Stone Shadows

"Is it still possible in our apocalyptic time to see the world as a peaceful place where opposites don’t end in conflict? The visions of Goran Čpajak show that it is. Sculpture doesn’t break space. The flat surface carries a figure with no effort; the sky embraces it in an intimate, almost mystic union of line and volume. Vertical and horizontal are in lasting unity". (Ljubomir Radoyce)

By Vesna Knežević Baletić
Photos from the archive of Goran Čpajak

How peaceful and beautiful is Goran Čpajak’s stone memory of Prijepolje’s meadows and how well his sculptures fit into Taiwanese, Chinese, Italian, and French landscapes where they are displayed! How beautiful, different and yet the same the world is. Its diversity is full of peace and harmony; one has only to recognise it. In this case, it can be touched. Actually, the hand simply can not resist but touch the smooth stone forms. And from these tactile experiences, the stone becomes even more yielding and shining.

"I don’t solve problems with my works; they are rather an emotional response to the world. The world today is chaotic, but a tree is still beautiful, and smooth mountain peaks that touch the sky and contours of meadows are as beautiful as the structure of a dilapidated wall at the Moslem house in Prijepolje or, at least, that is how I remember them. I think that art should be positive and beautiful and should not constantly remind us of some horror", says the artist.

Sculptor Goran Čpajak (1963) was born in Prijepolje in a family of six children, two of whom have chosen sculpture as their vocation. He completed the School of Art in Split, Croatia, and graduated from the Faculty of Applied Arts, Department of sculpture, in Belgrade. After receiving his undergraduate degree, he continued advance studies in Italy at the renown sculpture centre in Pietrasanta (Holy Stone), not far from Carrara. Even nowadays he spends a greater part of the year there, chiseling marble or creating works in bronze. His wife and four children live in Belgrade. Goran’s studio is located in Zemun, within the building of Old Customhouse on the bank of the Danube River.

Goran Čpajak lives between Serbia and Italy, but his sculptures can be found all over the world. They are displayed, among other places, at the Olympic Village and Park of Sculptures in Beijing, at the National Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in Taiwan, in the Hall of Regional Parliament in Marseille, France, and in Italy, Turkey, Japan and the United States… He has had some 40 solo and collective exhibitions on all five continents and has received the most distinguished prizes in Serbia, Italy, Taiwan, South Korea, France…

He won his first grand prix in 1993, at the international exhibition in Taiwan, and the following year was invited to take part in an exhibition, where he again won the Grand Prix in an international competition. This was a great satisfaction for a 30-year-old artist and an excellent new beginning. The last prize he won was First Prize at last year’s great public international competition in Rome. Owing to this, he will soon be creating a relief in one of Italy’s ministries. In the meantime, he is preparing an exhibition at the Embassy of Serbia in Moscow that will open on the Day of the Serbian State.

He works extensively and with success.

Is it exhausting?

"No," he replies. "For me, it has always been easy. Making a sculpture has never aggravated me. Michelangelo said that it was not difficult to make a sculpture – you only had to find a stone and remove its excess."

Does stone sometimes prevail over the artist?

"Various materials impose their solutions, logic and this must be respected. That’s why one looks for a particular material. But it must not prevail over you. A sculptor must find the right stone for his form, just as a composer must find the right instrument for his music".

Goran’s wonderful forms, admiringly harmonious and tranquil, bear the following names: The Birth, Way Out, Shadows Above My Meadow, One Side of Life, Common Life, Encounter, Fantastic Overture, Traces, Rain, Autumn, Patience, Peace… the nomenclature seems perfectly suited for them. They can be found all around the world, and one is displayed at the Danube Quay near Goran’s studio in Zemun.

"In one of more beautiful places in the world", he says. "The more I travel the more I like it here. Man must learn to recognise beauty in his surroundings and not to always look for it some place far away."