pažljivo promišljenim detaljima, zanatskom preciznošću izvedenim radovima, bavila se sudbinom čovečanstva, odnosom umetnosti i zajednice, polazeći od stava da je otuđenost umetnika od zajednice pogubna.
