Artospective: Portrait Paintings by Nena Stojanovic.

An Interview with Nena Stojanovic.

Who and where are you from?

I’m Nena Stojanovic and I was born on September 28th, 1973 in Ivanjica. Just prior to the year 2000, I left my homeland Serbia to move to Nafplio, the first capital of Greece, where I still live today, happily married and a mother of two beautiful children.

What brought you to Art?

As the daughter of an engineer, painter and wood craftsman and designer, I grew up being amazed by the art created around me. The arts existed in the lives of many in my family circles, always feeding and influencing my growth and development as an artist. When at school, this was evident as my curiosity urged me to be the best in my classes. I was always involved in the arts and my artwork was always featured in displays. In 1987, when I was a sixth grade student, my project was selected in the contest "Best children's drawings of Yugoslavia" to be printed in the book "Poems for grandfather” by famous Serbian poet, Milovan Vitezovic. Outside art, I excelled in gymnastics where I collected 10 medals, a broken tooth, and what became an interest in dentistry. I graduated from the Medical School of Belgrade earning a degree as a dental technician.

What is your driving force?

Undoubtedly, my feelings and only my feelings … Very ordinary conversations, the joy of my family members, meetings with dear people, exchange of experiences, presence in innocence and intact nature, exploration of new destinations ... these are the things that make me happy and which are the main drivers of my feelings and therefore the inspiration that leads me towards painting.

What kind of work do you do and why?

All artists evolve through their work seeking a way in which they will recognize themselves. I am the type of person who is not always satisfied with the same results. After years of researching myself in my work, I feel I definitely belong to abstract art, as well as to painting portraits in some specific way, covered with elements of abstraction. Although technically, my abstract works are the best, my portraits are more effective. The point of my portraits is not perfection painting but the subject's characteristic eye expressiveness through which I try to convey all mental tensions and transitions to the psyche of each observer. This is all about my own continued personal exploration and research.

Tell us more about your thought process.

The process of creating my works, as I already mentioned, depends on the current mood and my feelings. For me there is no planning. My approach to any kind of work is always instinctive and intuitive. This includes material selection, selection of color combinations as well as the technical approach. I would like to point out that I am among the rare painters who use enamel paint. Surely this is a difficult way to reach the desired effect. This is my personal challenge and a way to create a unique and different result.

Please share with us the one modern artist whose work you find Interesting and why?

This is definitely the hardest question for me. I generally do not use the word favorite. I would usually say one of my favorites but when it comes to painters, I cannot even say that. There are so many talented artists whose creations I adore and whom I admire and so many branches of painting it is impossible to choose only one artist. Although I haven’t been overly active lately, you can check out the list of artists I love and follow on my Saatchi Art portfolio. Thank you.