Meet Masa Paunovic | Sculptor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Masa Paunovic and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Masa, why did you pursue a creative career?
I have been surrounded by works of art since early childhood. My father was a painter, and my grandparents also had a love for art. I don’t think I consciously decided to become an artist, it was almost a natural selection. I was always interested in several fields of art, I was involved in music during high school, but the feeling for the form and material prevailed. My first contact with clay and later with stone was a clear sign that I was where I should be.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Being an independent artist in Serbia is very difficult, especially considering that there is no budget for art, that there are no public competitions for large-scale sculptures, that artists who are directly connected to leading politics have an advantage, that jobs are obtained exclusively “through connections”, so you can draw your own conclusions.
I am proud that I consciously chose not to be part of any circle, that I decided to go my own way, which is a difficult path, but every time an international jury chooses my work, I get feedback that what I am doing is the right choice.
I learned a lot of things through this process, but I would single out the inner struggle, which is often a theme in my works. There are many challenges, however, you need to stay true to yourself, be honest with yourself and your work above all.
Another challenge that happens often today is that through social networks some artists copy other artists or make some variation of their work, and it really makes me wonder how much the originality and authorship of a work is not verified today, and even its difficult to prove the originality of the work. Unfortunately, I feel like the art itself became a market product, depending on the number of followers and not on the originality, talent, working and mindful process. However, I still believe that sooner or later the true art work with will be recognized and felt.
So, what sets my sculpture apart is the fact that I believe in research work and process. For that, I need an isolation from other influences, to shut myself up deep inside and surface my personal ideas, to work on them, to explore them as long as they motivate me.
I am often my own harshest critic, and I am almost never completely satisfied, and I think that it can always be done more and differently. It is probably my driving energy, and the motivation itself comes from the inner need for my thoughts and feelings to materialize through the very process of sculpting where I feel whole through that thought-physical process.
I would say that my sculptures are somewhat unconventional, although traditional in terms of materials and techniques, but they do not belong to any direction. I think that what distinguishes me from others is my free form, which can sometimes be unfinished, but at the same time very sensitive and tactile. I would call my sculptures and my work visual duality, which is mostly my theme in recent years.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Since I live in Belgrade, I would start with my city. One of the Serbian customs is that when guests come to our house, we bring out “slatko” and water, “rakija” and coffee. That would be the beginning and then we would go to see sights such as Kalemegdan, the Old Town, the National Museum, the National Theater, the Parliament Building, Tasmajdan Park, the Nikola Tesla Monument in front of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, the Nikola Tesla Museum, the Beogradjanka building, Yugoslav Ministry of Defence Building (partially bombed during the NATO bombing in 1999), the Museum of the History of Yugoslavia and the House of Flowers. As Belgrade lies at the confluence of two rivers, we would also cross the river and go to the Museum of Contemporary Art and walk along the river to the old town of Zemun. It is certainly inevitable that along the way we will sit down by the river in one of the taverns where fish stew is specialty, and we would definitely visit other taverns with traditional Serbian cuisine where my guest would have to try “cevapi”.
I would like to show my guest other parts of Serbia, such as the Sculpture park of Aradnjelovac with its famous marble sculptures (a town where was a quarry of superior white marble), the Park Sumarice in Kragujevac (it represents a memorial complex erected in memory of the innocent victims of the Kragujevac massacre committed by members of the Wehrmacht on October 21, 1941), Lepenski Vir (archaeological site of prehistoric culture), Djerdap and much more. It seems that there are too many things I would like to show my friend in only one week.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
First, I have to thank my parents, who supported my choice in life, knowing that it is not an easy path and that it will be unstable. However, my father, an artist himself, was always able to provide me with support and constructive criticism, which meant a lot to me in my life, especially in moments of my own insecurity.
Another important person on my path was my professor and sculptor Milun Vidic, he was one of the best educators I have ever met. In addition to the fact that he was a fantastic sculptor, he was also a great intellectual and someone who had a subtle approach to solving sculptural problems. He was able to give gradually indications through a casual conversation which direct where the young artist could go, experiment and create his own style without fear.
After faculty, participating in various art workshops, symposiums and exhibitions, I met many older colleagues who in some way contributed to my development path.

Website: https://www.masapaunovic.com

Linkedin: masapaunovic.sculpture