About

I was born on March 13th 1953 in the northern Mediterranean city of Rijeka in Croatia. However, for most of my life I lived in the city of Banja Luka in Bosnia. Both Bosnia and Croatia were parts of now nonexistent country called Yugoslavia. In Banja Luka I finished the elementary school as well as the high school Gimnazija. I’ve got a Bachelor Degree in Law from the Law Faculty of University of Zagreb, Croatia in 1978. I worked in Banja Luka as a lawyer and, as a curator – historian in the local museum. Since August of 1996 I’ve been living in the USA in Rochester, Minnesota. There I completed an Associate Degree in Computer Art and Design at the Rochester Community and Technical College, as well as a Bachelor Degree in Digital Arts – Studio Art and Photography at the School of Fine Arts of University of Minnesota, Duluth. I live in Rochester, MN with my wife Dubravka and sons Gordan and Petar.

Artist Statement

            I don’t paint what I see, but rather I paint what I think about things I see. Imitating the nature is simply not my goal when I paint. Still I have to admit that many times I am attracted with the nature, landscapes, cityscapes or people and than I do a lot of photographs. However, a photograph, a picture, is many times only the first step towards making a work of art.  I am “processing” those initial events using them as triggers for further thinking, visualizations, making them interact with each other, and so on. I am doing it in at least two ways, although it is usually not one way at the time, but rather a combination of more than one method. The first kind is simply doing it in my mind, and the other way of processing (and it shouldn’t be surprise due to the fact that I have a degree in digital art) I do by using computer. Often this ends up in creating a digital picture that is (although a finished piece of art) a starting point for a painting (which itself, in turn, may become a starting point for another digital piece of art).

         My art hasn’t come from nowhere. I have a solid knowledge of art history and works of many artists. However, I don’t want to copy or imitate any of the styles or artists – I just made their experiences part of my own and use it as a tool for further exploration. On the other hand, my art is a reflection of the time we live in – both through the ideas and the technologies. I accepted them full-heartedly.

        As an artist I am trying to build my own world, the world of art, different from anybody’s else in which I am intent to show the viewers the picture of their own world the way they have never seen it before. I don’t want to be limited by certain style. That is the fact that makes my works very different from each other.  As I start working on a new picture I feel it was my first picture I’ve ever made.
Artist Statement
            I don’t paint what I see, but rather I paint what I think about things I see. Imitating the nature is simply not my goal when I paint. Still I have to admit that many times I am attracted with the nature, landscapes, cityscapes or people and than I do a lot of photographs. However, a photograph, a picture, is many times only the first step towards making a work of art.  I am “processing” those initial events using them as triggers for further thinking, visualizations, making them interact with each other, and so on. I am doing it in at least two ways, although it is usually not one way at the time, but rather a combination of more than one method. The first kind is simply doing it in my mind, and the other way of processing (and it shouldn’t be surprise due to the fact that I have a degree in digital art) I do by using computer. Often this ends up in creating a digital picture that is (although a finished piece of art) a starting point for a painting (which itself, in turn, may become a starting point for another digital piece of art).
         My art hasn’t come from nowhere. I have a solid knowledge of art history and works of many artists. However, I don’t want to copy or imitate any of the styles or artists – I just made their experiences part of my own and use it as a tool for further exploration. On the other hand, my art is a reflection of the time we live in – both through the ideas and the technologies. I accepted them full-heartedly.
        As an artist I am trying to build my own world, the world of art, different from anybody’s else in which I am intent to show the viewers the picture of their own world the way they have never seen it before. I don’t want to be limited by certain style. That is the fact that makes my works very different from each other.  As I start working on a new picture I feel it was my first picture I’ve ever made

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