Braco Dimitrijević

Braco Dimitrijevic born 1948

Braco Dimitrijevic was born in Sarajevo in 1948. He studied at the Zagreb Academy of Art and St Martin’s School of Art, London. He currently lives and works in Paris.

Dimitrijevic first gained prominence with a series of photographic works begun in the early 1970s in which he documented ‘Casual Passers-by’ on large-scale billboards and other public sites. These works are typical of the artist’s intention to call into question representations in the mass media as well as historical monuments. The series, which is ongoing, acknowledges and elevates the everyday. The artist affords images of ordinary people the respect and seriousness usually reserved for depictions of prominent personalities or figures of historical importance.

More recently Dimitrijevic’s practice has included installations in museums. Works of art by acknowledged old or modern masters are incorporated in installations including furniture, arrangements of fruit and vegetables and other everyday objects. These conjunctions disrupt traditional categories of high art and quotidian artifacts (see Triptychos Post Historicus: Repeated Secret 1978-85, Tate T04122).

Further reading:

Antun Maracic, Nena Dimitrijevic, et al., Braco Dimitrijevic – Dubrovnik Retrospective, exhibition catalogue, Museum of Modern Art, Dubrovnik, 2004.

Klaus-D. Pohl and Nena Dimitrijevic, Braco Dimitrijevic: Against Historic Sense of Gravity, exhibition catalogue, Hessisches Landesmuseum, Damstadt, 1995.

Lórand Hegyi, Dan Cameron and Catherine Millet, Braco Dimitrijevic: Slow as Light, Fast as Thought, exhibition catalogue, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna, 1994

Rachel Taylor

July 2005