ON THE OCCASION OF 90 YEARS OF LIFE AND 65 YEARS OF ARTISTIC WORK
2 – 9 APRI
The exhibition of paintings, sculptures and books by Vladimir Jokanović, MD, organised on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of his life and 65 years of his artistic work, will present a selection of his works testifying to his decades-long dedication to various forms of artistic expression.
Professor Vladimir Jokanović, MD, President of the Art Section of the Serbian Medical Society, is a doctor of medical sciences, a specialist in maxillofacial and oral surgery, a journalist, writer, painter and sculptor. In addition to medicine, he has dedicated more than half of his life to art.
It was on his initiative that the Art Section of the Serbian Medical Society – the Society of Doctors of Vojvodina – was established in 1992. Given that the Art Section of doctors had not been active anywhere in the country at the time, the newly-established Section was a unique platform for doctors of Serbia.
One of the regular activities of the Section is the annual exhibition Medici pro arte, which showcases physicians’ works in the fields of painting, sculpture and artistic photography, which is traditionally held in the Gallery of the Branch of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Novi Sad.
The love of Vladimir Jokanović, MD, toward sculpture developed in high school. He particularly appreciated clay; however, he did not enrol on an academy of arts. Having been a war orphan, he received a scholarship from the Municipality of Busovača, which required a future physician–stomatologist. This led him to pursue medicine, and he completed specialised studies in maxillofacial surgery. During his studies, he further developed his artistic knowledge in the field of art through his friendship with Academician Ljubo Popović. Also, during his studies at the Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade, he spent three years in the studio of Academician and renowned sculptor Risto Stijović.
As stressed by Dr V. Jokanović, the portraiture has always been his preferred mode of expression. ’A person’s secret lies in the eyes, in the expression of the face… As a maxillofacial surgeon, the face has always been my focal point. A human face is an extraordinarily mysterious book. The essence lies in the sculptor’s psychoanalytical interpretation of the subject—how much one can perceive, and how much of that can be conveyed.’
Vladimir Jokanović, MD, authored 36 books, including expert publications, and those dealing with medicine and art, as well as books of aphorisms and poetry. Some of the titles of this versatile author will also be presented as part of the exhibition.