Creating Balance as an Artist with Milenko Mladjenovic
Mr. Rogers or Milenko Mladjenovic?
One thing I told Milenko that I noticed about him the first time I met him was that he was a genuine and friendly person.
I am always at art events looking for my next article, some people have beautiful art but when I try to talk to them they aren’t so kind or could care less but Milenko was the opposite.
I walked up to his booth to grab a business card and he greeted me with the kindest smile. The next month at First Friday’s after that he welcomed me into his booth, poured me a drink, and talked to me like an old friend.
The Struggles With Finding Balance as an Artist
During our interview he opened up to me about his struggles and successes as an artist.
He said for him his biggest struggle is finding balance, “I’m a Social person and I like to be around people but I like to draw more, I tend to push people away because I want to draw.”
“I isolate myself to share, my work. I put in the time and effort into this so later on I can come out and show you guys what I’ve been working on.”
Queen Bee
My favorite quote from Milenko during our interview was when he said:
“I don’t want to be a worker bee, I want to be Queen Bee.”
Appreciate Your Artists
Milenko says it’s worth it to see people’s reactions, “People are intimidated to talk to the artist, not sure why, but just having people appreciate it, see it, be inspired by it, that’s the cool part, just seeing people’s reactions to it, ‘that’s 100 plus hours of my life, I‘m glad you like it.”
Four Months Beautifully Spent
Milenko is also a humble being but shared with me some of his accomplishments including his biggest, personal one to date, his creation of the world map.
He describes this accomplishment as the highlight of his career, saying:
“I spent 4 months drawing the world map. It’s not my first or my most popular piece but the one I put the most energy in.”
“I wasn’t sleeping or eating, I was drawing.”
“That piece defined my style. Doing research on it, tying it all together. Finishing that did something for me personally.”
Impossible to Inspirational
He says that he learned so much from this project and the research he had to do to accurately represent it. He says that he likes to learn as he draws and has hopes for teaching viewers something new through his art.
Milenko says one of the things that makes him the happiest is achievement through his art.
“I start these drawings off with the feeling that this is impossible, and then thirty hours later it’s inspirational.”
From starting with his portfolio on a table under the streetlight in Phoenix, to making it into First Fridays, galleries, and even recently launching his website (inkflowstudio.com) Milenko’s dedication is definitely paying off for him and is inspiring to watch.
