Located on the same distance from Equator, on the parallel 41, Armenia and North Macedonia share some common history. Although both countries were a part of the Ottoman Empire, passed complicated ways towards their independence, they have very few ties in terms of economy and culture. But from December 13th 2024 until April 13th 2025 paintings of a renown Macedonian artist Mice Jankulovski will be exhibited in “HayArt” Centre.
Text: Anzhela Alekian
Photo: HayArt Centre
Mice Jankulovski has a personal history connecting him to Armenia, or rather Armenians. His grandfather back in the time was exiled with a group of other Madeconians to Dyiarbekir, Anatolia (Turkey). While most of the group didn’t survive the hardships of exile, Jankulovski’s grandfather managed to return home thanks to Armenians he met along the way, who offered him shelter and help. The way he had to pass to go home lay along the 41st parallel. That’s exactly how Mice Jankulovski named his first ever exhibition organized in Armenia.
Mice Jankulovski (Мице Јанкуловски), is a recognized and highly decorated artist from North Macedonia. Among his awards are El Greco Award for Best Artist at the Art Thessaloniki 2019, prize for life achievement in painting Lorenzo Il Magnifico (Lorenzo the Magnificent) at the 12th Florence Biennale, and Artist of the World Award of the Larnaca Biennial 2018. Today his works are exhibited at “HayArt” Centre which only started to act as a gallery very recently due to efforts of acting director of “HayArt” Sona Harutyunyan.
Sona Harutyunyan, Mice Jankulovski, Kornelija Koneska
Mice Jankulovski is also a director of Osten Museum of Drawing in Skopje, President of the Osten Biennial of Drawing, and President of the Association of Cartoonists of Macedonia.
Exclusively for Regional Post’s readers Mice Jankulovski talked about his art and Armenian exhibition together with his manager Kornelija Koneska, who not only kindly agreed to translate for us, but also participated in discussion.
AA: Mr. Jankulovski, thank you very much for this interview. Very recently you have publicly shared a very touching story of your grandfather who was saved by Armenians. My question is why did it take you so long to visit Armenia?
MJ: Actually, most likely, it just should be the right time for every event. So when the International print Biennial Yerevan started (took place in 2021 - RP), I participated in it, and my works got noticed, we started communication with Sona (Sona Harutyunyan, the acting director of “HayArt” is also a founder of Yerevan Print Biennial - RP), Anush and other people working in KulturDialog and now in “HayArt” too. Communication nowadays is very simple, you can communicate around the world via social media. The Internet makes people closer, so that’s how we were working on this exhibition for 2-3 years, as I remember. So for any action there needs to be appropriate time.
AA: What is your inspiration when you create your art?
MJ: I have practiced fine arts and painting for over 50 years. When I was very young, 15 years of age, I started to publish my drawings and paintings in the newspaper in Macedonia.
That’s how it all started. But in the process of development you can recognize three phases in my paintings: “Form 1”, “Form 2” and “Form 3”. Form 1 works had various abstract and geometric forms, painted in different colors. In Form 2 it was a short period when I was painting big canvases in two colors, when one color was black, always black. And the third phase, Form 3, I started to paint all in black, only black.
From the earliest age I was interested in organic and geometric forms. At the beginning I started to paint on a panel with different colors and different shapes. But I was also interested in kinetics, so I put the canva on a router to make it circulate and to see how the shapes and colors would be mixed during the circulation. That was the beginning. Now, 50 years later, I realized that when you paint in black like I have been doing in Form 3, you can go along the painting and see kinetic as well, the same one that I was trying to accomplish with the circulation of the panel. Now it is present because of the light, because the light is moving, and this is what I always say: it took me 50 years to realize that.
AA: What about the pictures you have painted here in Yerevan, right before the exhibition? Do they have a special meaning or do they continue the general line?
MJ: The paintings that are exhibited in this exhibition are of two parts. One part was created in Larnaca in Cyprus, and they were shipped to Yerevan. And the other half of the paintings of the exhibition was created here. So there was a special motivation and inspiration for the first paintings that I painted here. Those two next to the name of the exhibition, have a line of words in the middle. It says 41st parallel, one in Armenian, and one in Macedonian. So that’s how it started. Also, “Forms of Yerevan” and “Forms of Armenia” paintings were created here. And “Forms of Armenia” is especially close to me, especially dear and close to my heart.
AA: Mr Jankulovski, you have received a lot of awards during the years. Does it feel nice to get recognized, or are you focused more on creating and sharing your art?
KK: He says he doesn't think so much about it. Because it is my job (laughs). We are the closest cooperators and friends and we talk about his art and opportunities. We receive a lot of invitations to participate in different events, biennials and exhibitions. And then during our conversations we decide where to go. And awards just come one way or another. It just happens. And of course, I can say from my part, but I am sure Mice will agree with me, that it is very nice to receive an award, but it is not a precondition. Because he knows what he’s doing, and he’s doing it with a lot of passion, with a lot of energy. He is hyperactive in his work. But still I am also sure, when you give so much, it is just a matter of time to get recognition from the other side, when you give and don’t expect.
