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“Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it.”

Bertold Brecht

 

Having a very close and personal relationship with the natural world, predominantly its botanical branch, made Vladimir Radujkov find the source of my inspiration somewhere between the fallen leaves on the ground, the gentle swaying branches and the sky.

 

All changes in movement, hues, rhythms and light became both the fuel and the task itself. Development of every new painting took this study approach as a base around which Vladmir creative process revolved and came to be.

 

These gentle variations were also very suitable for his own visual style: seemingly disorganised and yet orderly. Line upon line pulled out of memory to mark the excitement of every new observing moment. Restlessness, one of the main characteristics of my work, also became the main focus of my scrutiny. The absence of symmetry, the tamed disorder and the ever-changing patterns proved hard to capture but trapping these aspects turned into the main task for over a year, which resulted in twelve paintings, each dedicated to a chosen moment out of every month of the calendar year. All the resulting artworks are paintings, but their linear character without painted surfaces can be seen also as drawings.

 

Vladimir Radujkov approach consisted of harvesting his personal experiences (mainly visual but also encompassing all the other senses) using natural elements and then translating them into an expressive pictorial language while avoiding mimicking nature directly. The triangular bind between nature, himself and art became the very core of the residency and its meditative process helped him understand the capacity and quality of his labour. Neither abstract nor figurative, it stands in both worlds as its own entity and conveys empathy for all natural creation.

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​The work was possible thanks to CBK Rotterdam, Gemeente Rotterdam and Gebiedscomissie Kralingen Crooswijk

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