THE PORTRAITS OF ILIA ADJIEVSKI

"PORTRAIT IN FOCUS" is an exhibition that presents the rich portrait work of the famous Macedonian sculptor Ilija Adjievski. The thematic concept that we selected from Ajievski's work will be available to the public from October 27, 2022 (Thursday) and will last for one month. The exhibit will be exhibited in Daut Pasha's hammam, and the opening is scheduled for 7 p.m. At the official opening, the director of the National Gallery, Dr. Dita Starova Qerimi, and the curator Ana Frangovska, senior curator in the gallery, will pay tribute to the work of the nearly century-old author, in his presence.

Portraiture has always been a very specific genre, in any art discipline or medium. He did not mean only good craftsmanship and photographic skills, i.e. is. realistic empty transmission, but meant the ability to penetrate the secrets and essence of the portrayed person, to guess their secrets, truths, inner beauties, creativity, spirit, cruelty, softness, etc. In that context, Ilija Adjievski's approach was not to achieve an academic-realistic likeness, but his intention was to convey the most specific traits of the person he represents, creating a kind of commentary on his spirituality. Hence, the most numerous are the portraits of his friends, spiritually close people, fellow citizens with whom he knew and shared the pleasure and creative passion in creating artistic works. Among them were other fine artists, poets, philosophers, writers, aestheticians, art historians or friends related in spirituality.

If you use Michelangelo's maxim, that the task of the sculptor is to "free from captivity" the characters and bodies of his models, then Ilija Ajievski achieved exactly that in his portraits, freed the spirituality and virtualized the invisible nature of the portrayed characters, touching in the deepest secrets of their intimacy, freezing in a sculptural work unfathomable aspects of their character with their skillful hands and with their artistic vision and sensibility. This is the mastery of Ajievski, that's why his portraits are a segment of his sculptural work that deserves special attention and dignity.

ILIA ADJIEVSKI – BIOGRAPHY Ilija Adjievski was born in Struga on December 22, 1926. He finished elementary school in Struga in 1938. He continued his education in Debar at the School of Economics. In 1942, he joined the youth movement for the resistance against fascism. In 1946, he enrolled in the then art school in Skopje with professors Dimo Todorovski, Vangel Kodzoman and other founders of Macedonian contemporary fine art. In 1949, he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade in the class of Professor Lojse Dolinar. A year later he transferred to the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, where he graduated in the class of Professor Frane Kršinić, 1954. His study stays were in Greece, Turkey, Italy, France and Egypt. After finishing the academy, he started living and creating in Skopje as a freelance artist. Since 1956 he has been a member of DLUM. In his working life, he has created a large number of monuments, monumental ceramic reliefs, park sculptures, portraits of famous people and his friends, as well as statues in a smaller format. He has exhibited at a number of solo and group exhibitions and has won a number of recognitions and awards. He lives and works in Skopje. National Gallery of the Republic of North Macedonia

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