Kelava Vitomir – From the Distant Yesterday to the Distant Tomorrow

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, graduating in painting under Professor Stojan Čelić in 1983. He is a member of the HDLU in Rijeka and HDLU in 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 the early post-academic years, a distinct postmodernist climate of the early eighties is clearly evident, in personal explorations directed toward old painting poetics. This is followed by a metaphysical period, then a cycle themed on Bosnian stećci, where his own visual expression is reduced to an “iconic sign.” At the beginning of the nineties, he adheres to the poetics of expressionism. In the latest period, his painting undergoes a radical shift — he is attracted to archaic “pre-cosmogonical” syncretism. At the turn of the millennium, he begins a new cycle with small-format paintings of objects made in two parts. In his work, he uses oil paint and non-painting materials — twine, pieces of fabric, and sand. This is the “Untitled” cycle. He paints and female nudes, also using the aforementioned materials. The last cycle, “Zone of Silence,” includes painting-objects — stone applied onto mounted canvas, i.e., onto a colored background that highlights the individuality of the stone.