 At the very entrance of the Boka Kotorska Bay is an islet on which a Catholic church dedicated to Gospa od Škrpjela (Lady of the Rock) was erected in 1630 in memory of the Christian army victories over the Turkish army. Legend has it that the Mother of God appeared to the surrounding settlements on the bay. As a token of gratitude, locals began placing stones on a crag, turning it into an islet on which a church was then built.
Gospa od Škrpjela is a breathtaking sight. I communicate this to the painter, adding that its lonely white silhouette openly calls us to enter the temple, as if it were a sanctuary from evil. In the serenity of a rainy day, I hear a story:
"On my canvas I placed my enchantment with a sublime moment in Boka Kotorska", Dolovački recounts slowly. "Joy is born in whomever encounters this sight. I painted the Gospa od Škrpjela when the sunlight was passing through Verige, the point where the two shores of the bay come closest to each other, bathing it in a subdued evening brilliance, creating the impression that the mountains in the shadow, and the sea with its darkblue depths, meet somewhere in the depths. The intensity of this painting is in the colour."
On the painting, as well as in reality, the church shines in a mild light on an endless dark-blue evening sea. I asked the painter how he managed, through composition and colour, to create the impression that the viewer were alone and surrounded by waves moving from the open sea toward the church – a beauty that was out-of-this-world – and the seashore:
 "I was simply near the sea level. I love metaphysics and I wanted to transmit elements of the surreal onto the canvas, the very dark gamut of the mountains and the sea. I am not one of those painters who aims to astound the viewer by placing things from reality upside-down. A canvas stands before the painter onto which he needs to place two blots. He must decide which colours – and in what intensity – to place them in which position. This means we are stepping into the domain of aesthetics. I believe in Dostoyevsky’s creed that ‘beauty will save the world".
I take it that Gospa od Škrpjela conjures up the idea that something of the divine was to be found in beauty. It is not easy to transpose its light so that it shines with an inner brilliance, I note, as I watch the deep blue.
"That is the underlying meaning of the painting", replies the artist. "A painting resembles music. Just as you listen to a work of music with delight, you should also feel the same when viewing a painting."
I call on the painter to talk about the colours he used to achieve the play of light and shade, the sea and the temple, the symmetry between Gospa od Škrpjela on Earth and the one in heaven, between the lonely little houses in the forest and the mountains lying separately from the world and those along the coastline with a cemetery that is all white by a church.
"I find it hard to answer that question. An artist has an idea of how to go about creating a painting, but the subconscious, too, plays a major role in the process. This was what happened in the case of Reflection (of the Lady), a painting measuring 146 x 114 centimetres. As I cover an area on the canvas, even without association to some event, I endeavour to instill it with ‘artistic weight’. I add as much paint, not overly concerned about it, except the ultimate appearance. And the blue that fascinated you so much, for instance, is indeed a blue that is so deep blue that it is almost black. It evolves mostly from the darkish green to the reddish hues that appear in the upper part of the picture. There is no sky on the Odraz (Reflection) painting. There is only a glimmer in the upper section of some reddish shimmering, contrasted with the warm and bright hues of Gospa od Škrpjela."
Pausing after this reply, I thought about the fact that every artist both covers and unveils the secret of its naissance when speaking about a particular work. No matter which side the painter might choose to berth his boat, Gospa od Škrpjela deserves, as does its Odraz (Reflection), to have a moment above materialistic absurdity.
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Vasa Dolovački’s individual exhibition of paintings opens at Belgrade’s artistic space called Pariski Krug in mid-June.
Exhibition visitors are offered a selection of the paintings Dolovački turned out over the past twenty years as well as those he prepared especially for this occasion.
Promotion of the first monograph – issued by the Valjevac publishers and devoted to Dolovači - is to take place during the exhibition as well.
Also, critic and writer Dragan Jovanović Danilov is expected to speak about the exhibition and the monograph at the exhibition’s opening ceremony. | | 
