Seasons of Reflection: A Conversation with Radenko Milak on “Four Seasons Interrupted”

As the natural world grows increasingly unpredictable, artist Radenko Milak transforms that instability into something profoundly beautiful. Known internationally for his cinematic monochrome watercolors and his participation in the 57th Venice Biennale for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Milak has long explored themes of time, memory and the fragility of civilization. His latest body of work, Four Seasons Interrupted, debuts at Madison Gallery in Solana Beach this fall, marking his second solo exhibition with our gallery.

Through meticulously rendered cityscapes set in New York City, Milak distorts the familiar rhythm of spring, summer, fall, and winter into an “endless digital day.” The result is both poetic and disquieting – a visual meditation on the way technology and climate change have altered our experience of time itself.

Madison Gallery Founder Lorna York sits down with Radenko to discuss his inspirations, his process, and the quiet emotional force behind Four Seasons Interrupted.

Lorna York: What first sparked the idea for Four Seasons Interrupted?

Radenko Milak: The initial impulse came from observing how contemporary cities, regardless of geography, are beginning to look and feel the same. The monotony of urban landscapes has become a metaphor for seasons that no longer change. Climate change erases transitions, and people – detached from natural cycles – continue to live within infrastructures that never pause. In this sense, the city becomes an enclosure where nature loses its contours and time itself turns into an endless present. That realization was the first moment I felt compelled to record and visualize this condition: a silent but dramatic shift from a world of seasons to one of continuous, monotonous duration.

Lorna: You’ve chosen New York City as the setting for this exploration. Why this particular place

Radenko: New York is the city that never sleeps – it glows constantly, saturated with light and digital imagery that blur the boundary between night and day. Its glass facades reflect not only light but also alienation. I was drawn to that tension. New York is both a real and literary city; the writings of Paul Auster were especially influential for me, in which the city becomes both character and narrator. It’s precisely this dual nature – between the tangible and the imagined – that made it the ideal stage for Four Seasons Interrupted.

Lorna: Your technique is extraordinarily meticulous. How do you approach translating such vast philosophical ideas into the medium of watercolor?

Radenko: Watercolor, by its very nature, demands surrender. It is both fragile and precise, allowing accidents to become part of the language. I work in grayscale because it strips the world down to its structure, its bones. The absence of color mirrors the emotional landscape I want to evoke – a sense of stasis, of suspended time. In each stroke, I try to balance control and fluidity, intellect and emotion.

Lorna: Looking back, your participation in the 57th Venice Biennale with University of Disaster was a turning point in your career. How has your vision evolved since then?

Radenko: The Biennale marked a moment when I began to understand catastrophe not only as an event but as a condition. My work since then has continued to examine that idea – how crisis becomes the new normal, how our perception adapts to instability. With Four Seasons Interrupted, I wanted to look beyond the spectacle of disaster toward something quieter: the slow erosion of natural order, the invisible crisis we live within every day.

Lorna: Is there a particular piece in the series that feels most personal to you?

Radenko: For me, the entire series functions as one unified image. Each painting is a fragment of a larger meditation. The works, all rendered in shades of gray, create a sense of continuity – an atmosphere of permanence. Only when seen together does the full narrative unfold: a world where seasonal change has vanished and life’s rhythm is dictated by technology and infrastructure.

Lorna: What emotions did you experience while creating this work?

Radenko: A blend of melancholy and fascination. Melancholy for the loss of cyclical beauty that once defined our lives, and fascination with the new, ambiguous landscapes that emerge from that loss. I was interested in how imagination reshapes reality – how fiction becomes a way of understanding truth. Painting these works became a meditation on vanishing time, and on the new forms of estrangement that replace it.

Lorna: How do you see the role of art in addressing something as complex as climate change?

Radenko: Art offers a space where climate change can be felt rather than just understood. It invites reflection instead of reaction. My goal is not to illustrate catastrophe but to evoke awareness – to transform an abstract global issue into a deeply personal experience. In doing so, I hope to remind us that the disappearance of natural rhythm is not only ecological but emotional and social.

Lorna: If you could express the message of Four Seasons Interrupted in one sentence, what would it be?

Radenko: In a world where cities never stop glowing, the seasons slowly disappear, and natural rhythms are replaced by an endless digital day. Within that loss, however, there remains a strange kind of beauty – a quiet acknowledgment that even in disappearance, we can find poetry.

Reflections from Lorna York:

What moves me most about Radenko’s practice is his ability to render stillness into revelation. His paintings are quiet yet seismic – they draw you in with their technical mastery, then leave you suspended in a world that feels both familiar and altered. Four Seasons Interrupted is not just a visual statement; it’s a mirror held up to our collective experience of time, technology, and nature’s slow disappearance.

At Madison Gallery, our mission has always been to present artists who expand the cultural dialogue – those whose work challenges us to look deeper, feel more and think differently. With this exhibition, Radenko continues that conversation in a way that feels both urgent and timeless.

Four Seasons Interrupted is on view October 15 – December 15, 2025 at Madison Gallery, 320 S. Cedros Ave, Suite 200, Solana Beach. Meet Radenko at the Opening Reception on Saturday, November 8, from 6-9pm. RSVP at info@madisongalleries.com

Founded by Lorna York, Madison Gallery has been a cornerstone of contemporary art in Southern California for more than two decades. Located in Solana Beach, the gallery is recognized for its curatorial vision and commitment to cultivating the careers of internationally renowned and emerging artists alike. With a focus on museum-quality exhibitions, Madison Gallery continues to bring world-class art experiences to San Diego while fostering meaningful dialogue between artists and the community.