Artem

Checkmate!

2011-01-25T15:33:00.000-08:00

142X164

Human Relations

2011-01-25T15:32:00.001-08:00

142X130

Cocain

2011-01-25T15:29:00.000-08:00

130X142

Jump!

2011-01-25T15:19:00.001-08:00

146X162

Sorry No Sorrow

2010-12-06T15:36:00.000-08:00

Croatia sheltered me. Hassan open the gallery's doors. We had a ball.

Sorrow (after Van Gogh), 2010, 146X162

Van Gogh 1890
Sorrow 48X63

Still Alive 2010, 130X146

Extasy

2010-12-06T14:47:00.000-08:00

Extasy 146X168

that piece found its way to the canvas through numerous sketches, lithographs, laptop covers and e.t.c. One day I get myself together and publish them.

Mystery And Magic

2010-11-02T13:21:00.000-07:00

I am sorry, I haven't touched that blog for some time. I was inattentive. Selfish (chasing fish in Mediterranean). Talking to the entire pantheon of Greek gods. Even in Croatian. Oh, water, my beloved universe, you are my passion. I could spend hours within you. You bring me the peace I seek. You teach me peace. The peace of a single breath. Today I announce my love to you worldwide.

Random people, even my boy, ask me what does it take to execute a piece? How long does it take? How much time?
That question has always puzzled me. I still don't know what to answer. What would it take you to empty the trash bin? It took me five days once.

What might be a minute for one, can take a century for another.
Time is not a public matter. It is private. A private act. Good half of private acts performed in the dark with the curtains down. Those hours are especially deceptive.

To execute a piece takes no time but mystery and magic. I know that none of a recognized school's system approves that but that's the fact.

Time is intimate. Probably the most intimate substance. Like breathing.

Though it took me a life time and a year to finish that piece. I never worked on anything so persistently. I ended up simultaneously painting on 4 similar size big canvases. Usually, I don't work on more than two at a time. I was changing the format from horizontal to vertical and back again about 7 times until I got what I wanted. Each of four canvas has at least three accomplished paintings underneath the final layer of paint they received. This particular piece, which is the final, has approximately 11 layer of solid paint. It weighs around 8 kg. It represents a fountain, my ode to water.

The Fountain 251X107

Neologisms

2010-10-23T15:58:00.000-07:00

Elevation 2010, 70X70

my band has a dance reference to the act above:
www.theartems.com look for Elevator

Receptor 2009 146X162

Edison's Dance 2010, 230X200

Headache

2010-10-18T15:15:00.000-07:00

Headache, 2009, 162X186

Headache is a big part of life. One should never neglect headache

Headache, 2009, 90X70

Headache, 2010, 146X162

Squeezer

2009-04-21T12:52:00.000-07:00

They don't have much of a winter in Los Angeles. So, a window scraper is no use. Until someones peculiar mind haven't decided to turn them into an Emerging Artist Award.
Where I come from it is snowing for breakfast. And if it wouldn't stop you might as well have it for dinner. So much that you can not even walk. Only fly.
So, I flew to LA, got myself a fast car, a friend to lose and a 3 cm thick window scraper.

Squeezer 146X162

Christmas Time

2009-02-15T04:50:00.000-08:00

Unscrewed Head 70x70

I have mentioned that. Christmas time is a rather productive period. If you are not asleep. Or, if you can paint while sleeping. It is a rare ability. I had a great sleep!

from sketch book

Sleeping Head acrylic, canvas 146X162

Then, when I woke up, I decided to launch a few of my friends into space while they were sleeping...

Space Launched Head 50X50 acrylic, canvas

from sketch book

from sketch book

...provide them with all the necessary devices...

Space Device 60X60 acrylic canvas

from sketch book

Space Device 146X162 acrylic canvas

...introduce them to an idea what does space look like...

from sketch book

from sketch book

...give them some fruits...

Fruits In Vase 60X60 acrylic canvas

...a camera...

from sketch book

...so, when they would wake up and realize that they are circling on the orbit, they would look like that:

Realization 186X172 acrylic, canvas

from sketch book

In The Death Car We Arrive

2009-01-22T16:26:00.000-08:00

There is a great song made by Iggy Pop/Bregovic called In The Death Car We Are Alive. And as you know, all great things are the source of inspiration for other great things...
This painting first appeared as a poster for a party. After the party the poster went missing. The loss proved the quality of the image.

missing poster

When I was done with crying, I sat down and painted a new one. As the matter of fact, I like it better than the original, especially because of an almost square format. Notice, that the car is not pure ivory black but dark purple. Laid on top of lemon yellow it creates a particularly strong impact.

In The Death Car We Arrive acrylic, canvas 144X147 2007

Arrival

2009-01-08T17:30:00.000-08:00

The show held in Galerie Beatrice Binoche in May 2008 was called Arrival. The title came from a painting below and shows a physical act of arrival. A clumsy skateboard certainly serves it purpose

The arriving object (a rock? a ball?) wasn't just a spontanious thing. It pops up in my 2007-08 sketch books quite often.

That was the first time in February 2008 it finally found its way to canvas.
Later, in March, when I was working on a self-portrait, it ended up in my hand.

Self portrait acrylic, canvas 172X186

from sketch book

Go and listen to bon iver for emma, folks!

