Vitomir Kelava – Vanesa

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 Čelić in 1983. He is a member of 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 discernible, in personal explorations directed towards old painting poetics. This is followed by a metaphysical period, then a cycle with the theme of Bosnian stećci where his own visual expression is reduced to an “iconic sign.” At the beginning of the nineties, he leans towards the poetics of expressionism. In the most recent period, a radical turn occurs in his painting – he is attracted to archaic “pre-cosmogonic” syncretism. At the turn of the millennium, he begins a new cycle with small-format paintings made of two parts. In his work, he uses oil paint and non-painterly materials – twine, pieces of fabric, and sand. This is the “Untitled” cycle. He also paints female nudes where he uses the aforementioned materials. The latest cycle “Zone of Silence” includes picture-objects – stone applied on cardboard canvas, i.e. on a colored ground that emphasizes the individuality of the stone.