As part of preparations for the artist’s upcoming exhibition (March 6 – March 27, 2010) at the McKinney Avenue Contemporary (www.The-Mac.org) in Dallas, artist agent Vesna Rafaty asked ŠIRAJSKI to speak about his art on camera. Below is what ŠIRAJSKI said in the interview conducted in his atelier in Novi Sad, Serbia on December 11, 2009. Credits/Thanks: Slobodan Bibic (Zemun, Serbia) did the professional videography on incredibly short notice. The song synchronized with the video at the very beginning is Michael Harris’s composition The End of Forever. Vesna translated from the Serbo-Croatian to English. *** ŠIRAJSKI: I begin by introducing myself. My name is Milorad Stanojev. I am also known by the name ŠIRAJSKI, a name which I came to adopt which is also the longstanding nickname given to my family. In fact, in the Banat region [of Serbia], the region of my childhood, I am best known by the name ŠIRAJSKI. I have painted since the age of twelve. Painting has in fact always been an imperative. My family lived in an old house whose walls I recall were rough and uneven. As a child I would gaze upon those walls and different faces would manifest themselves to me depending upon how the light reflected off those uneven walls. The paintings which hung on the walls captured my attention too and later came to influence my paintings. You can say my art began with tachism. Aristotle was the first to use this art form. He would dip a sponge in color and then press that sponge on the wall declaring: “That’s a painting and that’s art.” And so, I examine stains on the wall, and begin a painting by applying a glob of color on a canvas. And employing various ways of perception,[in the glob of color] I discern a stain. Then, for a long time I fixate my eyes on the stain, finally arriving on manifestations of images of faces ? faces which I then fashion to their respective and rightful points of completion. To give all of this meaning, I have connected my painting to my curiosity about my heritage. My family is a very old family that has lived in this region for several centuries – perhaps even more than ten centuries, which is a period that coincides with the time that the Khazars have been connected to these places. In 1984, a book by Milorad Pavic entitled Dictionary of the Khazars was published. That book came into my hands almost immediately after being published. It is for me the most significant literary work after the Bible. In that book I found answers to my many questions about my family – my ancestors, my heritage – as well as the postulates of this geographic region I call home. So this concerns a group of people that lived near the Caspian Sea. They had their own empire. It was a khaganite. They had their own religion which was not able to survive amongst the powers around it under the Byzantine Empire. They had to convert. They chose Judaism and became Jews. They came to this area where I live, but it’s not clear whether they actually settled here or whether some huge battle was waged here ? a battle where the Khazars played a significant role. The Khazars who were on the side of the losers were dumped into the Danube River. The Khazars who were on the side of the winners received an honorary burial. The battle took place at the banks of the Danube River, near the town where I live today, the town of Celarevo. Even before coming to Celarevo in 1994, I had heard of the Khazars. Celarevo is the largest known necropolis of the Khazars. I became very curious about and interested in the history of the Khazars and started doing independent research and reading. I even met the site’s chief archeologist, Radomir Bunatic. He and I have a longstanding dispute about the significance of the archeological gravesite. The archeologist thinks that the Khazars actually settled here, but I think that they were buried here after a large battle waged at the banks of the Danube. There is no definitive proof either way. Because the archeological find did not unearth evidence of infrastructure consistent with a settlement, I believe that the Khazars did not spend much time in the region that is the gravesite. Among the finds were tablets on Roman stones with etchings of a menorah, the candle which symbolizes the Jewish faith. ….continued on the next video clip (Video Part No. 2)….

Continued from Video Part No. 1 ŠIRAJSKI: While [both ordinary and extraordinary themes have always fueled my work, the theme [and questions concerning] the Khazars easily grabbed a hold of me and I transferred it into my work. Of course my work is not directed just towards themes relating to the Khazars. There is much more in my paintings, including my interest in theology and other disciplines which I have studied. In fact, my interest in different faiths and beliefs principally informs my works. Vampires, fairies, nymphs, daydreamers, witches, nix, ghosts ... I put all of them into my paintings, and so my paintings have become a sort of safe riddle. You really can’t call my paintings as paintings per se; they are my meditations which constantly review and comment on something, and principally concern the history of the people of this region. …I mean to say the people from all over the world…because the Khazars, thanks to their vast religious tolerance, lost their empire. The Khazars were not a homogeneous people. They were a melting pot of peoples, like Americans, like Serbians too, you know, Serbians came from a very diverse peoples. So what we see forming here is a lace mosaic without a beginning or ending. And of course we live only a part of that mosaic. Okay, so the Khazars lost their empire. Milorad Pavic started to unwind that ball of yarn, [telling the tale of the history of the Khazars], and politics entered the fray. The question was raised by the [critical discourse launched in the book]: “Is tolerance a good thing? Is the Khazar’s kind of tolerance a positive thing for a people and a nation?” And, in fact, many peoples and nations have passed through here, have reflected on [the theme of the fate of the Khazars] – and have wished it was not so. … They suffer, they chafe off that which they [rightfully] acquired or won - like rights and freedoms, in order to be able to gift [these things] to others. *** Absolutely everything influences my work…and not just literature or film, but many subjects which I have independently studied. One can see from my paintings that a lot of time and effort is invested in them, even technical innovations were needed to realize the paintings…to magically charm them into completion…in order to bring about that which I wish to bring about. My paintings are in many collections around the world. Among them is the collection of Milorad Pavic who purchased one of my paintings, immediately recognizing in it a connection to the Khazars…that painting