Da Costa Milica

Artist Statement

I approach white canvas free of preconceptions and open to possibilities as the best things are to happen spontaneously. I believe that the microcosm is the epitome of the inexhaustible source of creativity. The moment I free myself from overthinking and planning, my imaginary worlds come to life. Real battles begin on the canvas until the last move. I am often lost in the process of painting, struggling to find a way out until that moment of clarity.

During my creative process, I sometimes use drawings as a study and exploration for larger format paintings. Gesture moves and thick black strokes dictate the atmosphere and darkness hovering over the human soul. I find inspiring those muscular bolts of black paint over white fields. Rich textures against pure colors emphasize the restlessness and dynamics of the paintings. Colors in achromatic drawings and paintings symbolically indicate emotion or state. Combining different media in different stages of the painting process (charcoal, graphite, ink, pastels, acrylic and oil paint, unconventional materials such as sand, stone, wood, plaster, etc.) leads me towards finding solutions for my ideas. Different contemporary and organic forms drive me to think outside the box and create abstract expressionist paintings and minimalist abstract sculptures.

Even though I sometimes make commissioned portrait paintings or figurative artwork, my main art style is abstract expressionism. The absence of objects gives me the freedom to enter another realm and create abstract art pieces that speak through me while I am only the medium of artistic creation. A period of deep introspection and personal transformation has led to looking more closely at Pandora's box of today's humankind. I often portray the spiritual fall of today's man touching the subjects of utopia and dystopia. By applying a poetic and often metaphorical language, I use art to address many different social and political topics. People often see my paintings as dreamlike images in which fiction and reality meet and past, present, and future fuse. My latest work clearly shows the collision between light and dark in today's world with a stroke of hope that light will prevail.

Milica da Costa


Artist Bio

Milica da Costa was born in Vranje, 1990. She completed her English studies at the University of Novi Sad. She attended an art workshop with Professor Dragan Stojanović - Šutil for four years. Member of the private art school at the University of Vranje from 2003 to 2009 with professors Vesna Marinković Stanković and Goran Stanković.

She has organized two solo exhibitions and participated in 7 collective exhibitions in Serbia. She completed two projects financed by the city of Nis within the Resource Center Nis. The topic of painting murals in "Dusko Radovic" Orphanage (org. Dom za decu i omladinu Dusko Radovic) and "Mara" Center for Adults with Disabilities (org. Centar-Dnevni boravak Mara) in Nis. She won the third prize for painting at the Saint Sava Salon in Vučje. She is a member of the Multimedia Association of Artists "Car Konstantin" in Nis.

Solo exhibitions

• Twin Souls, Paris Art gallery in Nis, 2018
• Illumination, Dnevna soba gallery in Nis, 2019.

Collective exhibitions

• Exhibition of Art School members, National University Gallery, Vranje, 2003
• Annual Exhibition of Art School Members, National University Gallery, Vranje, 2004
• Collective Exhibition of Constantine the Emperor Multimedia Association of Artists, Gallery of the Cultural Center of Nis, Nis, 2017
• Collective Exhibition of Constantine the Emperor Multimedia Association of Artists, Gallery of the Cultural Center of Nis, Nis, 2018
• Collective Exhibition of Constantine the Emperor Multimedia Association of Artists, Gallery of the Cultural Center of Nis, Nis, 2019
• Saint Sava Art Salon, won 3rd place, Vucje, 2019
• Humanitarian art exhibition for helping Clinic for Gynecology and Obstetrics in Nis, Regional Center, Nis, 2021
• Saint Sava Art Salon, Vucje, 2022

Other projects and events

• Creative dialogue humanitarian project sponsored by the city of Nis, "Dusko Radovic" orphanage, Nis, 2018
• Art speaks to the heart humanitarian project sponsored by the city of Nis, Mara Center for Adults with Disabilities, Nis, 2018/2019
• Open Heart Street Festival and Exhibition, Niš 2019
• Green Mission Art Workshop sponsored by Green Key (Zeleni kljuc) environmental organization Niš, 2019
• “Medijana” Art Colony, Nis, 2021

Lives and Works: Serbia, Niš