Milan Jilka: Intuitive by Nature
As an abstract painter, Milan enjoys taking organic elements from the physical world, such as plants, flowers, forms and colors, giving them structure and reconfiguring them into dynamic patterned compositions. Milan’s work has been exhibited locally and nationally.
M: Can you tell us about your personal and artistic journey that brought you here?
MILAN JILKA: I was born in Switzerland and immigrated to Canada when I was three years old. I grew up with a mixture of Hindu upbringing at home and a fully Westernized life outside of the home. This dichotomy, which made life somewhat incongruent as a young person, I believe eventually would influence much of my outlook and way of being and making in the world.
I grew up with a mixture of Hindu upbringing at home and a fully Westernized life outside of the home. This dichotomy, which made life somewhat incongruent as a young person, I believe eventually would influence much of my outlook and way of being and making in the world.
MILAN JILKA
I got really interested in making art during middle school, and really didn’t look back from that point. The love of making art in high school eventually led to pursuing a BFA in painting and drawing from the University of Windsor in Canada, and from here, toward an MFA in painting and drawing at the U of A in Fayetteville. It was really at the U of A that I learned how to “practice art” in the true sense of that phrase. Besides practicing art, I was also able to begin teaching as a graduate student. I enjoyed this experience of teaching so much, that it is what I have been doing as a career for well over 2 decades.
M: When creating a piece where does it begin and when does it end?
MJ: More often than not, my paintings begin with a very loose or general idea (this could be from a photograph I have taken, something I’ve just read or listened to, a basic geometric grid, or even a plant in my house), and I work toward realizing the work intuitively through the process of painting. While working through and deciding upon ideas in each of the works, my process also involves much iteration; the repetition of lines, shapes, and colors to produce interesting and colorful patterned areas. I’ve realized that through this intuitive and iterative process, I really enjoy discovering what is being created as I am creating without knowing exactly where the painting may end up.
While working through and deciding upon ideas in each of the works, my process also involves much iteration; the repetition of lines, shapes, and colors to produce interesting and colorful patterned areas. I’ve realized that through this intuitive and iterative process, I really enjoy discovering what is being created as I am creating without knowing exactly where the painting may end up.
MILAN JILKA
M: Your work heavily relies on visual patterning, however you also draw inspiration from nature, something that is often wild, disordered and chaotic. How do you balance this dichotomy of order and disorder in your work?
MJ: I think that one key component for me, as I’ve worked through both my interest in patterning and the natural world, has been to bridge these two sometimes similar and disparate areas. I garner so much interest and fascination in developing and creating patterns, and at the same time, I am enamored with things such as plants, flowers, trees and the natural world in general. In the last few years, it has really been about thinking and creating through both of these lenses; to make things that are inspired by and are generated through an exploration of things both natural and prescribed; organic and geometric.
I garner so much interest and fascination in developing and creating patterns, and at the same time, I am enamored with things such as plants, flowers, trees and the natural world in general.
MILAN JILKA
Special thank you to Milan for sharing his practice with us! You can learn even more about him HERE.
Article Credits
Works by Milan Jilka; Words by Nicole Boddington; Direction by Anna E. Cottrell.