The solo exhibition of the fine artist Luka Lagator was opened in the Njegoš Museum – Billiards in Cetinje. He dedicated the exhibition entitled “Cetinje”, organized by the National Museum of Montenegro and the Capital of Cetinje, to his hometown on the occasion of 55 years of creativity.
Art historian and art critic, director of the National Museum of Montenegro, Dr. Anastazija Miranović, spoke about Luka Lagator’s artwork, who pointed out that his artistic story dedicated to Cetinje requires a reader with prior knowledge.
“The artist reveals the veils of Cetinje in the triad: spirit, energy, potential, i.e., author, image, observer. For the artist, Cetinje is “…an unusual eagle’s nest… semantics that stems from the universal and inexhaustible energy of the paradoxical and absurd, where interaction with harsh nature and historical circumstances created a hardened and strong, but at the same time subtle and spiritual man.” Cetinje is a strong, identity-based, starting point for a much broader narrative. Starting from the microworld – the topos of Cetinje, the author tells the universal story of the Balkans, the world. The myth of Sisyphus becomes a general place – the absurdity of living, a gift and inspiration of the creator/creator…” said Dr. Anastazija Miranović and emphasized that “with the story of Cetinje, Luka Lagator is simultaneously general with the past and the future from the point of their encounter/confrontation in the essence of power and weakness, of statehood, mental impact, creative inspiration, budding belonging to a place, where “genius loci” as an invisible, omnipresent, “supreme master” flickers vibrantly in the mists of dawn and dusk, Cetinje rains and sinkholes, all the dichotomy of the being of the Podlovčen karst and the man of today – the lost inhabitant of the world.”
The authentic, personally lived, physiognomy of Cetinje and its inhabitants, their character and inseparable spirit, according to Dr. Anastazija Miranović, Lagator conveys through a work of art.
“In paintings, caricatures, installations, objects, film, performance. As an author, creative person, depending on the stimulus, artistic talent manifests itself in different media, sometimes parallel and/or imbued with several of them at the same time. This time, Luka with an exhibition of 53 works/ 69 paintings of different dimensions, made in acrylic, bring, as he says: “…cetinje elegies, a metaphysical landscape, a segment inspired by the poetry of the famous lyricist, Aleksandar – Les Ivanović”, and much more that refers to Cetinje, Montenegrin, historical and cultural context and meanings,” concluded Dr. Anastazija Miranović.
The exhibition was opened by the mayor of Prijestonica, Aleksandar Kašćelan, who said that Luka Lagator is a painter and one of the world’s best caricaturists – but also a chronicler of Cetinje and Montenegrin reality, and that the “Cetinje” exhibition is the crown of his artistic creation so far.
“An economist by vocation, by free choice, and one would say by heart, an artist, Luka Lagator is a unique person of the Montenegrin art scene. In artistic creation, whether it is painting or caricature, Lagator is layered, inventive, open, subtle , thoughtful and convincing in portraying phenomena, people and objects. That’s why his creativity is highly valued in the country and abroad, in Europe and other continents,” said Kašćelan and added that many visions, which he skilfully recorded in pictures and caricatures, and current, alive and vibrating today, like all great works of great artists.
He emphasized that the exhibition as a tribute to Cetinje sublimates all that we are through the city in which we live and for which we live, which is the backbone of a whole world around which our culture and identity are built on different levels.
“Therefore, Luka Lagator speaks the language of its people through a palette of colors in which all our particular and collective beliefs, features, symbols and signs are drowned. You will see both spiritual and secular Cetinje and Ivan the Lord and Peter the First and Peter the Second and Billiards and Lovćenska Villa and Cetinje rains and Cetinje winters,” Kašćelan said.
The artist Luka Lagator thanked the National Museum of Montenegro and the Capital of Cetinje and said that for the last ten years, on his Sisyphean path, he had Cetinje as the steepest and most sublime peak that he is trying to climb and comprehend all the Cetinje phenomena in which his absurdities and paradoxes. He expressed the hope that he had touched the spirit of Cetinje and the people of Cetinje to some extent, not with a story, but with a painter’s quill and on canvas. Lagator invited the citizens of Cetinje to come and visit the exhibition, because they will probably find a part of themselves in many of the paintings.
The exhibition of Luka Lagator will be on display until November 1, 2020.
Luka Lagator was born in 1945 in Cetinje. He graduated from the Faculty of Economics in Titograd in 1969. He dedicated his whole life to fine arts – painting and caricature. So far, he has had 25 solo exhibitions of paintings and 28 solo exhibitions of caricatures in the country and abroad. He participated in over 200 group exhibitions of paintings and over 500 caricature exhibitions around the world. He shot two short feature films – “The Way of Sisyphus” and “The Labor of Sisyphus”. He is the recipient of a large number of awards and recognitions, including the Thirteenth of July Award, the Ivan Crnojević Plaque, the Thirteenth of November Award, and he has the status of Outstanding Cultural Creator of Montenegro.