Text: Božo Majstorović
Setting: Božidar Jurjević
Since the beginning of his artistic activity Božidar Jurjević has been nourishimg the concise and direct artistic expression. Whether it involved performances, interventions or video works, his concept has always been rational and his message precise. His strategy has been simple and therefore apparently efficient, because in the era of every mimicry, simulationand disguising, it is not a usual pursuit to speak directly, in the first person singular, or to exert oneself completely into the work creations. Jurjević's starting-point is a basic fact that the medium represents a message by itself therefore, in his professional practice, he has chosen expressive forms that correspond best to his psychological, mental and moral practice. Although he developed and grew up within the artistic language that, as every other language, determines the type of behavior, nevertheless, his decisive incentives have been coming from so-called real world. The life in Dubrovnik defined Jurjević's artistic position. The miraculous beauty of the City has always been a heavy burden for the contemporary artist to carry, consequently leading many of thzem to finish up in the adoration of the past and remaining blind to the time period they lived in. To be a witness of what is happening here and now, in Jurjević's case, has quickly transformed in intuitingwhat is going to happen next. And that what happend in Dubrovnik and Croatia was a start of the series of the bloody and destructive events, which the artist linked together in his work, thus giving evidences and trying to discover the cause. The chain of events that followed only strenghtened the antagonism towards the artistic deed, the product of which is a decorative item that fakes reality. (...)
Božo Majstorović
Božidar Jurjević was born in Dubrovnik, Croatia on February 12th, 1963. He graduated at The Art Academy in Sarajevo, at the Department of Prof. Petar Waldegg in 1988.
