Naive art of Slovaks in Serbia

Inspired by the nature, peace and lifestyle in the wide plain in Vojvodina, unique masterpieces of great value and importance are created.

These are created with a lot of love, talent and dedication on a canvas, stool or squash, by the painters of naive art from Kovačica.

Homeland, love, customs and presenting the life on a countryside are mutual and inexhaustible motives that are inspiration for many artists of naive art. That is how the specific art was developing years ago in the area of Vojvodina, and which was signed into the list of the National Intangible Cultural Heritage of Serbia on the 18th of July, 2012. That way, uniqueness of naive Slovak painters in Serbia is confirmed once again.

Naive art was unofficially started in 1939. At the time, painters have mostly copied the motives from postcards and calendars, painting everything that couldn’t be found in Banat. They built their own styles with time, so artists of today create unique motives with plenty of colours and details.

Still, there is no explanation for the great number of naive art painters in Kovačica. Even the residents of this small place in Banat are not sure why the land they’re living on is so fertile for development of this kind of art. Some of them say that is the „higher force“, other say that „the fault for the inexhaustible inspiration of painters“ is in the beautiness of Vojvodina, and they are those who think that the reason lies in the decades of transferring the craft from generation to generation.

Anyway, every masterpiece of these talented painters is a story for itself. National costumes, work on a field and a meadow, moments of love, happiness and sadness but also the various customs characteristically for the life and culture of this area, are shown on the squashes, stools and canvas. Most of the painters have a motive that inspire them specifically and which is their sign of recognition, for sure.

To the young and talented artist Vieroslava Svetlikova, those are bees and flowers, while Jan Bačur, one of the oldest painters of naive art in Serbia, find the joy in painting the horses. Even though they have different motives and styles, the two artists have something in common- both of them enjoy their job. „Everyday is the day to paint something. If you don’t have a desire to do that, then you’ll go for a walk in the park and you’ll do nothing about painting. This job has to be loved“, explains Bačur.

The same kind of love shares Vieroslava Svetlikova, who paints late at night, when she is done with all of the chores around the house. The best indicators of her devotion are tens of stools, squashes and paintings that the artist make every day. Value and beauty of Vieroslava’s pieces were recognized by Marjan Vajda, the ex coach of the world’s best tennis player Novak Djoković, who gave one of the Vieroslava’s stools to him.

Masterpieces of some of the best painters of the naïve like Vladimir Boboš, who was the first person in Kovačica who started painting and Martin Jonaš, Jan Sokol to Zuzana Halupova, can be found in gallery “Babka” in Kovačica.

On the uniqueness of painters from Kovačica speaks an interesting nickname which they have got. Namely, these artists are also called „artists of a pure heart”, and the main reason for that is relaxidness when it comes to the school way of knowing the rules of painting and open-minded approach to what they do. That way, the naives from Kovačica have created completely new motives and techniques by building the special artistic universe.

Still, one of the biggest values of naive art is showing the national customs, rituals and lifestyle on the countryside in an authentic way. Many of these celebrations are forgotten or aren’t practiced anymore so records about them are of great importance. That way, the culture and art of one nation is nourished and tradition and spirituality is transferred on new generations.

Paintings of the naïve artists are bought in the USA and Canada

Although the demand and purchase of the artworks from Kovačica is not on a satisfactory level, the interest for those exist in the diaspora. According to the words of Pavel Babka, the owner of the “Babka” gallery in Kovačica, during the last three years, Serbian people in diaspora are buying the paintings from this small place in Vojvodina more and more.

“Our diaspora that lives in the USA and Canada stands out even more. It is about younger people who have left our country during the 90’s and who are mostly highly educated. They have their own houses so they buy paintings, that brings them back to the childhood”, Babka said for the Serbia.com. With hope that this trend will go on, we are inviting you to visit Kovačica, get to know the art of this place and bring with you a small piece of it.