My last works:
„Portraits of my father Risto Balov" 2009,acryl on canvas, (0,95m x 1,05m)
2008, acryl on canvas, (0,95m x 1,05m)
..
Jovan Balov numbers among those artists whose keen, probing and cognitive faculties give him the ability to analyse and understand the social realities of everyday life in the world around him. He uses his artistic media and talents to transpose them in an interpretative and synthesizing way, for instance by turning them into a critique of political injustices, nationalism and racism. In doing so he also taps into his knowledge of myths, symbols, and iconography, as well as of history and its interpretations, as his background in archaeology (among other things) has taught him. In his work, the process of the reciprocal cross-pollination between the idea and the image, between cognitive power and imagination, is brought to life before our very eyes, as his explorations of the city take him on a journey of discovery, tracing history in the architecture, on the walls, in advertising, and in the monuments and the prestigious sculptures; he uncovers all of this, sets it in context and draws comparisons. His success in achieving this is exemplary, creating a balance between the symbolic language of Berlin and that of Skopje, as well as of the former Yugoslavia and the new republics which emerged from within its borders...Social and political inequalities are presented as constants that are more or less naturally given and therefore immutable. This is where the enlightening work of the artist Jovan Balov aims to intervene through his artistic means. These range from painting to photography and from digital printing using image manipulation to videos and performance art. He pays special attention to the forms of nationalism which brought such disaster in their wake—not only in his home country of Macedonia but also during the break-up of Yugoslavia—and which continue to have repercussions today. Through his art he also wants to expose the everyday examples of racism and xenophobia he is forced to witness in Germany and Berlin, although other conclusions might have been expected to emerge from the history of the 19th and 20th centuries there, especially given Nazi history and the dictatorship in East Germany.His art is designed to intervene at this point, to shake people into awareness and actively confront injustices. Jovan Balov does not, however, translate these concerns into mere protest, or so-called agitprop art, but turns them into forms of expression which give food for thought, playfully and without inhibition, and even at times with irony and wit. He also makes an object of himself, portraying himself and appearing in different roles, changing nations and nationalities as it suits him, without bare accusations and instead like a chameleon changing colour as appropriate. Both his politics and his art are at the same time profoundly inspired by humanist traditions, humanity and sympathy for the weak and persecuted, as well as being bent on justice. Injustice and insults rouse the fighting instinct in him. ________________________ Rolf Külz-Mackenzie, Berlin, September