Valentin Oman – Untitled 1

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 under Prof. Riko Debeljak at the Academy in Ljubljana. In the 1960s, he was interested in the reality of the external world, the individual faced with the forces of the world trying to destroy personality. In the 1970s, he created a series of frescoes (especially significant are the frescoes in Klagenfurt, Slovenska gimnazija) and numerous works in sanctuaries (Kriva Vrba, altar decoration in Plešivec). In the early 1980s, he increasingly explored color through wall painting. In the early 1990s, he created a cycle of wall paintings in the parish church of St. Jacob, which the author himself called the Stations of the Cross of Humanity.

Throughout constant changes, the coherence of his work and social engagement remain, which is particularly evident from the Paris cycle in the early 1990s called the Paris Requiem, created during the war in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. His social engagement is continuous. He works among the Slovenian minority in Carinthia. Already in 1964, he won the 1st prize at the Ex tempore in Piran. He exhibited solo and in 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 found in public and private institutions, galleries, and museums (including the renowned Vienna Albertina). He lives and works in Vienna and Finkenstein, Carinthia.