created and socialised, played instruments, recited poetry, drunk and gossiped. I loved the freedom and inventiveness that reigned there. But things didn’t progress in a straight- forward way in my case, because I also had a fondness for sport. I practised judo for 20 years, becoming a master at the age of four- teen. I wanted to study this martial art and acupuncture in parallel in Japan. Unfortu- nately, or fortunately, injuries directed me towards art. His mother Svetlana dealt with applied arts, while his father, famous and beloved poet Miroslav Mika Antić, worked in poet- ry, film and painting. - I used to accompany my father to lit- erary evenings that were very theatrical. I didn’t look at the expressions on his face as he recited his poetry, because I knew them by heart. I watched the expressions of the listeners he was addressing from backstage. So I learned indirectly from him not work- ing techniques, but some sort of lecturing technique. We didn’t have major discussions about what I was going to do. He let me de- cide for myself and to throw myself into the fire when I felt the need. When I painted my first oil painting, he heard about it from oth- er artists and turned up at the studio where I was working for the first time. He sat oppo- site that picture and looked at it for hours, in my absence. He told me only briefly: Now I better understand what you want to say. And that was all. It was as if the language of painting was enough to replace all the sto- ries of life. I have a similar relationship with my daughters, Dunja, who is a photographer, and Iris, who is still young but is already in- terested in acting and directing. We under- stand each other best when we talk about art. Antić left for Paris just a few days after graduation, led by the feeling that it was the right place for him. - I was fascinated by the city, its cultural and historical heritage. I quickly realised that with a new way of life, a very serious type of game had begun in which part of me dis- appeared never to return. A lot had to be learned and even more had to be shown, and I did not hesitate. Art is like flying, man needs to be brave and ready for ascents, for descents and for looping, in order to master the skills with which he deals. He began as a painter, learning the craft and technology, then began experimenting with the formal and aesthetic possibilities of his work. He was led by an interest in com- position and the organisation of the two-di- mensional space of the picture with colour, form, lines etc. - My temperament corresponds more to intervention in a realistic three-dimensional space. I turned to work in situ , on the spot, us- ing elements of the exhibition environment:
Igorova majka Svetlana bavila se primenjenom umetnošću, a otac čuveni i voljeni pesnik Miroslav Mika Antić, poezijom, filmom i Svetlana dealt with applied arts, while his father, famous and beloved poet Miroslav Mika slikarstvom His mother Antić, dealt with poetry, film and painting
I f he wasn’t an artist, Igor Antić would prob- ably be an astronaut. For him, every work of art is an aircraft for travelling to an in- ner universe. One such trip led him to the 9th Biennale, Oh Happy Days, in the Belgian city of Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve. With his work‘The Remodelling of the Mountains’, Ig- or brought the physical and mental contam- ination of our world into focus. The work rep- resents a mountain of about 250,000 pieces of used chewing gum, located in the middle of this university town, and visitors can see it as the central exhibit until 10 th December. - The title of the biennale is taken from Samuel Beckett’s play in which a woman lives buried up to her neck in a mound of rub- bish. The biennial addresses the theme of the pollution of our civilisation. It calls on art- ists and intellectuals to unite around a com- mon platform in order to address this topic more deeply. My exhibit, The Remodelling
of the Mountains, addresses the physical and mental contamination of our world. Chewing gum, that half-natural, half-chemical product, is a substance that is tough to recycle. Us- ing chewing gum, I wrote sentences every- where in this form, about four metres high. These sentences interpret the postulates of politics, philosophy and art that to this day are considered as representing the pinnacle of our civilisation. How have we gone from those peaks and so many wise thoughts to reach the situation we find ourselves in to- day? I needed about a year to create this work. Antić expressed himself best through drawing, even back in his childhood, so it was clear to him that he would one day be- come an artist. - I grew up in the atmosphere of paint- ing and sculpting studios at Petrovaradin Fortress, where my parents also worked. I buzzed day and night around people who
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