Djordje Ozbolt Yugoslavia, b. 1967

Constantly exploring a variety of mediums including drawing, painting, and sculpture, Djordje Ozbolt, who successfully held the Pavilion of Serbian at the 58th Venice Biennale, has gained global reputation for his unique works. Having spent his early childhood years in Yugoslavia where the atrocities of social conflicts and civil insurgencies persisted, he subsequently settled down in London. Such an acknowledgement of Ozbolt’s personal account sheds light on his emotional sensibilities and artistic perspective that he embedded into his works.

What most stands out in Ozbolt's work is the emergence of eccentric imaginative imageries. In his paintings and sculptures often portray unfamiliar backdrops imbued with animals, objects, and human characters that conduct themselves in rather unforeseen behaviors. Ozbolt rejects any given formalities for representation and subverts ordinary conventions and practices. By distorting the relationships between characters and objects, he produces a sense of alienation and displacement, as well as seeks disorder within his investigation of the correspondence between the provisions and laws of nature. The layering of multiple elements and spaces results in an unreal, supernatural world that operates in the same way as a psychedelic hallucination, thus outstripping the unidimensional level of our imagination. Within these surprising combinations of objects and icons, notions of order and disorder coexist paradoxically. At this point, his key subject for the ‘aesthetic of incongruity’ is vividly revealed in his works through such measures. However, Ozbolt manages to captivate the viewers’ attention and share his surrealistic sensitivity through the distinct style which configuration is an mismatched yet tension, grotesque setting and inimitable artistic sense.
 
Djordje Ozbolt studied artchitecture at School of Architecture at University of Belgrade, Belgrade, received a BA in Fine Art from Slade School of Fine Art, London and an MA in Painting from Royal Academy of Art, London. He has held solo exhibitions including Gallery Baton, Seoul (2017); the Holburne Museum, Bath (2016) and has participated in group exhibitions at international major museums and art institutions such as Tate Britain, London (2006), Zabludowicz Collection, London (2010); National Museum of Art, Osaka (2012); Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill (2015); New York White Columns (2005) and etc.