In the age of intense technological and media expansions the graphic art as an artistic discipline proceeds with its centuries long existence, although it has no more the treatment of an exclusively noble artistry. In this period exactly occurred the overcoming of the dilemmas considering the strategy of multiplying, that is, the mechanical reproduction of the art product that is facing its extinction. But, gradually, in the course of the second half of the 20th century, other graphic procedures gained the status of legitimate techniques, such as the one of enlarged multiplying (the silk screen, the off-set print, the photography as part of the graphic print, the billboard, the computer technology, etc.). In the new informatic society the graphic art simply became part of the mass media that determine the technological production of the contemporary art.
The actual exhibition of Ladislav Cvetkovski can reveal these moments, although they should also be perceived in the context of his earlier prints made in classical technique (dry point and aquatint), since they are very close, both by the structure and the language. The achievements of the digital approach, at least for him, consist of the easier manipulation and the greater freedom in the creation. It can be felt in the moments when, by using the mouse, he gets the unusual effect of an imperfect line which is meant to allude to the imperfection of man, while at the same time it retains the freshness of a hand-made drawing. Another important moment is the possibility of pointing out the painted areas (shading the drawing in his latest graphic prints) in order to emphasize the spatial dimension in which the action goes on and which composes the visual story.
This series of graphics, made in the period from 2000 to 2004, shows that the technique does not annihilate the artist's individual expressive impulse and that his symbols-signs include the cognitive power of his own epoch. The changes are included in the virtual and simulation approaches that reflect specific visual experiences, which is, most of all, due to his decade long stay before the computer monitor which, in a way, became his third hand. This position proceeds from his everyday working assignments as a graphic designer, but also from the computer games that introduce him into the reminiscent metaphors of the timeless. All this creates a certain psychological cramp that is felt in the careful examination of almost every graphic print. Therefore, these relatively complex structures rather reflect his emotional reaction in a certain moment than his attitude towards the programs, ignoring the rational analysis of the conceived condition. As he himself says, he is obsessed with the everyday surrounding, with the things that are happening (frequent contacts with people, with segmented information, contacts with the other arts...). Cvetkovski memorizes these events as quotations and later he shows them as a sign, a color, a reflection. Actually, there is usually one frame that dominates (which can be understood as a freeze frame from a graphic game) and it most often repeats in order to acquire the dynamic rhythm, pointed out by the intense colors. The sign is a result of a discovered narration with an ethical impulse. The effect of the sign is directed towards the emotional mood of the artist which shows the presence of certain metaphoric feature in the artistic language that is directed towards the metaphysical context of the image. In these graphic prints made by means of the computer (that is considered a legitimate artisan tool) the plastic, that is, the semantic elements exist as isolated, independent esthetic categories whose meaning and functioning are about to create independent entities in the reception. They contain particular meanings, yet they conform both to the attitudes that treat them as symbols of the so called "simulation esthetics", and to the concepts of the virtual reality. Holding to these principles, he managed to avoid the traps of the cold computer effects that often lead to popular decorativeness. Cvetkovski calms down the aggressive technique (which he refers to in his M. A. thesis "The Digital - A Challenge for the Graphic Art" 2003) with the rationalization of the act of creation. To some extent, it leads to experiencing his art as a practice of a classical, rationalized approach and amidst the challenge of the huge number of permutation possibilities it tends to realize or create certain frames which would help us feel the relations with the classical medium.
Finally, it is interesting to point out that his works have the option to be distributed widely via the Internet, which does not mean that the graphic (multi)original or the existence of the graphic idea must necessarily have the status of a displayed or printed exhibit. This option leads to a stronger communication possibility and to the emphasis of the relation artist-viewer-artist.
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