SwedenZdravko Jojic
Zdravko Jojic was born in Sarajevo 1951. He earned his degree in Visual Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1983 and his Masters Degree two years later. He participated in over 20 exhibitions in former Yugoslavia, and has won four prestigious awards for his works. Due to the war in Bosnia he left Sarajevo in 1992 and has lived and worked in Sweden ever since. Most recently he exhibited his works in Sweden, Denmark and Norway.
The walls shimmer of the art in green, blue, pink. Fish, leaves, abstract forms.
Zdravko Jojic's paintings called things like "Spring Will" and "Hello, Hello"
"It is clear that the war has affected me," says the artist who made the WOW day after the residence permit.
"I saw no future there. It was for the children's sake I left Sarajevo”, he says. His mother accompanied him. The family was initially housed at the refugee camp in Tenhult in Småland. Zdravko went back to the brushes and paint. Zdravko Jojic discovered the gallery Smedbyn in nearby Huskvarna (Sweden). There he met the gallery owner Leif Johansson, a former fire chief, known in the district as Fire-Johan.
"He came in with a small picture and showed it to me. I told him outright that I would give him , paint and brushes and canvases," says Brand-Johan.
Zdravko was overjoyed by this find. Over the next year and a half, Zdravko Jojic produced 70 works in oil, acrylic and collage.
The day before the opening of his exhibition, he got his residence permit. The exhibition was a success. Everything was sold.
"I have been in this business for 18 years. I have never seen anything like this, "said Fire-John. Zdravko now has a small studio next to the gallery and an apartment near Taberg where his daughters go to school. "I left a dozen paintings in my studio in Sarajevo.
I don't know what happened to those canvases. The frames have certainly been used up as firewood, for warmth. No one cares about art when essentials are at stake”.
To see more of Jojic's work, contact Galerie 240 :: 613.680.0866