is now inherited by his son, as my friend [Milorad Pavic], just passed away on November 30. Princess Elizabeth Karadjordjevic cites my work as a significant influence on her collection. My work is also in selected museums from the Ukraine to France. Georges Jagu, director at Salvador Dalí, the company that manufactures men’s cosmetics, is also a collector of my paintings. My influences include Hieronymus Bosch, but of course my work is different. I have no desire to copy others and in fact each of my works is unique. I don’t want to duplicate, as I don’t want to be easily recognized when someone looks at one of my works. Painting is something that’s studied – you know, it is lifelong study. There is no end. I begin my work in some kind of paysage, my imaginary paysage derived from my conscious and subconscious mind. While I live in this flat land [of Vojvodina, Serbia] that I love, I paint a paysage that is replete with heights and cliffs. I paint something that’s always dramatic with rock formations. I also try to impart light into my paintings. Another of my influences is Uros Predic, one of the most notable artists of Vojvodina, who famously said: “Fire on the painting or the painting in the fire,” meaning a painting has to have light to have value. Of course, in my work, the light may very well be merely transcendental. Each of the faces I paint is tied up in its own thought, and that is the part that’s very significant in my work. That’s the part that’s most closely tied to the Khazars…that each of the faces is preoccupied with himself. Each one is looking in his own unique direction – his own future, his own past, his own present – not one looks upon another’s future, present or past thoughts or perspectives. And, it might be said of my paintings that any given ray of light would intersect only one directed gaze of a face that I have painted. No two gazes intersect. I like that old saying of some of our wise old men that each of us is crazy in our own way. And so, one cannot hope to understand another, and for me that’s a type of tolerance. And a very fine way to deal with people, that one should always first necessarily look at oneself. So, in my paintings you see lots of faces in groups, in close proximity to one another – yet each of them has his respective space, and nobody is impeding upon another’s space. That this is in fact possible, and not just in terms of a physical space, but also in terms of a spiritual space, a mental space – that such a space is not delimited, but vast, with very long corridors…that everyone has his unique perspective and at the appropriate time the duty to present his way of thinking, that others should give you the time to hear you out…that, [for me], is a highest form of harmony.

Continued from Video No. 2: ŠIRAJSKI: I have many influences. Everything has the potential to influence my work. I can pass a gallery in the morning, catch a glimpse of a painting, and then sit down to paint that day before my canvas and see in my work the painting that I saw earlier that day – or at least its influence. I don’t run from influences. Nobody is like our folks say: “a turnip without root.” So I can’t say that I create anything. Perhaps all that I can really say is that I may have a greater patience and a greater desire [than most others] to convey what I see, that which in some way captured my thoughts and imagination. So that when you add it all up, all of this is an expression of a universal fusion. So among these colors [in my paintings], there exists a very dramatic story. And, since this is no flat surface, this concerns a very dramatic story with many very important details. I know that people today live mostly on the surface in superficial lives. They like to look at a paysage. Most people live in cities with limited contact with nature. I don’t avoid nature. All of my paintings are set in some kind of nature ? in some body of water, on some field - and this is obvious. But what’s needed is time to take a good look at the painting. I know it’s difficult to find that time, but I do believe that someone who takes the time, and is interested enough to do it, won’t easily be torn away from my paintings. I’m still reading Dictionary of the Khazars, now, for 25 years! Some portions of the text I have even memorized and can recite. My exclusive choice of medium is oil on canvas, which I consider to be the most delicate medium. There are, of course, other media which I might have chosen for an easier path to convey my works. I picked the most difficult path. I want to do the very best job. I don’t want to paint a paysage that you look at once and have no need to look at again. Anyway, for a paysage, the best medium is a photograph that most accurately and precisely captures a moment in its true light, so that everyone looking at the photograph gets the feeling that they’re in the photograph. Everything in art is fantasy. I don’t recognize any other way. Even those who represent themselves as hyperrealists or realists – they too are fantastic artists, for you can’t really convey the temperature or the flow of water. All is fantasy, and I try to show that to the world. [Most] [r]ecently, I had the opportunity to exhibit my work at the Serbian Academy of Arts & Sciences in Novi Sad to much critical acclaim. Now, with the help of Ms. Vesna Rafaty I hope to show my work to the American people. Of course, I could speak at length about each of my works, its development, the time that it took to paint it – a period measured in months and many, many hours. But it’s irrational to even go there. Many people connect my work to that of Bosch, and yes, at first glance, there are some similarities, but there are thematic differences, of course, and compositional differences. Richard Dadd is my influence too and his work entitled “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” which is as great an influence as Milorad Pavic’s literature and storytelling. Vesna Rafaty: ŠIRAJSKI, I thank you for this interview. I believe you will intrigue your fans with this honest and courageous insight into your work. As my favorite gifts [to give and receive] are books, I now gift you this book about the history of my city of Dallas, Texas. ŠIRAJSKI: Thank you Vesna and thank you Dallas and Fort Worth. END Note from Vesna Rafaty, the artist’s agent: If you are literary-minded and intrigued by ŠIRAJSKI’s references to the book by Milorad Pavic, Dictionary of the Khazars, I recommend you pick up the book from your local library or bookstore. I did and found it to be the strangest literary work that I have ever read. It is a work in which the line is artfully blurred between the recounting of actual historical event, legend, fantasy, and dream, with compelling effect. Curiously, this might equally be said of ŠIRAJSKI’s works.