Nebojša Despotović
Between the devil and the deep blue sea ovvero freie Kartoffeln
Trento (I), Galleria Boccanera
March ― May 2018
The pride of place
Daniele Capra
I have known Nebo for over a decade by now, first at the Atelier F at the Academy of Fine Art in Venice, then at Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation. Together with the guys of the atelier we talked for hours about dirty sanchez and felching, two out of the ordinary ways of using the brush and do action painting, respectively. We often debated the issues of freedom and the role of the artist, in Venice first, then in Berlin, but also in the lazy seaside of Caorle, or in Rome, where Cucchi, in his studio, drove us crazy talking about the “document”. Personally I supposed that Enzo would have proposed us to write a manifesto or to do a public speech, and neither of us wanted to show him we didn’t understand nada. It took us several minutes to comprehend that “document” is the word Cucchi uses instead of “catalog”. Sometimes Nebo and me joke about it.
Nebo has always been a theoretician, in the sense that he has a theory about what is his job (being an artist) and what he is (an artist), about his evolution, the increasing self-awareness, the maturity. He feels of being part of a group together with Thomas, Valerio, Aleksander, etcetera, with whom he has shared everything and everything began. Recently Nebo’s theory changed, since it has developed as a result of the mess of life. He has changed his thought from the concept of being a self-aware artist who vomits his own intimacy on the world thanks to his language, to the idea of his work as a continuous path in which every step is expected not to be wasted.
I know that sooner or later he will publish his manual. It’ll take pride of place in my messy stacks of books.