Predstavljamo Jugoslava Vlahovića / introducing Jugoslav Vlahović
I ’ve always considered it useful to occasionally collate and publish my best illustrations and caricatures in the form of books. That’s because the book is the only printed matter that’s made to last. The serendipity that led to me meeting Lazar Sakan from Belgrade-based agency and gallery New moment resulted in an exhibition and an extremely beautiful book, printed on excellent Italian Fedrigoni paper, with a preface authored by writer Vladislav Bajac. The Flower Power exhibition and book carry the subtitle “Sketched anti-war, post-hip- pie utopia”. That contains the essence of this endeavour: 120 drawings and caricatures repre- sent a complete cycle that has been shaped over many years. Flowers have for centuries been a motif of fine and applied arts. From the beautiful bo- tanical illustrations of the 18 th century, via Van Gogh’s famous Sunflowers from the end of 19 th , to the sophisticated paintings of Georgia O’Keeffe in the 1930s or the pop-art serigraphy of Andy Warhol during the ‘60s. Standing out in more recent times is American Jeff Koons’ Pup- py, a 13-metre-tall sculpture composed of 60,000 flowers. Flowers have had a constant presence in applied arts and have also flourished in the fashion industry in recent years. However, that has always been within the framework of decorative, or- namental and often kitsch. That’s why I consider the Flower
Power exhibition something new and different from everything that’s come before. It also coincided with several anniversaries: the fiftieth anniversary of the legendary, tumultuous year of 1968, when the planet shuddered under the weight of student demonstrations in Europe and America, and when the global hippie movement, under the slogan“make love not war”, preached peace. America led a cruel war against North Vietnam that caused the deaths of 50,000 young Amer- icans and two million Vietnamese. Hippies, flower chil- dren, were symbols of resistance to this, and they were immortalised in numerous artistic or musical works of that time, including in the famous musical Hair, which was performed in Belgrade for four years on the stage of Atelje 212: and throughout that time the author of this article performed in that show. Dušan Prelević, who played the lead role in Hair, said in an interview once that I“was the
patriarch, the spiritual leader”. I think he said that because I was the only one from the tribe who experienced that time in an authentic and creative way, hitchhiking through Europe and America, watching three versions of Hair: in London, Amsterdam and the original Broad-
way version in New York, where they received me as one of their own in the summer of 1971. They even allowed me to run across the stage in the scene with the stroboscope, so that I could boast of having per- formed on Broadway for a minute. In a summer camp in Wisconsin, where I spent two months watching the fear of young men who might be conscripted and sent to Vietnam. One of them wanted to come and stay with me in Belgrade if that happened. At that time, John Len- non and Yoko Ono also intended to come to Belgrade, as he was interested in our system of workers’self-management. It is known that John and Yoko sent Tito two acorns to plant in the Park of Peace in front of
the Palace of Yugoslavia, today’s Palace of Serbia on Ušće. All of this combined to inspire me to realise what turned out to be a multimedia show, because at the opening I also played a mandolin together with my children, my son Jakša and daughter Marta, and their spouses Tihomir and Marija. We called the group“Family Factory of Wholemeal Bread”, after my acoustic group from 1968. “Maya de Rado and the Family Facto- ry of Black Bread”. That night you could have said: Belgrade is a flower! Not everything will stay in Belgrade. The Flower Power exhibition, along with drawings that didn’t fit in the New Moment display, was repeated in 15 th June at the Dorćol Platz and the Carnival of Flowers in Lipoliste near Šabac on 22 nd June, and then again in August at the Carni- val in Bela Crkva. One thrilled visitor at the New Moment Gallery said to me:“This should go to Europe”. And not just Europe – China is also looking good! I’ll pack these drawings of mine in a “herbarium of drawings” and head off into the world, as I did 50 years ago, though of course this time not hitchhiking. All in its own time.
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