Kovacica Naive Art
Today, we'll get to know a little more about naive art from Kovacica and honor the enormous influence this art school had on the growth of naive art as a whole. Here's our interpretation of Men's Chat, a well-known painting by Martin Janos, one of the leading painters of Serbian naive art.
Naive art is usually perceived as a form of visual art created by an individual who lacks any sort of formal education or training. One of its strongholds lies in a small town in the north of Serbia - Kovacica, where the local Slovak community took up this artistic style.
The naive art from Kovacica, or kovacicka school, initially began with reproducing and replicating postcards, but quickly grew to develop its unique and individual artistic expression.
Characterized by a childlike simplicity, flat style, and a rather primitive concept of perspective, naive school of Kovacica gave birth to some of the greatest artists and most esteemed works in naive painting in the world. Distinctive bold and vivid colors of kovacicka school are inspired by traditional Slovak garments whereas motifs stemmed from everyday life in this small Serbian town.
Naive painters of Kovacica illustrate the lives of local villagers, agricultural works, Slovak culture, folk costumes, traditional home decor, village streets and houses, and much more. Younger generations, however, move away from depicting narrative events to painting idyllic, colorful landscapes that lack many characters and happenings and combine the real and surreal together.
Besides oil paintings, naive art from Kovacica includes varied techniques, such as pastel, aquarelle, graphics, painted zucchinis, ostrich's eggs, small stools, etc.