About The Artist
Zoran was born in Bela Crkva (White Chapel) in former Yugoslavia. As a child and even during his early schooldays he kept close to nature, which brought about his love for everything surrounding him and turned him into a talented observer. As a student he greatly admired classical art and literature and this inspired his style as well as his themes. After gymnasium he worked abroad in order to earn time to dedicate himself completely to arts while back in his native country. In between he was as a part time illustrator for some local newspapers, made wall paintings for public buildings and was involved in the restoration of an ancient church. When the war started he fled Croatia and was granted political asylum in the Netherlands, where he lived for ten years. Zoran is a purely 'self taught' artist: he mastered all his techniques through interest, love and dedication. Next to his artwork he plays music (guitar, vocals and African drum) and writes poetry. Twenty five of his poems (translated from the original Croatian into English) were published in America, in anthologies. He was nominated several times as a 'poet of the year' there by The International Society of Poets. In all of his artistry Zoran never works according to fixed ideas, instead he opens himself to his inner world and tries to catch whatever that moment brings. In both his writing and drawing he chooses to depict his images in a rather abstract way, because he believes there is more to life than what meets the eye. He is not interested in depicting realism, because he thinks a camera is far better for that. At first his drawn images seem to be a complete unknown world full of emotions but those who watch more closely will detect many traces of natural forms (bodies, plants) that form his inspiration. In 2006 his artwork was printed on the cover of the Dutch Antillean mintset. Zoran applies (coloured) pencil as a medium for his artwork, and started to use wooden panels instead of paper recently. He is interested in carving wood as well lately