The Binghamton University Art Museum unveiled its newest exhibit Thursday night to a crowd of students, faculty and community members. Attendees gathered to admire the work of renowned illustrator, designer and multimedia artist, Mirko Ilić.
Ilić began his career in Croatia in the 1970s and moved to the United States in 1986. Since then, he has done work for well-known publications, including Time magazine and the Wall Street Journal. The Art Museum exhibit featured Ilić’s comics and graphic designs, along with some of the work he has done for the New York Times. Also included were a few of his Times magazine covers, one of which stretched from floor to ceiling and was the highest awarded cover of Time.
The exhibit itself was curated by BU assistant professor of art and design Blazo Kovacevic.
“I told him, ‘I’ll send you a hard drive with all my work, and you show whatever you want,’” Ilić said. “Today, when I walked in for the first time, I saw what they chose.”
With Ilić having produced thousands of pieces, Kovacevic had a lot of work from which to choose. Despite his success, Ilić remains highly critical of his work and said that after completing a work, he never keeps it.
“My worst client is always me,” Ilić said. “If you put me in front of a white paper and tell me to do something, no direction, no deadline, no money, I can fix this thing again and again for the rest of my life.”
Ilić spoke at the opening, leading the attendees around the exhibit and answering questions on the meanings behind certain pieces. One work that he focused on was “I’d Leave the Country, but My Wife Won’t Let Me,” a piece he created for the Village Voice in 2004 that promotes marriage equality.
Ilić’s focus on many political and historical issues is a main reason Kovacevic choose him for the exhibit. According to Kovacevic, Ilić’s visit was extremely beneficial for the BU art program.
“What is really great about Mirko is that he can talk about that in such an inspirational way that he’s capturing attention,” Kovacevic said. “He’s spreading knowledge. He will bring essence of what does it mean to be outside in the real world.”
The exhibit attracted art majors and non-art majors alike. Sarah Lim, a junior majoring in psychology, said that the chance to hear Ilić speak was too good to miss.
“I thought it was really interesting to meet a modern artist who is pretty successful in the industry,” Lim said. “I thought it would be a good opportunity to take advantage of the things that Binghamton has to offer.”
Even though Lim hadn’t known Ilić’s name previously, she recognized a few of the pictures as familiar magazine covers. One that especially caught her eye was a piece called “In Trouble in Black and White,” which had been printed in the New York Times Book Review in 1987. According to Ilić, this piece was meant to symbolize how minority teenage pregnancy is an extension of slavery.
This exhibit will stay open through March 14 and is located in rooms 179 and 213 in the Fine Arts Building. Admission to the museum is free.