Double Noir, # 9, # 31, #32, #51
chalk and pastel on blackboard
120 cm x 77 cm
2016
Photographs of the whole series of realized drawings are incorporated into a film animation, which thus becomes the only medium that stores the complete memory of this layered work.
With their black background, Double Noir drawings point to the aesthetics of noir films; the black background evokes the film or photographic negative, while by imprinting chalk, like by the action of light, the image is recorded on the dark surface. The drawings of frames are not direct and literal quotations taken from films. Despite the author’s realistic visual expression, his drawing is dominated by a gloomy, nightmarish atmosphere, confusing uncertainty, suspense, accompanied by dramatic contrasts and psychological tension, additionally emphasized by the minimalism of the space and ambient sound. Thematically, the Double Noir narrative develops around the legendary noir protagonist, the actor Humphrey Bogart.
Svetlana Montua, for the catalogue of the 56th October Salon
© Cultural Centre of Belgrade, the October Salon Collection and the artist
Purchase Contract: III-5-312/12.12.2017.
Inventory No. 1501
Photo: Courtesy the artist
Selected Bibliography:
56th October Salon, The Pleasure of Love. Cultural Centre of Belgrade, 2016
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Nemanja Nikolić (1987, Valjevo, Serbia) graduated in painting and obtained a PhD degree from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade in 2019. Since 2010 he has presented his works at solo exhibitions in the country and abroad – Art Gallery of the Cultural Centre of Belgrade; Gallery Dix9 Helene Lachermoise, Paris; Youth Centre, Belgrade; Rima Gallery, Kragujevac; U10 Art Space, Belgrade, etc. – and participated in numerous group exhibitions. Since 2018 he has worked as an assistant professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade. He has won several important awards, such as Drawing Award from the Vladimir Veličković Fund, Award for Mural and Wall Installation from Raiffeisen Bank and 12HUB Gallery and Award for Exceptional Creative Innovation from the Miloš Bajić Fund, A co-founder of the U10 Art Space, lives and works in Belgrade. More info at https://www.nemanjanikolic.com