Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Ekrem Dupanović
Slavimir Stojanović this year received the UEPS’ Lifetime Achievement Award, although he doesn’t meet one of the important conditions – he hasn’t turned 50 yet. The rule wasn’t violated because there were no other candidates, but because there were no better candidates.
The Lifetime Achievement Award has so far been given to 17 of the best people in the Serbian advertising industry. The first laureate in 2000 was Dragan Sakan. The following year, industry celebrated Dragan Kosanović and then followed: Vladimir Čeh (2002), Ivo Laurenčič (2004), Tihomir Todorović (2005), Prvoslav Plavšić (2006), and then three equal awards in 2007 to Miša Lukić, Zoran Simjanović and Borislav Miljković. then PhD. Ivan Štajberger (2008), Nikola Vujanić (2009), Ivan Stanković (2010), Srđan Šaper (2011), Srđan Bogosavljević (2012), Dejan Bojović Bojke (2013), Nadežda Milenković (2014) and Dragoljub Mićko Ljubičić (2015).
Four of the laureates are no longer among us (Sakan, Kosanović, Laurenčić and PhD Štajberger).
We asked the others to write us a few sentences about Slavimir. The decision to give the lifetime achievement award is a collective one. But we were interested in their individual, personal opinions about Slavimir and his work. Several laureates are away on business trip or were otherwise unable to send the response. Thank you to all who sent their comments. We arranged their response not in random order, and not alphabetically, but by years when they received the lifetime achievement award.
Vladimir Čeh, Institute for History of Advertising, 2002 laureate:
“I know Slavimir since he was in grade school. He used to hang out with my older son Saša. They used to break dance when they were kids on a cardboard mat beneath my window, they went to basketball and football, listened to music and watched movies with us in the living room … Boys from the neighborhood. He managed to find time for all of that, but every day he would also draw – at night. I saved the “autobiographical” comics that Slavimir made about himself and his friends. When I look at them after so many years, I can see how truthfully and accurately he ‘scanned’ the characters: not just visually. Their characters, features, attitudes… In-depth portraits.
He was only fifteen years old.
During those eighties, I hired the young man (whom I already nicknamed Picasso) and as the youngest member of the agency team tasked him to do his first works in the business in which he would work later on (seriously and successfully). The task was the mascot for the client Energodata – and was called Energobata.
The last meeting of the Economic propaganda program of the Yugoslav Radio Television was the first big event whose visual identity was made by Slavimir. The last task in this first part of our cooperation was the sign for the Fund of the Ski Association of Serbia. The last task of the second part of the cooperation is the identity of my exhibition “The War and Posters”
And in the meantime?
He conquered mountains. Talent was necessary, but not sufficient condition for success. In order to succeed in life you need both talent and work. Great success requires great talent, and great work. He was a copywriter, and a designer, and an art director, a photographer, an illustrator, and a creative director – on occasion individually, and sometimes as a member of the team. And sometimes he was all that at the same time, both as a man and as a part of a team. Had he opted for tennis, Slavimir would be … Slavimir. Had he opted for football, he would be … Slavimir. Had he opted for the guitar … he would be Slavimir. That’s what he is today: the author of hundreds of unwritten but published books, and a multitude of drawn and (yet) unpublished thoughts…
A rare beast he is.
Less than 50 years of age and over 30 years of work, more than 300 awards for creative solutions and one – for lifetime achievement.
There are awards that give prestige to the winners.
There are winners who give prestige to the awards.
The multi-talented artist who with a few gestures says a lot belongs to the latter.”
Prvoslav S. Plavšić, psychologist, researcher of media and communications, 2006 laureate:
“Propositions of the UEPS’ Lifetime Achievement Award are very interesting and useful. Here, professionals reward professionals, colleagues award other prominent authors and their notable works. This also means that they readily accepted them in their society of laureates which thereby becomes richer and more significant.
Slavimir Stojanović has been a candidate for quite some time, because his rich body of work is known and recognized around the world. We spoke jokingly that he is still young, and it turned out that he started young, and is now probably the youngest winner of this award, although he’s an author in full swing, who will enrich his agenda for years to come. He was presented at the award ceremony in a succulent and plastic manner by Vlado Čeh, the master of presentation, a close friend and the initiator of Slavke’s agency engagement. Then, the winner, in front of many colleagues and professional audience, as well as in front of his family, extremely wittily, broadly and reasonably took us through the roads which he took in his personal and drawing-design-creative life. He spared no compliments for fellow colleagues from whom he learned, with whom he worked, who supported him and opened him doors. I would say that such a decent and warm attitude is not common in our surrounding, and among the leading authors even less so. Thus, we saw not only how this man creates, but also the way he thinks.
