Written by: Lila Hudgins
Artwork by: Mimza Bakovic
Guilty Pleasure - acrylic and crayon on paper, The Rainbow Series
In the creation of this blog, I had the idea to include 'artist profiles', in which I interview peers of mine engaged in the arts or doing work that I am impressed or intrigued by. The hope is that these interviews will draw some attention to these artists and build an open-ended network for collaboration/connection. An “artist-support-artist” kind of thing.
The first person I interviewed was Mimza Bakovic, an Atlanta-based artist who has been stunning me with her art since I was 'introduced' to her via social media through one of my very best friends Rorie. Working on a range of bases, from large canvases to simple pieces of paper, Mimza creates vibrant paintings, paying great attention to the flow of each one, and hiding easter eggs of human anatomy within the folds of color.
Kiddie House - a multimedia creation, was created with the intention of what Mimza refers to as 'artist's play'. This essentially means letting go of any expectations of the finished product of a work and simply enjoying the process of creating, similar to the way a child would.
Though she has a specific style and common themes in her work, her portfolio is anything but redundant. Each piece commands attention, and the longer one looks at it, the more he/she realizes how much time and detail must have gone into its creation.
Mimza experiments with a range of media, but particularly utilizes acrylic paint, crayons, and oil pastels. She credits water as another medium, as its combination with her acrylic paints is an important part of how she develops her work, “water just acts so interesting(ly) on the canvas. It drips, it dries differently depending on how much water I put on there…I tone the canvas and then I splatter water and see where it goes, and that kind of defines the abstract forms themselves.”
Her artwork Caretaker is a good example of this use of mixed-media, and simultaneous employment of subject, and lack thereof. For this piece, she used crayons, oil pastels, chalk and acrylic paint. Mimza describes the meaning behind this piece as a manifestation of family issues, stating, "it’s very emotional. Very raw. Very pink! I think pink is a subsequent of red, but it's softer. It’s a more gut-wrenching feeling as opposed to red which equals anger.”
Through our conversation Mimza also shared with me a technique she uses where she melts her crayon with a lighter to create an impasto effect on whatever drawing she is working on. Always experimenting, Mimza has no reserve creating incredible artwork on a piece of notebook paper while sitting in the practices of the bands she does commissions for - just like she has no reserve continuing to develop paintings she has previously deemed as finished.
Patchworking in the acrylic paint on the canvas, Mimza claims she paints on emotion, and internally assigns meaning to her colors schemes. She talks about her avoidance of red as it represents anger, “I don't like to work with red. It's a very angry color and I don't like the negative connotations”. She also talks about her dislike of the color blue and its representation of depression, yet it is present in a lot of her work, one example being her acrylic on canvas piece “Baby Blue”. The painting depicts a figure of a blue woman, surrounded by an entangled explosion of color and interwoven ornamentation.
Not being enrolled in art school, Mimza has been exploring various ways to turn her art into her career. She has made multiple personal sales and commissions, and has flirted with the idea of entering into art fairs in Atlanta. One commission, Birthrights, that she completed in 2023 gained traction on social media through an Instagram reel she made revealing the finished piece. Throughout the creation of Birthrights, Mimza struggled with the fact that she is unable to attend an official art university. The notable lack of color in comparison to her other work is representative of her trying to fall in line with the hue-less style of the Atlanta art scene, and therefore establish herself as a notable artist without a college diploma.
“If someone doesn’t like the painting, it’s going to feel like they don't like the feelings behind it. Rejection therapy is a part of this whole business” - Mimza Bakovic
The artwork included in this article doesn't even break the surface of Mimza's extensive creation and inventory. Follow Mimza's Instagram portfolio linked below to see more, but beware of the rabbit-hole you are about to be sent into.
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