Air Kiss Machine

2009-01-08T12:21:00.000-08:00

Air Kiss Machine 168X186 acrylic, canvas

A machine of the future, used by parted lovers to send kisses by air over
long distances. That piece was made sometime March 2008 at Reunion Island.

Customs Control

2009-01-08T07:44:00.000-08:00

You know how it is these days with airports... All kind of nasty things they want you to do there: dress, undress, dress again.... Shoes, no shoes... They see you as a potential bomber or a terrorist. If I would have been a terrorist I would have the word Terrorist written on my forehead. I wouldn't be shy of my occupation. That piece comes from Reunion Island as well. Acrylic, canvas 159X179

Family Silver and My Boeing Goes Home

2009-01-08T07:33:00.000-08:00

Family Silver acrylic, canvas 200X250

Have you ever looked into an empty plate? Have you ever been hungry? Or, full?
That piece was made to illustrate how asymmetric the material world is in fact, and to state that our idea of harmony as of 50X50 is not much to do with real life. That is quite a monumental painting: 200X250. It was a part of Den Frie Selected Group Show held in Copenhagen annually. It was meant to be exhibited with another quite big piece (159X358) My Boeing Goes Home

My Boeing Goes Home 159X358acrylic, canvas

My Boeing Goes Home is literally is a plane with a dick on its way home (try not seeing your girl for five months and, I tell you, that's what it feels like). But the exhibition committee turned it down "having a premonition of imminent public disaster in case of exposure". Finally, their show had turned into a disaster for itself being the most dull and boring show I ever happened to
be a part of.

That boy definitely digs the piece...

so, does this girl...

Wreck Truck's Neck

2009-01-07T08:20:00.000-08:00

These two pieces were apart of the same Den Frie Show a year earlier. They are both same size 200X250 and work perfect as a diptych. Simple composition of Wreck Truck's Neck is goes well with a swirl of Wave. My little brother Simon helped me with Truck Wreck backgrounds. That was a time when I was getting more and more into a spiral, Einstein and his theory of relativity.
Second one, has rather long title:

Wave
That Takes
Easy Ass Cakes
Countries

picturing a drowning man, wreck of a ship, ripped and helpless safety device.
The idea is simple: the day will come when a giant wave would wash off our national recognition. So, we could reappear again... Naked.

Trinity

2009-01-06T20:10:00.000-08:00

I have a special relation with Trinity. Through all my life, I am her great admirer.
Number three is unique. It frees harmony, interpreting it in a much more liberal way than, for example, number two (aimee mann speaks about it). This painting combines my great fascinations for the period. One of them, is certainly with classicism.

This Is Fucking Art 200X300 0il,acrylic,canvas 2003

Actual execution of that piece took me only six days, while preparation and study, in terms of joy, were much longer...
Watching people's reaction while painting was great. The other day a student popped up in my studio with a question, (I was teaching a classic drawing that semester) and drop dead in a doorway. Another one told me that if I intend to leave man's hand (upper right corner) on top of the girl's head, she would leave my class immediately...
Painting man's butt (middle left) was quite of a personal challenge. Happened not to spend my years staring at men's behind, I ended up having a brush in my right hand while using the left one to caress my tensed up ass for a right feeling of a movement and its construction.
I didn't have a title until the very last stroke. The second I was finished and was about to land on a sofa, all the talking inside my head ceased. After a second of silence, a clear voice announced: This Is Fucking Art, man! And it certainly is!

Raphael did Three Graces:

Raphael Three Graces 17X17!

Rubens did his:

Rubens Three Graces 180X220!

I did mine right after:

Three Graces 200X300 oil, acrylic, canvas 2003

Mine is the biggest!

(to be continued...)

Trinity (part two)

2009-01-06T20:09:00.000-08:00

... some more Trinity:

I do like painting at Christmas time. I like a state of solitude. I like an idea that even a closest friend is far away and I am all alone. Filled with gratitude. Filled with magic like an air around. They certainly had a reason choosing that time of the year for the biggest holiday of christian world. If you ever have a chance to stay alone and focused at Christmas you might experience miraculous things. Quite a few of my personally favorite paintings were made at Christmas:

Three Lemons 146X162 acrylic, canvas 2007

When I am lost, I paint flowers. They put my feet back on the ground:

Three Flowers 171X126 acrylic, canvas 2008

from sketch book

A sphere of all geometrical figures is the one closest to eternity. A tennis ball due to it's design represents duality of eternity :

Three Tennis Balls 110X180 acrylic, canvas 2008

Still Life Kills

2009-01-06T18:48:00.000-08:00

Last winter I was exploring the mystery of a still life. It turned into a series of paintings with a working title Still Life Kills

Soup 172X186 acrylic, canvas

from sketch book

172X186

172X186

Still Life Kills! My brother Simon invented that title. It is great. It is genius. It is philosophical. It is unique in terms of a graphic design. It contains three words: five/four/five letters in each. The first word Still starts with S and has double L in it. The last one killS has double L as well and ends up with S.
Today I am pretty sure while sharing with me his great idea, Simon, was overheard by some vandals who simply stole his idea and used it for their vandalizing purposes. But, as we all know, those guys they have no shame...