Amb. Gori inaugurates exhibition of Italian-Serbian artist Djakov in Belgrade

(ANSA) - BELGRADO, 12 FEB - Italian Ambassador to Serbia Luca Gori attended the opening of the exhibition "On a Leap Day," dedicated to the Italian-Serbian artist Damjan Djakov, hosted at the Ilija M. Kolarac Foundation in Belgrade. The exhibition - which will be open to the public until February 28, 2026 - presents more than forty works, mainly created in the 1990s, considered the period of the author's full artistic maturity. The exhibition brings together for the first time in Serbia an organic corpus of works created during Damjan Djakov's long stay and activity in Italy, from the mid-1980s to the early 2000s, fulfilling a wish expressed by the artist himself that the paintings made in Italy would one day return to Belgrade. The works on display were commissioned for the exhibition by the Bugno Art gallery in Venice, which represented Djakov in Italy for many years. A major contribution to the project was made by Vito Mancuso, author of the preface to the catalog. The exhibition is organized by the Ilija M. Kolarac Foundation, whose Director, Aleksandar Peković, was a longtime friend of the artist, with the curatorial participation of Aleksandra Djurišić and Milan Djakov, Damjan's brother. The initiative, promoted with the support of the Italian Embassy in Belgrade and the Italian Cultural Institute (Iic), testifies to the value of cultural diplomacy as a tool for dialogue and strengthening relations between Italy and Serbia. "With this exhibition we wish to emphasize the deep cultural and human bond that has united Damjan Djakov with Italy, the country where the artist has lived and worked for more than 20 years, until he established himself in the panorama of international contemporary painting," said Ambassador Gori. "We invite our Serbian friends to visit this extraordinary exhibition, which - together with the Farnesina Collection exhibition also currently on view in Belgrade - once again underscores the role of cultural diplomacy in fostering relations between our countries." Read article...

By ANSA