Maya Kulenovic is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

artist and painter. She lives and works in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Canada and exhibits internationally.

Biography

Kulenovic was born in 1975 in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajevo ...

SR Bosnia and Herzegovina The Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Bosna i Hercegovina, Социјалистичка Pепублика Босна и Херцеговина), commonly referred to as Socia ...

, SFR Yugoslavia. She studied at

Ontario College of Art and Design University Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD, is a public art university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus is spread throughout several buildings and facilities within do ...

in Toronto, Ontario, Canada;

Mimar Sinan University The Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University ( tr, Mimar Sinan Güzel Sanatlar Üniversitesi, or MSGSÜ) is a Turkish public university dedicated to higher education in the fine arts. It is located in the Fındıklı neighbourhood of Beyoğlu, Istanbu ...

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

; and

Chelsea College of Art and Design Chelsea College of Arts is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London based in London, United Kingdom, and is a leading British art and design institution with an international reputation. It offers further education, further ...

( University of the Arts London) in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. She is also an alumna of

Goodenough College Goodenough College is a postgraduate residence and educational trust in Mecklenburgh Square in Bloomsbury, central London, England. Other names under which the college has been known are London House, William Goodenough House, and the London Go ...

in London, England. A book about the work of Maya Kulenovic by

Edward Lucie-Smith John Edward McKenzie Lucie-Smith (born 27 February 1933), known as Edward Lucie-Smith, is a Jamaican-born English writer, poet, art critic, curator and broadcaster. He has been highly prolific in these fields, writing or editing over a hundred ...

in Dutch and English was published by d'jonge Hond in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in 2007. Her second monograph, ''Maya Kulenovic: Fugue'', with an essay by

Mark Kingwell Mark Gerald Kingwell (born March 1, 1963) is a Canadian professor of philosophy and associate chair at the University of Toronto's Department of Philosophy. Kingwell is a fellow of Trinity College. He specialises in theories of politics and cultu ...

, was published in Toronto in 2017.

Commentary

Whether with portraits, which she terms "faces", architecture, referred to as "build" works, landscapes or still life images, Kulenovic's focus is to capture an ambience or psychological state. She deliberately explores ambiguity, and in her approach to the painted surface she works in glazed layers as well as destructive techniques to create images evoking a particular atemporal context. Although so very different in subject, the works have the same aura of loneliness, stillness and desire. Her influences range from sculpture and painting to architecture, photography and film, and include Roman death masks, 19th century daguerreotype photography, documentary films, stills from damaged motion pictures, Eugène Atget,

Margaret Bourke-White Margaret Bourke-White (; June 14, 1904 – August 27, 1971), an American photographer and documentary photographer, became arguably best known as the first foreign photographer permitted to take pictures of Soviet industry under the Soviets' ...

, Rembrandt,

Turner Turner may refer to: People and fictional characters *Turner (surname), a common surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Turner (given name), a list of people with the given name *One who uses a lathe for turni ...

and

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...

. Edward Lucie-Smith wrote the following about Kulenovic's work: "No-one could describe Maya Kulenovic's paintings as 'photographic', but their place in the realist tradition is nevertheless secure. Her work is realist in the way that Rembrandt and Goya are realist. They attempt to explore the essence of human existence, and often come up with uncomfortable truths. These truths are conveyed through paintings that fall into very specific categories, related to the old hierarchy of genres that was discarded by the pioneering Modernists, in Kulenovic's work we find still life paintings, portraits (of a sort), landscapes and architectural compositions" The still lifes, the architectural compositions, the faces and the landscapes are all, in their essence, attempts to identify and present a particular state of being. This quality is, as Edward Lucie-Smith states, 'the thing that makes her work so haunting, and so unlike the work of any other artist of her own generation that I can immediately think of'.Lucie-Smith, Edward."Maya Kulenovic" (d'jonge Hond/Netherlands 2008), pg15

References

Sources

* Edward Lucie-Smith, (translation by B. Ruijsenaars) "Maya Kulenovic" (d'jonge Hond/Netherlands 2008), 1 vol. Hardcover (128 p.), * Mark Kingwell, "Measure Yourself Against the Earth: Essays", pages 228-233, (Biblioasis, 2015) * Mark Kingwell, Anthony Collins, "Maya Kulenovic: Fugue", (Toronto, Ontario, Canada/2017), 1 vol. Hardcover (144 p.),

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kulenovic, Maya 1975 births Living people Bosnia and Herzegovina emigrants to Canada Artists from Sarajevo Canadian contemporary painters Canadian women painters Alumni of Chelsea College of Arts 20th-century Canadian women artists Cityscape artists 21st-century Canadian women artists