Ozren Olbina

Select Biography

Ozren Olbina is a Serbian expressionist painter. He was born in 1981 in the former Yugoslavia, where he lived for only a few years. War led to an exodus - he was displaced first to Germany, and later Canada. It was in Canada where he developed his keen interest in art, which led to his initial studies of renaissance artists at College St. Studio in Toronto. From Old Masters his passions moved into a deep romance with contemporary art. Having prepared himself for an entry into the new-formed University of Ontario College of Art & Design, he engaged in the study of lyrical, abstract and expressionistic work. After completing his bachelor degree he began to develop his own unique, visceral style.

Withdrawing from the art scene for a few years, he began gradually assembling a new body of work. This new work encompasses an idea about painting - an idea that rejects classical techniques and embraces idiosyncratic methods. This new work is performed in a mutilatory, aggressive style where he confronts the two dimensional limits of traditional painting. By inverting all the rules and turning process of pain-aplication on its head, he does not attempt to spite history but continues what has always counted: Trying to g...

Education

1999 - 2002 College Street Studio, Classical Painting, Toronto

2003 - 2008 Ontario College Of Art & Design, Fine Arts, Drawing And Painting Major, Toronto



Awards

2005 Unilever Canada Award

2006 Dorothy Stevens Award

2008 - OCAD Annual Graduate Exhibition, OCAD, Toronto, Canada

2007 - OCAD Annual Graduate Exhibition, OCAD, Toronto, Canada

2007 - FULL SQUARE, (co-curator) Syllogy Gallery, Toronto, Canada

2006 - Group Show, Gorilla Monsoon, Toronto, Canada

2006 - Contemporary Collage Methodologies, (co-curator) OCAD, Toronto, Canada

2005 - MyOCAD Does OCAD, Toronto, Canada

2005 - Belleville Art Gallery, Belleville Public Library, Belleville, Canada

2005 - 4th International Print Exchange, Town Hall, Schnorndorf, Germany