Vitomir Kelava – Untitled VI

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

In the early post-academic years, a distinct postmodern climate of the early eighties is clearly evident, in personal explorations directed toward old pictorial poetics. This is followed by a metaphysical period, and then a cycle with the theme of Bosnian stećci tombstones, where his personal artistic expression is reduced to an “iconic sign.” At the beginning of the nineties, he leans toward the poetics of expressionism. In the latest period, his painting undergoes a radical shift – he is attracted to archaic “pre-cosmogonic” 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 also paints female nudes using the aforementioned materials. The last cycle, “Zone of Silence,” includes picture-objects – stone applied to mounted canvas, i.e., on a colored background that emphasizes the individuality of the stone.