THE AUTHOR CONVERTS THE AESTHETICS OF THE STEĆAK (AND THAT VALUE WHICH MARIAN WENZEL CALLS BOSNIAN STYLE) INTO A PERSONAL ARTISTIC EXPRESSION. Key to the City of Sarajevo 2020, authored by Dr. . Sci. Adis Elias Fejzić is an original bronze sculpture and recognition made in the shape of a key as a metaphor for the city of Sarajevo and the City Administration. It is, as the artist Fejzić explained to us, a physical and metaphysical structure set as an abbreviation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, i.e., Sarajevo, multiculturalism, multiconfessionalism, and multidimensionality, which over a long history (both internally and externally) has been shaped into an authentic cultural and civilizational phenomenon—the City of Sarajevo.
The Star of David, the Latin and Greek cross/cross, and the crescent moon are entwined in one unique sign that Adis Fejzić calls the Abraham/Abraham/Ibrahim seal since 2013, and here he combines it with the symbol of progress and "nafaka" taken from Bosnian carpets. In this sense, as this artist points out, the sculpture Key to the City of Sarajevo 2020 is a combination of universal values presented in the meeting of the sacred and the secular, through which the authentic complexity of Sarajevo appears as a metaphorical summary—a symbol of an exceptional civilizational achievement that can only be paralleled by Jerusalem. But with an important difference: Jerusalem is "heavenly" destined, while Sarajevo earned its status and acquired it in different historical circumstances and through its own choice. Fejzić's conceptual and sculptural solution for the Key to the City of Sarajevo is, as he points out, the result of continuous research and creative work. It should be noted that he is the author of an entire artistic oeuvre dedicated to Bosnian history, culture, and art. He carved the first (known to history) original sculpture-portraits of Kulin Ban and King Tvrtko I Kotromanić. He became the first BiH sculptor with the title of Doctor of Science (PhD) with a thesis that brings a new and deeper understanding of the "art of stećak." Adis Fejzić is also a researcher of stećak in the context of global history and theory of stone sculpture, within which he defined them as our most authentic art form, the most original symbol of our identity, and exceptional creative potential. As an artist, Fejić revived the art of stećak for the first time after several centuries since its extinction. This artist, as he points out, does not make replicas of stećaks but turns this traditional medieval art into his (memorial) sculpture of the 21st century.
The sculpture Key to the City of Sarajevo 2020 is a combination of universal values presented in the meeting of the sacred and the secular. The author transforms the aesthetics of stećak (and that value that Marian Wenzel calls Bosnian style) into a personal artistic expression. In the search for creative metaphors with which he (de)codes his identity, in a special way he introduces the phenomenon of the Bosnian medieval script, which we colloquially call bosančica, into "our new century." In the interpretation of Adis Fejzić, the Bosnian woman gains new vitality and qualities that do not exhaust their importance exclusively on the creative level but also on the socio-political and general humanistic level. In connection with his creative use of the Bosnian script and the context of his Abraham/Avram/Ibrahim seal and conceptual solution for the Key to the City of Sarajevo, it is important to mention a series of works in which the author writes the prayers of our four confessions in Bosnian script (Kaddish in Hebrew, Otče Naš in Old Slavonic, Pater Noster in Latin, and El-Fatiha in Arabic). The key to the City of Sarajevo 2020 was created as part of a creative search for symbols of our existence and our culture. In a technical sense, the realization of the Key to the City of Sarajevo, Adis Fejzić told us, was carried out with several difficulties. In the conditions of the pandemic and the physical absence of the author, even the creation of a relatively small bronze sculpture proved to be a special challenge. In such circumstances, several versions of the Key to the City of Sarajevo were produced, each with its patina and with a specially prepared box/pedestal and charter.
The first Key was presented to Prince Albert II of Monaco on Friday, October 9, 2020, during his visit to Sarajevo on the occasion of the official opening of the Olympic Museum. - After the City Administration adopted my conceptual solution for the Sarajevo Key and after the first bronze copy became part of the archive of the collection of Prince Albert II of Monaco... there is no longer any doubt. Sarajevo is the first city in the history of civilization to be officially presented with this symbol. Every other city that could or dared to present itself like this is already behind us. But it is much more important to me that my art makes our society at least a little more aware of itself, of its true integral values so that we can again be a "civilization beacon" to the whole world, what we have been for a long time, said Fejzić. Dr. sc. Nirha Efendić from the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina wrote that the breadth of inspiration from the holy text can be read in many of the works of Adis Elias Fejzić. - The beauty of his perception is contained in the expression of an autochthonous Bosnian being, ennobled by the concept of one God, and then expressed in the traditional elements of Bosnian literacy. In addition to the bridges that connect different dimensions of creation, Fejzić in his scenes brings a sense of belonging to the cosmopolitan spirit of openness without suppression, affirming the multifaceted values of his roots and emphasizing their importance in the mosaic of world culture. Corresponding with the Bosnian culture of the Middle Ages, with the scenes we are used to seeing on stećci, Fejzić gives importance to the duration of the spiritual literacy of his people, emphasizing its all-time breadth. And while many alhamijado poets preserved their language by using the Arabic script, Fejzić showed the well-known amalgam energy, which we feel in other forms of our creativity, especially in sevdalinka, on the other side of the coin—namely, how his script, at least in art, can be preserved by borrowing its sign from another language, as Efendić pointed out regarding the work of this artist. (https://www.oslobodjenje.ba/)
English
Bosanski
