Čoke

ČOKE is a pseudonym of a contemporary artist born in Serbia in 1986. His art is a unique expression of his inner state of being and the way that it’s made is completely automatic in a sense, for he gives himself to the inspiration completely letting it guide his hand as it sees fit. For the one that gazes into the art piece striving to see beyond the brush markings, the artist's essence is clearly visible. In a way, this represents a form of a diary that tells a story of a moment in time. Each stroke gives a sense of something left unfinished, a form not fully brought into existence on canvas, and those places are the ones that reflect the person opposing the painting. The forms are seldom straightforward when it comes to the message they are sending, so the art piece gives an impression of underlying ambiguity. This is best portrayed in paintings that represent the merging of two opposing sexes into something surprisingly harmonious and serene. These drawings draw inspiration from the notion of being human, although the shapes and forms are more often than not something completely alienated from the concept of humanity in a classical sense. By exploring the divides between us, ČOKE guides the viewer on the path of introspection. The deformed bodily shapes and rearranged facial structures imprint a sense of humane familiarity to the forms making them recognizable as something anthropomorphic. This is the ultimate goal of the creator. By drawing compassion for the being on the canvas he subtly makes the viewer identify with what it was shown, thus freeing the subconscious mind to interact with the ego to form a whole.