NA SVOM PUTU / ON HIS PATH 
tekst gdina Nikole Kusovca povodom izložbe "Lica, predmeti i prostori" / article by Mr Nikola Kusovac regarding the exhibition "Faces, Objects and Spaces"
 

Na svu sreću još uvek ima umetnika koji nisu, opčinjeni agresivnom mantrom o  avangardi,  podlegli njenim zavodljivim posledicama i pristali da svoje ateljeje pretvore u laboratorije za istraživanje  neispitanih  prostora duha i materije,  poput onih koje sada neki istoričari i teoretičari umetnosti trpaju pod odrednicom tzv.  proširenih medija ili njima sličnih   vizuelnih tvorevina iz raznorodnih radionica, najčešće, za proizvodnju magle. To znači da je uvek bilo, kao što ih sada ima,  umetnika za koje se, prema prirodi onog što stvaraju, mora reći da uporno  rade i grade delo utemeljeno na punoj svesti o značaju tradicije, odnosno na korišćenju svekolikog likovnog nasleđa. Oni su obično temeljno obrazovane, hrabre, odlučne, samouverene i uporne stvaralačke  ličnosti nepokolebljivih etičkih i jednako čvrstih estetičkih stavova i uverenja uvek spremni,  da ne pitajući za cenu i ne osvrćući se na žrtve koje podnose - najčešće na optužbe da su anahroni ili da su obični epigoni, bez povlađivanja bilo kojim i bilo  kakvim izazovima materijalne prirode ili, češće, zavodljivim pomodnim aktuelnostima - po pravilu površnim i sumnjivim, idu ka postavljenom cilju sigurni da u ime umetnosti ne bi trebalo nipošto „ići preko njenih granica“, kako je to u vezi nekih Lesingovih pogleda i stavova  mudro zaključio Ingarden.

Upravo redu takvih umetnika, odlučnih i spremnih da zarad onog što vole i u šta čvrsto veruju ne dopuste bilo kakvo odstupanje ili skretanje sa puta kojim su krenuli, pripada akademski slikar i član Ulusa od 2011.  Milenko Stevanović,  koji sada živi i stvara u Nikoziji,  unutar kiparskog udruženja vizuelnih umetnika i teoretičara.  Da je odista u pitanju takav, nepokolebljivo odlučan mladi umetnik koji veruje tradicionalnoj iluziji trodimenizonalne realističke slike,  svedoči njegovo ukupno delo nastalo tokom petnastak minulih godina. Utemeljeno na besprekorno savladanoj  veštini crtanja, na majstorskoj ubedljivosti slikanja materije,  na raskošnom bogatstvu valerskog nijansiranja uz  maštovitu igru i poigravanja sa efektima svetlosti, svaki njegov rad, svejedno da li je u pitanju crtež,  ulje ili akvarel, odnosno da li slika lica, predmete ili prostor (predele),  otkriva umetnika koji nastoji, kako sam piše, da kroz strpljivo posmatranje i promišljanje  u punoj meri kontroliše boju i oblik.  Ne želeći pri tome da bude demijurg,  a još manje ideolog  ili zastupnik nekog određenog stila i umetničkog pravca, Milenko Stevanović se pokazuje i dokazuje kao slikar koji odista „ima potrebu da ispriča svoj utisak i da pronađe vrednost u svakom, pa i najtišem ritmu ili prelazu svetlosti.“ 

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Luckily there are still artists who have not, enchanted by the aggressive mantra of the avanguarde, given in to her seductive consequences and agreed to turn their ateliers into laboratories for exploring the uncharted spaces of spirit and matter, likened to those that currently some art historians and theorists are shoving under the determinant of the so called mixed media or similar visual creations from the various workshops that are, most commonly, pulling wool over one’s eyes. That means that there always were, just as there are now, artists for which we need to say, in regard to the character of what they are making, that they are persistent in working and building a work that is founded on fully comprehending the importance of tradition, that is, the use of all artistic legacy. They are usually thoroughly educated, brave, decisive, confident and persistent creative personalities with unwavering ethical and equally firm aesthetical attitudes and beliefs always ready, not asking the price or looking back on the sacrifices they make - most commonly to the accusations of being anachronistic or mere epigones, without giving into any temptations of the material kind or, more often, enticing fashionable actualities - as a rule superficial and doubious, go towards their set goal certain that in the name of Art one should never “cross her borders”, just as Ingarden has wisely concluded in regard to some of Lessing’s views. 

Just that order of artists, decisive and ready to, for what they love and firmly believe in, not allow any deviation or veering off the path which they took, counts as one of them the academic painter and member of ULUS from 2011, Milenko Stevanovic, who now lives and creates in Nicosia, within the Cypriot association of visual artists and theorists. That we have in question such an unwaveringly determined young artist who believes in the three dimensional illusion of the traditional realistic picture, is demonstrated by his complete work in the last fifteen years. Based on the immaculate draughtmanship, masterful handling of form, sumptuous richness of values with imaginative play on the effects of light, any work of his, whether it is a drawing, oil or watercolour, that is, whether he paints faces, objects or spaces (sceneries), reveals and artist who strives to, as he says in his own words, through patient observation and reflection fully control colour and form. Not wanting, in so doing, to be a demiurge, even less an ideologue or a representative of a specific style or art movement, Milenko Stevanovic is showing and proving himself to be a painter that truly “has the need to tell the story of his impression and find value in even the smallest of rhythms and transitions of light”.