KULTURA CULTURE
HAJDANA KOSTIĆ AT SKC The struggle for humaneness in a thousand colours The exhibition Borba [Struggle] at the Belgrade Student Cultural Centre’s Happy Gallery presents the works of this Montenegrin artist that are dominated by resplendent colours, powerful emotions and the conflict between the human and the beast within us
do it and I couldn’t pull out. at was the best and at times hardest thing I’ve done for myself. But I opened many doors with that challenge.” Novak Đoković also recog- nised your talent. Tell us how you came up with in- cluding Tesla and how No- vak ended up sharing it on social media... “ e drawing of Tesla was cre- ated during the 365 Challenge, and that illustration was published by Original magazine on its Instagram profile to commemorate the anni- versary of Nikola Tesla’s birthday. Following that post, Jelena and No- vak Đoković also shared it on their profiles. All I’ll say is that a shriek of joy resounded through the house that day. [laughs]” How have your pictures ended up in private collec- tions worldwide? “I won the Red Bull Doodle Art Montenegro 2023 competition and participated in the world competi- tion in Amsterdam. at experience gave me a huge tailwind and I also received new opportunities. Oxford saw my illustration on Instagram and shared it with their audience of millions. As for my paintings, most of them have left Montenegro and gone overseas.” You actually haven’t done many exhibitions. Is social media your “gallery”? “I’ve so far had three solo ex- hibitions in Belgrade and two in Podgorica, while I’ve also been part of group exhibitions in the region and temporary exhibitions in Amsterdam’s STRAAT museum of street art. However, despite this, I’ve never considered exhibitions as a route to establish myself as an artist, but rather I’ve relied on the internet from the start. With the 365 Challenge (which extended to 800), I started to build up my audi- ence on Instagram and other net- works. Eight hundred days were a real roller coaster, months of calm, then suddenly various opportuni- ties... And so on. e effort pays off, but you have to endure a peri- od without results.
SHE STARTED PLAYING THE VIOLIN AT THE AGE OF THREE , then abandoned that and switched to the piano “because in that case you sit”. By the age of eight she was already a European piano compe- tition champion, though she pre- ferred to dance. She chose the Acad- emy of Fine Arts because everyone there knows how to have a good time and they have crazy hairstyles! ere she found a boyfriend and lifelong friends, and discovered her love for drawing. Here we present to you Hajdana Kostić, a painter and illustrator from Podgorica who il- lustrated the cover of this issue of Elevate and whose works you can see on the hajdiofficial Instagram profile... Your pictures and illustra- tions are bursting with vi- brant colours and good vibes. Where does that joy- ousness come from? “While I was at the academy of fine arts, I only drew black and white drawings, because I was cer- tain that I didn’t know how to prop- erly use colour, so I didn't even try. A few years after finishing college, I gave myself permission and un- leashed an avalanche of colourful- ness. I combine colours complete- ly spontaneously, without plans or intentions, just with curiosity and persistence in discovering which is the right one at that moment. And the longer I paint, the more I’m in contact with that “something” that tells me what to do.” Your mother played a huge- ly important role in your career?
“She was always the most im- portant person in my life. As a sin- gle mother, she was my everything and she believed in me. It was by watching her struggle through life that I learned to seize opportuni- ties and give my all. And to this day I often still send her a picture from my studio and wait for her opinion and advice.” You became known to the public when you decided to draw and post a drawing on social media every single day for 365 days. How did you handle that tempo? “I did that when I was carried away by the moment and complete- ly without forethought. I persisted with that spontaneous decision for 800 days. I honestly think what maintained me through the diffi- cult moments was the fact that I had written publicly that I was going to
Dođite u Crnu Goru da vidite Perast, Kolašin i Bar, zbog lepote, prirode i tišine Come to Montenegro to see Perast, Kolašin and Bar, for the beauty,
nature and tranquillity
54 | Umetnost » Art
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