Kelava Vitomir – Cyclops

He was born in Zenica in 1952, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He studied law at the Faculty of Law in Zagreb, then enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade, Serbia, and graduated in painting in the class of Prof. Stojan Ćelić in 1983. He is a member of HDLU Rijeka and HDLU Zagreb. He rarely exhibits solo. He lives on the island of Rab, in Rab, where he owns a personal studio-gallery in which he creates and presents his work.

In his early post-academic years, a pronounced postmodern climate of the early 1980s is clearly evident, reflected in personal explorations directed towards old painting poetics. This is followed by a metaphysical period, then a cycle themed around Bosnian stećci where he reduces his own artistic expression to an “iconic sign.” At the beginning of the 1990s, he turned to the poetics of expressionism. In the most recent period, there is a radical shift in his painting—the archaic “pre-cosmogonic” syncretism attracts him. Around the turn of the millennium, he began a new cycle with still life paintings, small in format, made from two parts. He uses oil paint and non-painting materials—string, pieces of fabric, and sand. This cycle is called “Untitled.” He paints female nudes as well, using these listed materials. The last cycle “Silent Zone” belongs to picture-objects—stone applied on glued canvas, that is, on a colored background which emphasizes the individuality of the stone.