Boris Demur
(1951-2014)
Painted with the Left Hand – Painted with the Right Hand, 1978 (detail)
acrylic on 2 cardboards,
72×102 cm each

Boris Demur (1951-2014) was a Neo-Avant-Garde painter and Post-Conceptual artist. He was a co-founding member of the Group of Six Artists (Zagreb, 1975-1981). He graduated in painting in 1975 under Prof. Raul Goldoni and in graphic arts in 1977 under prof. Albert Kinert. He worked as an associate at painter and sculptor Ljubo Ivančić’s master workshop between 1975 and 1977. Having equated art with life, Demur developed a personal image of an existentialist artist. During the 1970s, he started painting in the vein of Expressionist Abstraction, and later in the vein of expressive Art Informel by combining (non)painterly materials and by using the techniques of collage, decollage, assemblage and frottage.
In the mid-1970s, Demur’s painting was primary, analytical, elementary and procedural in nature, with painting being nothing but a work of art, nothing but a fact. His mirror-image diptych Painted with the Left Hand – Painted with the Right Hand from 1978 is one such elementary, factual painting which evokes nothing but the process of painting itself – left- and right-hand painting using achromatic white. In 1983, he reintroduced motif and bodily gesture into his painting, including the archetype of a spiral, which continued to be his main theme until the end of his life and career, and which was a reflection of chaos theory, according to which all unpredictable processes have their own pattern and regularity. Later, he introduced the double spiral of yin-yang as a holistic symbol of life. During the 40+ years of his career as an artist, he exhibited at many solo exhibitions in both Croatia and abroad, and in 1996 he represented Croatia at the São Paulo Art Biennial. In the same year, he received the Order of the Croatian Morning Star with the Image of Marko Marulić, Croatia’s national order bestowed for one’s achievements in culture. In 2004, the National Museum of Modern Art set up a retrospective of his work (Retrospective I, curated by Zdenko Rus).

Text: Željko Marciuš, museum consultant of the National Museum of Modern Art © National Museum of Modern Art
Translated by: Ana Janković
Photo: Goran Vranić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb