Valentin Oman – HomoMediterraneus II

He was born in 1935 in St. Stefan near Villach (Austria). He graduated in painting in Hilda Schmid-Jesser’s class at the Academy of Applied Arts in Vienna in 1962. He specialized in graphics with Prof. Rik Debeljak at the Academy in Ljubljana. In the 1960s, he was interested in the reality of the outside world, the individual confronted with the forces of the world attempting to destroy personality. In the 1970s, he created a series of frescoes (notably significant are the frescoes in Klagenfurt, Slovenska gimnazija) and numerous works in sanctuaries (Kriva Vrba, altar decoration in Plešivec). At the beginning of the 1980s, he increasingly discovered color through mural painting. In the early 1990s, a cycle of wall paintings was created in the parish church of St. Jacob, which the author himself called the Way of the Cross of Humanity.

Amid constant change, his work remains coherent and socially engaged, a commitment especially evident from the Paris cycle in the early 1990s titled ‘Paris Requiem’ created during the war in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. His social engagement is continuous. He is active among the Slovenian minority in Carinthia. Already in 1964, he received 1st prize at the Ex tempore in Piran. He has exhibited both solo and group shows in prestigious gallery spaces and won significant awards (Frechen, 1972 and 1974; San Francisco Special Purchase Award, 1971; Prešeren Award, 1980; Jakopič Award, 1995). The University of Klagenfurt awarded him an honorary doctorate honoris causa. His works are housed in public and private institutions, galleries, and museums (including the renowned Albertina in Vienna). He lives and works in Vienna and Finkenstein, Kärnten.