The presented works were all one more impressive than the previous one, and although well-known, in his lapidary presentation they gain in expressiveness. Last night he delivered a true lecture on his beginnings, learning, development and constant quest for superb expression, in which he has already reached almost perfection, comparable – perhaps – only with some ancient works of surrealist (from Rene Magritte to Salvador Dali). Yet, in their works there is more objectivity, while with Slavimir what dominates is “pure” idea. He doesn’t illustrate, he “draws the idea,” he makes a collage of striking semantic elements, which make sense even on their own, but in the setting he creates they become not only a strong statement, but a proverbial sentence. All this is bursting with artistry and his own particular aesthetic, which receives its full breadth only when you “read” the entire, sometimes ambiguous, story, and reveal its meaning. The author has a profound respect for the viewer, or rather user, and their intellect and sense of witty craft.”
Miša Lukić, Publicis One, regional director, 2007 laureate:
“I’ve known Slavimir since the first day he came to Saatchi Belgrade. It was immediately apparent that he possesses a huge talent and that nothing can prevent him from becoming one of the biggest stars in the field of design in the region.
When you add to such talent work, knowledge, experience, and “cook” all of that on the strong passion, with the addition of spice called love, you get a man who made famous not only himself, but also the profession he deals with.
That’s why I thought that Slavimir, along with the extremely prestigious UEPS’ Lifetime Achievement Award, should also receive the new honorary name – Slavidizajn, which, for everything that he has done for the promotion of design so far, rightfully belongs to him.”
Zoran Simjanović , composer, 2007 laureate:
“It is obvious that Slavimir has a system of hypnosis (as in Dolly Bell), and people love him much more than the others. There’s no need to talk about his qualities. When Vlado Čeh proposed him, we immediately agreed, although he didn’t match the criteria – he was younger than 50, and should have been older. However, we skipped the rule and unanimously greeted him into society. It’s good when you win an award, it’s even better when you’re in good company.”
Ivan Stanković, Communis, president, 2010 laureate:
“Work in the advertising industry is essentially simple. But tough.
The main task is to take an enormous amount of information about the product, market, competition, consumers … and reduce it to an idea that will turn into a slogan, drawing, ad, spot … and convey the desired message that will be understandable and moving.
And all this has to be different from the rest, pretty, memorable, interesting, clear…
In other words, everything that is complicated, you express in a simple way.
To put it in plain Serbian, it’s complicate simply.
When all this needs to be transformed into a graphic technique, a drawing, a logo or anything visual, Slavimir Stojanović reigns supreme. And probably that’s why he chose this exact principle, complicate simply, for the creed of his professional activity.
If you need someone who will treat (and upgrade) an idea accurately and simply, to clean it up to its essence, and then cosmetically touch it up so even you will love it, it’s him. If the deadline is short, the challenge for him is greater. If the payment is immediate, you can peacefully go to sleep: you will get superior solution that has both the aesthetics and semantics, you will have the cake and eat it too, you will have both the balls and the head – and the heart as well.
And that’s why Glorypiece is unique. And the best.”
Srđan Šaper, I&F McCann Grupa, President, 2011 laureate:
“Bravo, Slavimir! Congratulations!
I met and you as a young man in Saatchi. Even then you were recognizable by your distinctive visual style, and for knowing how to, as you say, “complicate simply”. You’re the youngest of all the winners of UEPS’ Lifetime Achievement Award, and perhaps this award came early for your age, but in terms of your oeuvre, it came at the right time. From experience I can tell you that the best is yet to come!”
Prof. Dr. Srđan Bogosavljević, Ipsos CEE & Adria Region, 2012 laureate:
“I don’t know where’s the limit of a rudely short answer – because my description of Slavimir is very simple: The boy who has fulfilled all the promises – both the ones he gave, and the ones he didn’t. Although he has managed to preserve the child within, he’s a grown up man. And that’s why we easily decided who the winner is in 2017.”