And Petar Mazev, the maestro, was one of my strings. The second day while we drew portraits, the revision came by. And there everything was anonymous, with stamps, guards … He took my charcoal and corrected me a bit and did it “very Mazevsky and it was good”. Me, young, naive, inexperienced … “Like this? It destroyed my portrait, and it just started to look like the model! “. And Mazev corrected me! I had one more string, the guard who was watching over us…. He gave me new paper with a new stamp. And till this day I say to myself, I could had a drawing from Mazev at home.

I had a girlfriend whose uncle was a painter-animator in “Vardar film”, a wonderful character, Bojan Angelko Milovic … We were going to his house from time to time. We had a lot of paintings at home, we are cousins with Vangel Naumoski. We had paintings from him, some worthless tapestry … But it was crucial that I went to an atelier at Angjelko. The smell of the oil paint … there was no acrylic then, it was in some developmental phase, we did not use it much … It was after the army. My girlfriend`s uncle is making her a portrait, and … for the first time I see in life how it is made, a woman gets out of the gray paper … Oh my God, damn it`s fascinating!
Time is passing, I sat at home holding my mother’s makeup. Talking to myself, wait, should I try to draw?! (I painted my girl, I won’t mention her name). And it started to look like something and it became clear to me…

And that is how Miroslav Masin got caught into painting. The artist, the painter, the drawer, the “boem” who with several of his generation marked the end of the past and the beginning of this millennium. And he is still doing it … But we will leave the term “boem” for the end of the talk about the period “When I was a student …” of Fakulteti.mk and “Pivara Skopje”.

The story of most artists often begins with the period of their childhood, when they started to draw, and then continued to the art high school, and then the Faculty of Fine Arts. The beginnings of Masin are different.

We have gathered in Katlanovo recently, four or five people from our generation.
I studied high school in Korchagin … and I studied mathematics, chemistry, sports… From Korchagin I enrolled in the Faculty of Civil Engineering. Back then if you enroll in college, you go three months less in the army. After the army, I met Angjelko. I was already stuck at Faculty of Civil Engineering, first year, exams, so I needed connections … And we had a few drinks with Angjelko who explained to me that the Academy is a job, not just a beard and brandy, a good, long hair … And I took it seriously. After a while, whether he was bored or not, he said: “That’s it from me. Now you will find a professor from the Academy who will give you lessons and prepare you seriously, “.

He says that then, as well as  now, you must have connections. If there are 150 applicants, and the Faculty accepts seven each year, surely 100 of them are equally good at the beginning.

– And normally, the connections, I got connections. I almost pulled them all! I wanted to be sure and I was accepted at the Faculty at first attempt- says Masin.
He studied at the department of painting. By that time everyone wanted painting, then graphics or sculpture. On the application, everyone should note the department.

– And Petar Mazev, the maestro, was one of my connections. The second day while we drew portraits, the revision came by. And there everything is anonymous, with stamps, guards … He took my charcoal and corrected me a bit and did it “very Mazevsky and it was good”. Me, young, naive, inexperienced … “Like this? He destroyed my portrait, and it just started to look like the model! “. And Mazev corrected me! And I got one more connection, the guard who was watching us…. He gave me a new paper with a new stamp. And today I’m saying to myself, I would have a drawing from Mazev at home.

He started at the Faculty of fine arts in 1983, graduated in 1988. He failed one year, along with a dozen other students. Marxism – Dimitar Dimitrov.

– Then Marxism was not as popular as before. But, it turned out nicely. Because of that, I stayed with Kondovski for another year. I thank him, I’m not angry, I had another year with Konde. It was not a difficult faculty. We did not have an anatomy, like the Academy in Belgrade or Ljubljana – tells Masin.

He had three different Professors. First and second year with Dusan Percinkov, third (twice) with Dimitar Kondovski and fourth with Rodoljub Anastasov. Three different authors and characters.

– I had that lucky combination. All three had a different approach. The coolest one was Kondovski. He was the most magnificent at my way. Perchinkov and Anastasov were calmer. That combination was lucky. Somebody would say, “What’s the big deal”?! Well, Perchinkov gives you a little bit of composure, graphism, study, that’s what’s left of him. Konde will tell a great trick on a little mistake. Only after two or ten years you realize what he told you … Anastasov will tell you ten things with his silence. I had a wonderful combination – says Masin.
Those who came from Art high school had more knowledge, they were spontaneous and better. But, big percentage from them stayed on the same level. He tried to rise above them.

Skopje, 80`. Suli An in Old bazaar. At that time active 24/7 and even more. They were all hanging out together.

-Gangs. Some were drinking Turkish tea, as intellectuals. For four years I worked in a bar, in “Raf”, sometimes for two or three months in a barbecue bar, grilling kebabs. We were friends with Simonida Filipova-Kitanovska, Jovan Balov, Predrag Pepi Uroshevik (we were not in the same class), but we had a lot of friends. Since I worked in “Raf”, I will be at 7 at work, I stayed up to 3am, sometimes up to 5am, sometimes even later. Than I had lectures, exercises – drawing / painting every day from 8 to 12. Young soul, wants to take a rest. If I go home at 3-4, with the greatest desire to arrive at 8 am, I would be earliest at 11-12, so I stayed until late at night. I was calling Dijano to cover for me at work, if I started with painting. I was from those people who did not respect the time, and today I am one of those who don’t respect people who are not respecting my time – tells Masin.

