Selma Loose

I was born in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1972. I've been living in Sweden for several years, returned to Mostar, where I live and work now.
The focus of my work has always been figure, namely female body. I paint the body which exists in our senses, imagination and dreams. It is a mirror of our spiritual being. It seems unreal and unnatural, but it's a result of human condition reflecting fears, desires, despair or frailty.
Among others I was strongly influenced by the writings of Maurice Merleau-Ponty - "The eye and mind", Paul Valéry's - "Réflexions sur le corps" and by the work of Marcel Proust in general. Some of my work is based on the photography by Man Ray. The photography which I sometimes use as a starting point sets a balance between the fantastic, imaginary and the real; and it is just in this relation that the imaginary becomes even more striking. Proust's description of body as a darkroom full of negatives is very important in my work. These canvases can be described as projection screens which reflect developed fantastic, imaginary negatives of my body's memories. They explain one of the ways my paintings find their way on to the canvas.
The space of the body and the surrounding space interact and som...

1995/96 Kv Konstskolan, Gothenburg, Sweden
2006 B.A. Painting and Art Education, "Dzemal Bijedic" University of Mostar, Faculty of Education, Department of Fine Arts
2011 M.A. Painting, Academy of Fine Arts, University of Sarajevo

2002. “Trans-European Express” OSCE Regional center, Mostar
2003. Upcoming artists of Mostar exhibition, OSCE Headquarters, Sarajevo
2004. “The Bridge Over Troubled Water” Upcoming artists of Frascati and Mostar, Frascati, Italy
2011. Mostar Association of Visual Artists - Annual exhibition, Cultural Centre, Mostar
2012. M.A. exhibition, Figure and space, Gallery of Fine Arts Academy, Sarajevo
2012. The First Collective Exhibition of Mostar Association of Visual Artists „FORMAT“, Cultural Centre, Mostar