AA: What can we learn about Mice Jankulovski from his paintings?
MJ: I don’t want to talk about what people can see about me from my paintings, I’d rather say for myself, how I feel when I paint. When I was painting my first paintings during the first two phases, I was working with geometrical and organic forms and some figurative forms. Also, it was a phase of figurative, satiric painting on the glass. Back then I was feeling effort, I had to put efforts in order to create this art. But when I started to paint Form 3, when I got rid of colors, when I got rid of brushes, (because now he paints with combs, spatulas, different tools, even fingers, but not with brush - KK), then I feel much freer. My art is like wings now, and I paint without making an effort and without getting tired. I can paint for hours and days. But I am aware that my art is complicated, because not everybody likes the black color, and it is not commercial at all. Not everybody, or very few, or even nobody would want to have these paintings in their bedroom or living room. But still, I consider that black color to be the color of all colors. It is like the ultimate color. I am fascinated not only with ordinary black, but even further, with carbon black, which is even darker: it is the blackest black.
KK: If these paintings were in carbon black you would see nothing from a distance, you’d need to get closer to see the shape of what is on the surface of the painting. Because the carbon black paint absorbs 99.6% of light. And the light defines the expressions on the surface of his painting.
AA: I’d like to go back to discuss your future plans with Armenia. What are your plans?
MJ: It is interesting that on our way to Armenia we were bringing around 40 litres of paint. These big canvases need a lot of paint. I have a manufacturer in Skopje who produces my paint. I am used to working with it and I know how it works, and it’s a very delicate paint. When we come to Yerevan and I start working, I realize that the paint doesn’t work as it’s supposed to, because it got frozen during the flight. We didn’t have much time before the exhibition, but we managed to solve the problem with a local store nearby that sells paint. However, our paint can be saved and still be used. It’s a lot of paint after all. So we are planning to do something else to maintain this creative communication between Skopje and Yerevan, and we will talk about these possibilities with Sona (Harutyunyan - RP) to make something else with this paint that we will repair and use for artistic creation.
AA: All this feels like destiny.
KK: Yes, it is destiny. 41st parallel (smiling). But also we expect to get together with Armenian artists. We are talking with Sona about presenting an Armenian artist in Skopje. So this parallel has to work now. We started it, made the first step with this exhibition, but we expect exchange, we expect for Armenian people to be represented in Skopje, in Macedonia. And of course we can do many more things here together with our great cooperators, who become friends.
AA: What do you think Armenia and Macedonia have to exchange in terms of culture?
I am an artist above all, but I also have a lot of other activities, especially as a president of Osten, which is an institution for culture, museum and gallery activities. With Kornelija as a director of this institution, we run three international events. So there's also a basis for communication with Armenian artists, just like with artists from around the world. Osten biennial is one of these main activities. It is a biennial for contemporary visual arts, so there is a solid basis to attract Armenian artists. And we have been talking about it with Sona frequently while we are here. And we are sure that something will come out of that.
KK: We feel and consider this communication on a high professional basis, very valuable. And this is the true value of what we are doing as artists and art professionals. We do need support from the institutions, from funds, from any institution that will recognize our effort. We need funds, not to get rich, we are already rich, but to realize our mission. Because our mission isn’t only to create estetic, to create paintings and organize beautiful exhibitions. Our mission is to bring together artists, art professionals and the general public around the world. And this very meaningful and very concrete cooperation that we are doing on different levels, not only artistic but organizational level, is very-very valuable, and this is a part of cultural diplomacy, that we are consciously or unconsciously doing with our activities.
MJ: We are certain that this communication will continue and we will wait for Armenian artists to be represented in Skopje.
Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia Daniel Danielyan, Sona Harutyunyan,
Mice Jankulovski, Kornelija Koneska, Ambassador, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Armenia Vassilis Maragos
On the 5th April 2024 Sona Harutyunyan (M.A.), Founding President of KulturDialog Armenien, the Founder of International Print Biennale, Yerevan, was appointed as acting director of “HayArt” Centre.
Since then “HayArt” Centre reviewed its purpose and strategy focusing on exhibiting internationally recognized artists in the Centre. “HayArt” will serve as a platform for Armenians and guests of the country to see the works of famous artists and catch up with the new tendencies in arts. “The 41th Parallel” exhibition is a part of a strategy by which “HayArt” will collaborate with international galleries. Operating under the jurisdiction of Yerevan Municipality “HayArt” will strive to become one of the central art institutions in the country.
Mice Jankulovski’s solo exhibition "The 41st Parallel" was organized by The "HayArt" Centre, in collaboration with KulturDialog Armenien, the OSTEN Skopje and with support of the Delegation of the European Union to Armenia.
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