The last 4 months were a constant roller coaster. So many things happened that I decided to have a small autumn break. Just chilling out in a new apartment for 9 days, playing videogames (Eiyū Densetsu: Sora no Kiseki EVO series), reading books (Tade Thompson´s Rosewater trilogy) and watching all the anime TV shows that have been adding up on my “to watch” list (I recommend Beastars from this fall´s season). In the loop from bedroom to livingroom to kitchen (holy trinity) I realized while observing the Great Wave of Kanagawa after Hokusai painting that the date on it is 2009. Ten years already. But I am getting ahead of myself. Let´s start with a little disruption.

Images of Modernity (Group Exhibition)

Last night there was an opening of the Images of Modernity exhibition that I am proud to be a part of. My professor of History of Arts, Aida Abadžić Hodžić, from the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo, had a promotion of her book Images of Modernity: Essays on Architecture, Photography and Fine Arts in the Bosniak Institute – Adil Zulfikarpašić Foundation, Sarajevo. As a part of her promotion she organized a group exhibition with the selection of works by new generation of Bosnian artists that were made after 2015. For me it is the most important group exhibition that I have been a part of in the last 3 years, so if you are in Sarajevo in the next 10 days, please take your time to visit it. It is open till 1st of December.

From the Sea

I made a new painting based on the print Mount Fuji Viewed from the Sea by Hokusai, and I urge you not to view this as the Great Wave variation. It is absolutely different view and it should convey a feeling of yūgen (Japanese aesthetics are based on feelings). It is absolutely poetic view and you might get deeper revelations if you give it a bit of your thought and your time. Don´t let the initial impression fool you. What I saw in it, you can read it here.

Private Life/Love/Unity

My wife and I had a really fruitful year and we are now on an apex, where we need to sit and contemplate. It is important to stop, look back, think, because in the constant rush, you will just burn, until you burn yourself out. So, 10 years…
… in March 2009 I finished The Great Wave off Kanagawa after Hokusai, the first painting in my 100 Views of Ukiyo-e series. This painting is a starting point of my transition from salary man chonin to established visual artist ★ ronin. From freelance graphic/video/web designer for hire with nothing worth mentioning in the 10 year- work to independent artist with 9 solo and 29 group exhibitions, 18 workshops, 14 art and culture related events (participant or organizer), + over 60 paintings produced, some of them good, but most of them bellissimo complimenti quality. If I am to look after Hokusai, this is nothing but beginning, a child’s play “not worth bothering with”. This realization only gets me excited for the real works are yet to come.

As a family, we had a big change, we bought a new larger apartment and we moved in last September. And in November I stopped “sharing studio” with other artists, it became too much of a physical and emotional drain for me and I moved into our smaller apartment in the Old Town, Sarajevo. So now I have my own atelier, but there is enough space to accept visitors and guests. I will write more about this soon. As we had moved in a new apartment, so our life also changed. We are more aware that our life is in Sarajevo and we are not looking for greener grass somewhere else. We have tasted and realized that grass is the same green everywhere; the Sun shines on everyone. So occasional trips and short term stays are still a thing but we have anchored ourselves to Bosnia. Maybe the best way to convey my feelings about all this is to play you a song by Martin Gore of Depeche Mode- Home…

…and, please, use this time to just continue listening to DM playlist.