- Versión en español -

Braco Dimitrijevic born in Sarajevo on June 18 of 1948. He graduated from the Zagreb Academy in 1971, continuing at St Martin's School of Art in London. Later he moved to Paris.

His work became internationally known in the early 70s' with his Casual Passer-by serie, in which he exhibited gigantic photo portraits of unknown people on the public sites of city facades and billboards - the places usually reserved for pictures of dignitaries or publicity messages. The starting-point of his exhibitions and projects was the confrontation of public figures with anonymous people. One of the first of these works was exhibited on the Boulevard St German in Paris in 1971, and later in many other cities including London, New York, Venice and Berlin. The most recent examples were two enormous portraits of a man and a woman overlooking the Champs Elysees in Paris, presented as a part of the exhibition Les Champs de la Sculpture 2000.

In 1969 Braco Dimitrijevic wrote a Story About Two Artists:
Once upon a time far from cities and towns, there lived two painters. One day the king, hunting nearby, lost his dog. He found him in the garden of one of the two painters. He saw the works of that painter and took him to the castle. The name of that painter was Leonardo da Vinci. Nobody knew the name and works of the other artist.

Dimitrijevic has also erected monuments to Casual Passers-by, such as the one in Berkley Square, London, in 1972. These portrait busts are classical in appearance, but contain a personal and poetic message.

Dimitrijevic made his attitude clear in 1969 when he wrote that there are no mistakes in history, the whole of history is a mistake. In the whole of his work, with the aid of humour and irony, the artist poses questions about fame and chance... why, for example, some people, paintings and styles achieve fame, while others do not... In 1976 Dimitrijevic coined the term Post History, which he defines as a possibility of coexistence of different ideas and styles.

In the mid-70s the artist turned his interest to the art of the past, and started making installations in museums. His statement that the Louvre is my studio, the street is my museum, expresses his interest in working within different contexts. The original masterpieces, usually borrowed from a museum's collection, are incorporated into three-dimensional still-lives. Hence paintings by Picasso, Turner, Cèzanne and Leonardo become parts of installations, alongside everyday objects such as fruit and vegetables. These works, under the generic title Triptychos Post Historicus, were made and exhibited at numerous museums, including the Tate Gallery London, Musee National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, Solomon R Guggenheim Museum in New York, Ludwig Museum in Cologne, and the Louvre in Paris.

Dimitrijevic is perhaps an example of the idea that his own work tried to question in one moment. The chance has put him into a place where most artists never will accede. But in some way he has taken advantage from that respect to create unexpected and paradoxical juxtapositions. He does this in order to suggest a more truthful and harmonious possibility of coexistence between culture and nature, beings and things. He uses the language of symbols and a labyrinth of signs, being based on the metaphoric power of images.

Selected solo exhibitions
Galerie Michael Jansen, Cologne, 1999
Kunsthalle, Dusseldorf, 1997
Hessisxhes Landesmuseum, Darmstadt, 1995
Galerie De France, Paris, 1994
The Israel Museum, Jerusulam, 1994
Museum Moderner Kunst-Stifung Ludwig, Vienna, 1994
Pat Hearn Gallery, New York, 1990
Galerie Ronny van de Velde, Anvers, 1990
Galerie de Paris, Paris, 1987
Tate Gallery, London, 1985
Museum Ludwig, Cologne, 1984
Kunsthalle Bern, 1984
Waddington Galleries, London, 1980
Stedelijk van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, 1979
Sperone Gallery, Turin, 1976
Stadtisches Museum, Monchengladbach, 1975
Sperone Gallery, New York, 1975
Lucio Amelio, Naples, 1971

Selected group exhibitions
L'Autre moitie de l'Europe, Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris, 2000
Zeitwenden Kustmuseum, Bonn, Germany, 1999-2000
Les Champs de la Sculpture 2000, Champs Elysees, Paris, 1999
Havana Biennale, Cuba, 1997
Manifeste, Musee National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, 1997
Venice Biennale, Italy, 1993
Documenta IX, Kassel, Germany, 1992
Venice Biennale, Italy, 1990
Prospect, Frankfurt, 1989
Magiciens de la Terre, Paris, 1989
Sydney Biennale, Australia, 1986
Venice Biennale, Italy, 1982
Aspects of British Art Today, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 1982
Sydney Biennale, Australia, 1978
Documenta VI, Kassel, Germany, 1977
Venice Biennale, Italy, 1976
Documenta V, Kassel, Germany, 1972
Biennale de Paris, 1971

Selected bibliography
Gauthier, Michel, Braco Dimitrijevic - Les transmemoriaux, Editions du Regard, Paris, 1998
Dimitrijevic, Braco and Jean- Hubert Martin, The man of Lascaux, Moderna Galerija Ljubljans, 1996
Harten, Jurgen, Konstellationen, Kunsthalle Dusseldorf, 1996
Dimitrijevic, Nena and Klaus D. Pohl, Against Historic Sense of Gravity, Hessisches Landesmuseum Darnstadt, 1995
Dimitrijevic, Braco, Histories de Prix Nobel, Editions de la Tempete, Paris, 1994
Slow as Light, Fast as Thought, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna, 1994
Perrin, Frank and Oliver Zahm, Dimensions Dimitrijevic: Rooms and Thoughts, Municipal Art Gallery, Piran, 1991
Watkins, Jonathon, Life of Braco Dimitrijevic, Gallery Ronny van der Velde, Antwerp, 1990
Cramer, Sue, Institute of Modern Art and Queensland Art Gallery Brisbane, Australia, 1989
Benzakin, Joel and Guy Tortosa, Consortium Dijon, La Criee Rennes, DRAC Limousin, 1989
Holeczek, Bernhard, Richard Gassen, Lida von Mendgen and Judith Amin, For Malevich, Mondrian, Einstein, Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen, 1987
Brown, David, Triptychos Post Historicus, Tate Gallery, London, 1985
Weiss, Evelyn and Jean-Hubert Martin, Culturescapes 1976 - 1984, Museum Ludwig Koln/Kunsthalle Bern, 1984
Hoet, Jan, exhibition catalogue, Deweer Art Gallery, 1982
Brown, David, exhibition catalogue, Waddington Galleries, London, 1981 Weyergraf-Serra, Clara, exhibition catalogue, Kunsthalle Tubomgen, 1980
Schwarz, Michael and Manfred Schmalriede, Arbeiten/Works 1968 - 1978, Badischer Kunstverein Karlsruhe, 1979
Kent, Sarah, exhibition catalogue, Institute of Contemporary Arts London, 1979
Fuchs, Rudi, exhibition catalogue, Stedelijk van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, 1979
Deecke, Thomas, An Obelisk beyond History, DAAD Berlin, 1979
Self Portraits after Rembrandt and Miguel Perez, Centre d'Art Contemporain and Ecart Publications, Geneva, 1978
Tractatus Post Historicus, Edition Dacic, Tubingen, 1976
Tale of an Artist and a Castle, Kabinett fur sltuelle Kunst, Bremerhaven and DAAD Berlin, 1976
Cladders, Johannes, exhibition catalogue, Stadtisches Museum Monchengladbach, 1975
Cladders, Caroline and Braco, exhibition catalogue, Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb, 1973

- Versión en español -

- Imprime esta página -