Ivan Čolović
The spitting and the image: In the order they appeared
First edition, June 2018 
Design: Škart.
126 pages
Price: 900 dinars
“Biblioteka XX vek” is releasing as a special edition a book by Ivan Čolović, The spitting and the image: In the order they appeared (first edition June 2018, design by Škart, 126 pages, 900 dinars).
The book is comprised of twenty reflections and short essays on painting and painters with approximately forty illustrations that are printed separately as stickers, so that the reader can choose a suitable place to put them in the book.
From the Introduction: The idea behind this book was a simple one: to collect in one place my texts about painters and painting. But once I began to work on it, things became complicated. It became apparent that most of my old texts needed to be amended or updated, and in some cases reworked completely. In addition to that, some texts that I had remembered as finished turned out to be only short sets of notes, comments in the margins of exhibition catalogues, quotations, and such. These were treasured mementoes, but I had to write about the paintings that inspired them from the beginning, refreshing my memories with material from the literature and from the internet. So in this instance I discovered that the path from the idea to its realization is not only long, but that the completed project does not much resemble the original idea. I do not regret it. On the contrary, I am pleased. I came out ahead, and got an unplanned, unexpected new book.
My idea for the design of the book was also simple: a series of texts with illustrations in the text or at the end. But I immediately accepted the offer from Škart to move away from that orthodox, well-trodden path and to offer, as they say these days, a provocative product, in which we allow the readers to create the final shape of the book themselves. I do not regret the passing of my idea about an ordinary, classic book, either. I came out ahead here too. You can hold it in your hands. It is called The spitting and the image.