In one of those days, he was at a studio with professor Kondovski and his colleague Simonida. 13:00 or 14:00 … they stayed late that day. Working atmosphere, the young Masin arrives, he is a bit hangover. Kondovski with a deep voice shouts:

– Young maestro, he came to the exercises.
– Hello professor, hello Simonida …
– Late night, huh?
– Yes, professor …
– Hard, huh?
– Hard, hard professor …
– And what were you thinking?
– Simonida, will you make a coffee …?

They had “gezve” (Turkish pot for making coffee), they did not have a refrigerator, but the snacks were always in every studio, at any time. So they had coffee, after it, some rakija, but they were “turbo”. They would go to the café, tea house, or to eat “burek” (traditional pie), a stew. Someone would make a tour to Belgrade, Zagreb, Ljubljana. There was always a movement.

– We would sit with Pepi, and what are we supposed to do, we were not playing cards, we were not making tattoos. We will spread the papers in the apartment and we will start painting. Sometimes you play a song for two days or two hours, and chat … We were constantly active, from Saturday to Saturday. I think that we are same generation with Nikola Ristanovski. Back then the students from the Faculty of Drama Arts started to make “Skomrahi” in the barracks and we got together with them. We did not catch the hippie but the last end. I am not a Yu-nostalgic but 22 million vs two million, there is a difference … – he says.

The beginnings of his artistic expression as a student are tied with birds. Than the monkeys, a fascination that will literally close him to a cage in the Skopje Zoo, ten years later, a performance that had a strong public response.

– Birds … by that time we worked together with Dijano Zdravkovic. He was a bartender, I was a waitress. One wonderful intellectual, painter and writer. I did randomly one drawing, according to the work of Mica Popovic, a Yugoslav, European, world and Serbian painter who had working on the monkeys. Coincidentally with Dijano, waiting for customers and tips, during a conversation he offered me wires and so I started with the monkeys. Consequently, in these young intellectual talks, the idea began to develop, from what and how we came into existence. If Angjelko is guilty for my enrollment on the Academy, Mica Popovic is guilty about the monkeys …

Through a laugh, he says he was lying when he told that when he was 4-5 years old, his uncle gave him a monkey. Or when he had the first ride from Karpos to Bit pazar, the windows of the buses were blurred, and he made a draw that looked like monkey and someone asked him “is that a monkey” …

– And it’s lie, true lie. I did not have a car at that time, very few of my friends had a car. I had a motorbike – Thomos- automatic that was on disposal to everyone. When I was at work everyone drove it. They will return it to 2 in 3 am so that I can go home, “he says.

Today, he doesn’t socialize intensively, regularly, with people from the time of studying. He says: “Time changes, we got married, we employ, we die, new ones are born”. His time is extremely important to him. This is one of the reasons why he did not become a part of the Academy, although he organized several private schools, months later.

– “There were good parties, it was nice, but it takes time. I used to have a lot of free time, to be alone, to love with a few dear people. So, I decided to be an unemployed whole life … There are people who were born to educate. Many told me that I had that relationship. My mother was a teacher at “Brakja Ribar”, my sister teaches English, the “professor” moment was always here. But, knowing that it will take away my personal time and freedom … I decided otherwise, “he says.

Masin says that every beginning is difficult, so it was like that when he was a student. Then private galleries started to open, but were mostly sales one, not exhibited. Whether he misses that time, Masin is decisive, showing the small figure of a dwarf in the middle of the wall:

– I made a bazaar at home, in an atelier. We gather here, I do exhibitions, readings, somebody will play … I would not change, why should I go now with a taxi, on buses with blurry windows and see monkeys … I’m at home, I’m delighted and I’m doing what I want and … the dwarf. The story about the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The one sleeps on contrary, with his legs on the pillow. Snow White comes and wakes him up. What is it Snow White? Hey, you sleep on a contrary. So what. We dig in a mine all day, we brought everything, go make your lunch, clean the garden. I’m at home – I’ll sleep as I want! That’s why I have a dwarf, to remind me that I cannot mistake to anyone. If it does not work with you-Bye. Welcome and goodbye. The democracy of the dwarf.

As is the case, we are finishing with the “boem” moment. He says:
– There is a definition, it is not mine, but it is after Vujacalija dictionary. “Gypsies, artists, students who live from today to tomorrow, according to the principle: Let it last while it last”.

That is “boem” You can interpret as the lawyers do.  How many are one and one? Two. But the lawyer shouts, it depends how you interpret it. So, you can create a custom variant of Vujkalija, and from “boem” to become a drinker or to become an artist.   We certainly will not be the ones to say.

P.S Checked in the dictionary of Milan Vukalija: “Boem” – Bohemian – Literary, artists, students and others who live their own natural lives, according to the rule of disorderly, from today to tomorrow, by the principle: Let it last while it last.