In his exploration of the medium of painting, Veljko Vučković tackles the challenge of utilizing pre-existing visual imagery as the foundation for his work. He draws inspiration from political films such as "Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion" (1970) by Elio Petri, "Z" (1969), and "State of Siege" (1972) by Costa-Gavras. These films delve into central themes that revolve around politics, murder, corruption, freedom, power, and more.
In the exploration of the medium of painting, Veljko Vučković deals with the challenge of using pre-existing visual imagery as starting points for his work. The points of departure for the presented paintings are three rather political films – "Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion" (1970) by Elio Petri and "Z" (1969) and "State of Siege" (1972) by Costa-Gavras.
In no particular order, the central themes of these films encompass politics, murder, corruption, freedom, power, and more. The starting point for his work is a film snapshot. The artist carefully selects it and then extensively modifies it in Photoshop until they are certain of the desired appearance. The original snapshot is cropped, converted to black and white, some elements are eliminated, specific parts are moved, others are rotated, and adjustments are made to sharpen, change overall contrast or brightness in specific areas, add words, and perform similar edits. In other words, such an archaeological approach is manifested in the selection of templates that are meticulously examined, digitally reorganized, and materialized using a traditional technique – oil on canvas. This so-called post-digital artistic gesture involves digital media but also includes materiality in its final stage. Living in a world saturated with various forms of imagery that can be endlessly replicated in digital formats, the artist turned to painting, following the idea that a painting is a unique, one-of-a-kind object. Since a manual gesture is also involved, it can be assumed that the new work of art possesses its own aura, as described by Walter Benjamin. As a snapshot serves as the foundation for the painting, it could be suggested that the images used in the artworks are somewhat nomadic, transitioning from one medium to another. The choice of grey tones is deliberate, as they allude to capitalism, where everything often appears monochromatic – including photography, film, press, television, computers, screens, and more. Michel Pastoureau referred to grey as the color of capitalism.
Ultimately, Veljko Vučković's goal is to create paintings that are recontextualized but can still somehow retain the original cinematic aura when necessary. They may reference the original context but are not confined to it. The themes presented in the films remain relevant today. By resurrecting the information absorbed from other media, in this case, film, the artist is primarily interested in creating paintings that are ambiguous and capable of evoking subtle social and political associations. The message conveyed by each artwork is undoubtedly multifaceted. While it reveals something, it also imparts a sense of concealing something else. In a way, they can be viewed as what Umberto Eco termed an 'open work.' Therefore, the composed paintings are polysemic entities concealed by a mysterious veil, rendered using a monochromatic, muted, and somewhat anemic palette.