Happy New 20+20=40
Year of Udon

Hi there,
Long time no hear. So here we are at 2020, and it looks like the World is falling apart. But let me tell you the truth, it always is, if you look at it that way. As far as I am concerned it is still Heaven on Earth. So happy new Yeah! I hope that you are well, and healthy, and that you can pay your bills, and that you have food on your table and roof over your head. That you (are) love(d by) someone and that you are in a position where you can share this with your family and friends. I don´t mean on social networks/marketing platforms. You know – food on table, vino (or rakija) in glasses, good music and good times.

Year of Udon

I think last year or two years ago we got a store in Sarajevo where we can find sake and Japanese whiskey. But we no longer have dry udon in stores. Apart from Soshigaya Park, family friends from Japan, Mori Gallery and Ultraman Street, I really miss udon to the point that I decided to make my own. And I did. So there you go – peace, love, udon and sake. If you are in Sarajevo, and you feel like udon, now you know who to go to J

December 2019

End of the year was quite nice. I did new painting – In Bloom and my atelier was visited by students of the High School of Applied Arts, Sarajevo. I bored them with my last 10 years of work, with hope to inspire them to do large mural in their school this year. The visit was arranged by the principal of the school, Elma Alić-Šobot, my peer from the Academy of Fine Arts, Sarajevo. The students were accompanied by their teacher of Painting, Lejla Bušatlić.

I was also visited by my good friend and a curator Srđan Tunić and also our little family has been expended with the visit of a distant cousin from Australia. I hope she will come next time with her sister – more people at the table. We also made some new friends with our neighbors.

2019

Great year! I did so much good and fruitful experimenting in painting and outside of it that brought me some new commissions and exhibitions. I am sorry but I still haven’t shown you my lamps project. It is not 100% of what I want to achieve, so it will have to wait. Hopefully I will find a balance in lighting and expense of production this year. A few of my paintings left to Europe: Star Fruits Surf Rider to Tirana, Albania (thank you Andrea), Mount Fuji with Cherry Trees in Bloom to Waren, Germany (thank you Lidija), La Mer by Jože Ciuha to Ljubljana, Slovenia (thank you David) and Pieta 2016 to Torino, Italy (thank you Carlo).

I moved my atelier into my apartment in Bistrik (Old Town, Sarajevo), which was really good for me but it made me sad and disappointed into local artists scene. I came to realize that some major fights I will be fighting alone.

20+20=40

It must seem strange but at the age of 42 I finally feel like I have “grown up” and I have enough knowledge and resolve in which way to “grow” further. I know my call, my family grounds. I know the advantages and disadvantages of being me, of the space that surrounds me and the community around me. I know which battles to fight and which fights to let go. So from 2020 I expect les fighting, more working and more people at the table.

Peace, love

Udon and sake

muha