Ljiljana Blazevska

Ljiljana Blazevska’s work reminds me of the daydreams I could have as a child, when magic existed, and we could transport ourselves into a book or fantasy worlds. She defined it herself as “Poetic Infantilism”.

Ljiljana was born in Skopje, Macedonia, in 1944 and grew up in Belgrade, Serbia, back when it was the federation of Yugoslavia. She studied painting and aquarelle from the famous painter, Ljubica "Cuca" Sokić, at the Fine Arts Academy in Belgrade. Ljiljana found her unique style early on in her career, and for 50 years she painted phantasmal flowers, mythical beasts, angels and all their angel friends, princes and princesses, mothers and children, weddings and brides. If I close my eyes, I can see her using an ice cream cone as a paintbrush, dipping it in clouds.

Ljiljana’s work has been featured in dozens of solo exhibitions and presentations throughout the world, and most recently here in Brooklyn at a sold-out solo show at the 15 Orient Gallery.

I’m waiting for my piece to come along at the right time.

Until then, I have this PAOM sweatshirt.

Ljiljana’s tour de force was in 1980, when she gave birth to her son and my friend, the very talented photographer, Viktor Shekularatz. His camera is always with him, and I remember tensing up any time he would reach for it. “Oh crap, he’s going to take my picture.” But he rarely did (you’d never know if it was happening). Instead, something remarkable had caught his eye, and I imagine that what he’s seen throughout his life allows him to identify the extraordinary when he looks through the lens.