Photo exhibition el gvojos & Duško Vukić

LIGHTPAINTINGS BY EL GVOJOS AND DUŠKO VUKIĆ 

Želimir Gvojić, known in the world of photography as el gvojos, and Duško Vukić will present an exhibition as part of Guitar Visual Art at the 27th Guitar Art Festival in Belgrade.

The opening is scheduled for March 11th, and visitors will be able to view the exhibition until March 15th.

The two photographers, el gvojos and Duško Vukić, are legends of concert photography, whose work never merely documents performers on stage. They “capture” those special moments when the performer and the instrument become one, the vibrations of emotion that are difficult to predict or see with the naked eye, the beam of light that wraps around the musician’s fingers or spills across their face... Just as they feel the music, their photos must be felt, not only those from concerts, but also from the everyday life of Belgrade, where they live, and Herceg Novi, a city they often visit and deeply love.

In an email exchange regarding the catalog text, I received a message: “In your exhibition announcement you mention some Želimir… you won’t see a single photo from him, he’s not into that… fix it for the next time... grammatically correct it’s written all in lowercase, like this… el gvojos…”

Message received – el gvojos has been involved in photography since 1980, beginning with a photo club in his hometown of Vinkovci. Everything he has done since – and his range of interests is astonishingly broad (skydiving, sailing, flying light aircraft, diving, descending into deep caves, climbing the tallest buildings) – has been accompanied by photography. One could simply say he captures images from below and above (from the underground and the sky). Concerts, especially those outside mainstream pop, hold a special place in his work. And if you see a group of photographers at a show, look for el gvojos on the other side – he’s finding his own angle, a different, more emotional, unique moment.

Active in the Photo Association of Serbia and the photography section of ULUPUDS, he collaborated with Mihajlo Blam on the “65 Years of Jazz in Serbia” project. He exhibited jazz musician photos at the Belgrade Jazz Festival, Blues Days in Belgrade, and jazz festivals in Niš, Zagreb, Valjevo, Šabac, Pančevo, Kraljevo, Sarajevo, Čačak, Kovin, Lazarevac, Graz, Kosovska Mitrovica, and at the Photo Forum in Pécs. At the first Summertime Jazz & Blues & World Music Festival (1991) at Sava Center, he held an exhibition and served as photo editor of the festival magazine Jazz Tribune. At the French Cultural Center, he exhibited concert photos of French artists in Belgrade. He is the official photographer of the Guitar Art Festival and documented the early years of the Herceg Novi Guitar Art Summer Fest. His photos appear on several LP, cassette, and CD covers. He also photographs the Medimus festival in Prizren. His works are published in Etnoumlje magazine and previously in the renowned magazine Zenit, which unfortunately no longer exists. A notable recognition came at the 36th October Art Salon in Kovin, in the photography and expanded media category – Serbia’s largest exhibition of its kind.

Duško Vukić pursues photography out of pure and sincere joy, out of love, and has been doing so intensively after retiring from a career mostly spent in public administration. What began as a hobby became a passion, leading him to solo exhibitions at the Yugoslav Railways Salon, UK Parobrod, Bartselona Gallery, Akademija 28 Gallery, Radisson Hotel, O3one Gallery, Gallery 73, and Atelje 212.

He has worked with, and continues to collaborate with, major regional festivals: the Belgrade Dance Festival, Guitar Art Festival (in both Belgrade and Herceg Novi), Belgrade Jazz Festival, Ring-Ring Festival, Etno Fusion Fest, Atelje 212, Herceg Novi Film Festival, Herceg Novi Comic Festival, and Jazz Bay Festival in Herceg Novi, as well as numerous galleries in Belgrade and the Bay of Kotor.

In addition to “sounding” concert photography, Vukić is also known for images of gates, courtyards, windows, and facades—from both Belgrade and Herceg Novi. He reveals to us places we often pass by, unaware of their beauty or the stories time has left on them. He is a gentle guardian of memories, of a world fading away, but at the same time he’s described as having a “sharp eye” for our everyday reality—how we look and how we behave.

Vukić is an award-winning photographer, recognized at the European Heritage Days exhibition in Belgrade and as part of the Two Projects exhibition by Dragoljub Zamurović. His photos have been featured on the covers of several story and poetry books. He is a member of the Photo Club Belgrade and the Photo Association of Serbia and has participated in numerous group exhibitions.

In conclusion – both el gvojos and Duško Vukić paint with light. They photograph energy—the energy of musicians and music, sometimes the audience, the energy of cities and people. They discover moments of pure emotion and truth... That is why their photographs must be viewed with the heart, to feel the pulse of the moment they chose—with skill, unpretentious instinct, and refined style, with a commitment to seeing the world differently.

Vitka Vujnović