THE BLACKEST BLACK by Micko Mice Jankulovski
The BLACKEST BLACK
Exhibition of paintings by MICKO Mice Jankulovski
December 15 – 30, 2022
Reception for the Artist on Thursday, December 15th from 6 to 8 pm
Curator: Kornelija Koneska
The constant focus and movement from one to another form in his artistic life led to a major turning point in his artistic production – to get rid of colors (he paints with a specially produced black pigment, and most recently with a carbon black – the blackest color ever known discovered by the new Nano-technologies), but also of brushes. So in the process of creation, he uses various tools, rakes, combs, and fingers,… with which he scratches the thick layers of the black paint on the canvases… and this results in fantastic, very specific patterns where the light is an integral part of the image. It became his artistic hallmark.
The new works begin in his mind, or rather in his imagination. It is the best place to create because it is limitless…at least if you don’t set limits for yourself, but Micko doesn’t do that! Rather, he researches with a passionate focus, delving deep into his topic of interest without limitations. The outcome of that journey is always different and similar at the same time. The different results come from the freedom in the process of discovering new worlds in black, and the similar results come from his way of thinking that he can’t get rid of even in his imagination. Those similarities are actually the specific characteristics of his artwork that are visible to the professional eye and that define his artistic style:
Monochrome – because he only uses one color – the black
Modularity – because he always paints in preconceived formats which are interconnected, like modules
Multiplication – because he multiplies the brush strokes, forms,… and in addition, he multiplies the canvases into big polyptychs, thus creating new works
Minimalism – because the works, the concept, and the context of his artwork are achieved with minimal elements – which is actually the most difficult thing to do, but … after all, we are talking about an artist with more than 50 years of artistic experience!
Excerpt from the text ‘Black Painting’ about MICKO’s artwork by Emil Aleksiev, art historian and writer
In front of Mice Jankulovski’s black paintings, we stand in front of an endless black sea. It is the sea that surrounds the world. The last sea at the end of the world. End of the known and the visible. The beginning of the unknown and the invisible. A terrifying place where the deep dark waters of the unconscious fade into the darkness of non-existence. Black and black. A space where the laws of the world cease to apply and where non-vision reign. It is the darkness beyond the limit of the visible, beyond the event horizon. The end of the universe and its beginning. This is where everything ends and everything begins…
MICKO Mice Jankulovski
1954 Born in Slivovo, Ohrid, Macedonia
Graduated from the Faculty of Architecture University „St. Cyril & Methodius” Skopje. Lives and works in Skopje, Macedonia
As an artist, for decades he has been publicly present through multiple artistic disciplines (cartoons, painting on glass, animation film, palindromes…), while consistently dedicated in researching and creating in painting and drawing.
His biography features more than fifty solo exhibitions in N. Macedonia and abroad and notable presentations at important international exhibitions and biennials in Florence, St. Petersburg, Thessaloniki, Turin, Venice, Larnaca, Varna…
He is a receiver of many awards including: The highest National Award for Lifetime Achievements “11. Oktomvri” (2022); Best Artist Award (Larnaca Biennale 2021); Rembrandt Award for Excellence in Art for 2020 (by WAVA); El Greco Award for Best Artist (Art Thessaloniki 2019, Greece); Lorenzo Il Magnifico Award for Lifetime Achievement (XII Florence Biennale 2019, Italy); Artist of the World (Larnaca Biennale 2018, Cyprus); GRAND PRIX (19th International Print Biennial 2017, Varna, Bulgaria); GRAND PRIX (1997), City of Skopje Award “13th November” (1985) …
Besides numerous articles, books and catalogues during his professional work, several monographs about Jankulovski’s work were published, with reviews by domestic and foreign art critics and internationally renowned art historians such as Aleksandr Borovsky, Russia; Enzo di Martino, Italy; Prof. Manos Stefanidis, Greece; Dr. Melanie Zeferrino, Italy; Zsolt Petrányi PhD, Hungary; Denitsa Yaneva PhD, Bulgaria, as well as colleagues-artists Maty Grunberg, Israel; Olga Tobreluts, Russia; the diplomat, writer and poet Milan Jazbec, Slovenia,…
Jankulovski is included in the anthology “Macedonian Caricature” by Vladimir Velickovski (1994) and in the anthology “Visual Arts in Macedonia – XX century”, Book II – Multimedia Art by Sonja Abadzieva (2017).
