Back to the National Museum of Serbia in Belgrade and Heap of Junk is not the official name for this artwork, but one that I think feels more appropriate. This 1960 oil painting on canvas is entitled While Listening and is the work of Branko Filipović Filo (1924–1997). My immediate response was that it looked like a heap of junk, or perhaps a section of damaged plaster which had been carefully framed before someone could repair it. There is no obvious person, landscape or object to locate, leaving the visitor to stare thoughtfully at a large grey surface while hoping that everyone else is equally uncertain.
I’m not entirely sure that this close-up of the painting does a great deal to improve the arrangement. Filo was a Montenegrin and Yugoslav painter associated with the Informel movement, whose artists rejected tidy compositions and recognisable subjects in favour of rough textures, irregular surfaces and the physical qualities of their materials. He experimented with mixing sand and pigment, drawing partly upon the techniques of fresco painting and the rocky landscape of Montenegro. The cracks, ridges and faint traces of colour were therefore deliberate, meaning that Filo had worked rather hard to produce something which looked as though the gallery wall had suffered a serious damp problem.
Modern art can sometimes become a test of whether visitors possess the confidence to admit that they do not understand it, particularly when everyone nearby is examining the canvas with expressions of profound intellectual engagement. I now understand more about what Filo was attempting, but this has not altered my original conclusion that it looks like a heap of junk and I would not want it hanging above my sofa. The international art establishment will somehow have to continue without my professional involvement, although I’m conscious that I was enthusiastic about unlimited KFC drink refills, so perhaps I should be more measured about my opinions of a celebrated Yugoslav modernist.