Jovanka Stanojević


Jovanka Stanojević is a Serbian painter.

Biography and Career

Born in Belgrade in 1979, Stanojević obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts in 2005 and a Master of Fine Arts in drawing in 2009. She is currently completing her Ph.D. dissertation at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade. Since 2008, Stanojević worked as an Assistant Professor at the , John Naisbitt University of Belgrade. Since 2015 works as an Assistant Professor at the , University of East Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
She had exhibitions in Serbia, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Spain, Greece, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Italy, and received a number of painting awards.
Stanojević won residencies at the International School of Painting, Drawing and Sculpture in Montecastello, Italy and at the Outside Project in Florence.

Art

Stanojević's art can be considered a realism not reduced to recognition, in the convention that a painting is always an interpretation of the world determined by conventions, ideology and the spirit of the time. Realism becomes one of the possible ways of exploration of a new society and new perspectives on society and nature. Through her portraits, the Serbian artist allows us to perceive a subject as a significant image of our cultural environment, that offers something more than a nicely composed and a convincing interpretation of a person.
An artistic interest inclined toward less glorified aspects of everyday life led Stanojević to depict subjects possessing greatness not related to social status or physical beauty, such as in hairstyles and enlarged female heads, submitted to the celebration of a woman in all her uniqueness. This is not a romantic escape into an idyllic world of beauty and grace, but a sign of fundamental isolation, exploration of the metaphysics of the outer and inner environment, microcosm of the body, vulnerability.
Face to face with Stanojević's large scale portraits, viewer is unable to see the painting in full, his eye is forced to scan it and his brain starts isolating elements and making connections between them. Looking at the painting, viewer can come closer to it or step farther away from it, turning himself into a zooming lens.
Stanojević's work, telling us about artist's own relationship with reality, tries to let the viewer see for a moment the world from another perspective, giving him the freedom to change perspectives. The viewer is pulled into a moment and forced to think about what he sees.

Exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions (selection)