Artist turns his gaze from Cyprus landscape to its people

Serbian artist Milenko Stevanovic’s second Nicosia solo show brings together portraits made over five years, reflecting on people, place, observation and the act of painting from life

Crossing the bridge over the Pediaios River, I enter the Ayioi Omoloyites neighbourhood. It is quiet, yet these streets always feel busy. Workers step in and out of house renovations, sizzling smells drift from Platanos tavern, and at a local art studio, one artist prepares his new showcase.

In Toto studio, Milenko Stevanović is deep in preparation for his solo show in Nicosia, Closely Observed, now on at Toto Gallery until October 15, presented by Alternative Brains Rule (ABR).

But what is the process behind this series of portraits, the curiosities that lead an artist there and what painting from real life is like? Stone lithographs, watercolours, paintings and charcoal drawings make up Milenko’s second solo exhibition in the capital. All of them are portraits of people the Serbian artist has met since making Cyprus his new home – plus his mother and dog.

This selection of works traces Milenko’s first years on the island and how his inquisitiveness about place, people and his work evolve. They have an unlikely Cyprus focus.

“The place influenced me obviously,” he says, “but I did not want to make it about a specific place, which is strange to say because I do depend so much on places or the people that I paint. I wanted to explore some visual ideas and see what would happen if I was left with just a person or an object. What would that show about the way I paint?”

Milenko often spends several hours walking the streets of Nicosia, Ayioi Omoloyites or old Nicosia with his sketchpad and tools, drawing, studying and experimenting. It was a drawing of a sculpture at the Cyprus Museum that kickstarted the process behind this series. An interest that unraveled slowly as the artworks took shape between 2021 and 2026.

“It’s a study of a museum sculpture, and I really like how the sculptor understood form and simplified the mass. I felt something towards it.

“I began to notice,” he adds, “how light travelled through the picture. That’s when I began to wonder what would happen if I took away all the noise. What if I was left just with the person and a simple coloured background?

“I was consciously pushing to do something a bit different and not react to the Cypriot landscape in a way that maybe a version of me 10 years ago would have reacted, which would have been to paint the scenery, to populate it with the people, to paint the coffee shops,” he explains.

“This time, I felt like I needed to turn a little bit more towards working in the studio because I had some curiosities there. So, it turned into bringing Cyprus and the people indoors.

Images of ordinary people

Depicted in this series are ordinary people. Some paintings are large, life-sized, others small, and they feel to me, incredibly real. As if I, as the viewer, know each crevice of their face too. It’s a lengthy process.

“The posing hours for this one,” he points to the large painting with two people sitting on a couch, “were 48.5 hours for Apostolos and 54 for Christina.” To finish a piece, it can take longer – months, or even a year.

Besides being lengthy, I imagine the process of portrait painting is intense, intimate. “You definitely get to know the person better,” Milenko says.

Turning the gaze back on himself

Over these five years of observing closely, the artist also turned the gaze back on himself and a self-portrait is included in the exhibition as well – a stone lithograph. Beyond how impressive and skilful his pieces are, it is perhaps talking to the artist himself where the magic lies.

The exhibition’s parallel events will open up the floor for just that, as on September 24, Milenko will hold a public talk with theatre actor and actor Diomedes Koufteros at 7pm. On October 2, one of the models of the exhibition will lead a guided tour at 7pm, alongside the artist.

Inviting others to observe

On Sunday the exhibition was also part of the neighbourhood’s Laou Laou event, inviting passersby to step into Milenko’s world and observe, as the its title encourages.

“I had this list of titles,” Milenko says, “I chose this because it felt like that’s what we were doing, right? This corner of the studio was set up where things were not to be moved, sometimes even rotting things. And the work that I set out to do was to go in the studio every day and kind of look at it.

“In the end, I’m just sharing what I was observing and hoping that triggers someone else’s curiosity.”

As I step out onto the street, I feel slightly more moved to notice what is around me. The fallen leaves of the plane tree outside Platanos tavern, the parking game the cars play and the lounging cats by the bridge – all leaving their trace in my memory of the day.

Closely Observed

Exhibition by Milenko Stevanović. Curated by Constantinos Kyprianou and presented by ABR – Alternative Brains Rule. Until October 15. In Toto Gallery, Nicosia. Tuesday, Thursday, Friday: 5pm-7.30pm. Saturday: 10am –1pm. Also during Laou Laou event on Sunday: 10–1pm and 3.30pm-7.30pm. www.milenkostevanovic.com,  www.alternativebrainsrule.com