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Boya & TKV
They had known each other for a long time but had been waiting for something. Once they sat to work, they immediately agreed not to do just one thing. The days they are spending together in the studio are telling them what they were waiting for, and even more, what is it that was waiting for them all this time.
TKV is the acronym from The Kraljica Vila (Queen Fairy) that she took when she started street at 16. Back in the day, Bojana was another silent ceramist firmly convinced her work was not ready to be shown to the world. Also, she was among the true fans of TKV. In her beginnings, she mainly depicted women. A young Roma woman holding her baby in a gesture of begging decorated to look like a raja's precious daughter, O-Ren Ishi, Audrey Hepburn was charmful warming for then exhausted yet optimistic Belgrade.
"Sure, I was also intrigued about who hid behind those three letters. What was much more important, it was apparent that TKV was a woman and that she was from Belgrade without a word said about herself. I was sure we would have fun and a long chat. My friend and I were exchanging info on where her new works appeared and going there to enjoy them. "(Bojana)
They firstly met more than ten years later. TKV's deep anonymity was well behind her, but she never showed to be prone to unnecessary exposure. The pseudonym was not all we knew about her anymore, and Belgrade got huge murals from her that became essential to its cityscape. She was invited to paint the streets of the world. Her work became more mature, and we all saw her stronger and not-so-big formats and canvasses. Her colors got through the walls; she is winning galleries. Yet she doesn't forget the street. In the meantime, Bojana matured also. Symbolically and literally, she steps out of pottery studios that are most often adapted basements.
Last spring, they met through searching for new challenges. They are so different but still with common sensibility.
"We did two brush strokes and instantly felt one is fake, but the other is a way to go. The only thing left was to pick a topic, just to have a direction. No overthinking, we quickly realized the common point was Japan as an inspiration. We want to exploit it just as much as it was necessary. The play of two little kids was the main goal. Bojana creates a home atmosphere at her studio. I felt I belonged somewhere, and I enjoyed it. My challenge in this was ceramic's much higher technical demandingness than painting. That made Bojana straightforward and an excellent critic during the process, a teacher more precisely. " (TKV)
The collection consists of 35 porcelain, wheel-thrown mugs. Each holds a unique face of an Asian female.
Each was drawn by TKV with a copper pencil that looks like a graphite one after the firing. They would develop intimate fictional biographies of each woman, after which Bojana would comment on them with hand-painted 24K gold decorations. Each mug comes in a box stencil-painted by TKV. Every piece holds a unique number on the bottom.
"Typically, for a ceramist, I'm a pretty introverted personality. I don't have that locally dominant south-European temper. TKV is fireworks! She is a spray bottle intentionally pierced to spread the content faster and differently. She still is a high school girl for whom every canvas is too small. That was my challenge in this. We took each other into something new. That is the power and charm of this collection. " (Bojana)
We launch the collection on Fri, Aug 26, 7pm CET.
photo: Nemanja Maras
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