Modesty Blaise by Neville Colvin

When one says Modesty Blaise, the first thing that comes to mind is the iconic artwork of Jim Holdaway. Unfortunately, the work of Neville Colvin gets overlooked. 

I recently acquired two strips from a Neville Colvin comic from 1984. The first frame in both strips are excellent examples of Colvin’s craftsmanship. He is bleeding random brush and pen strokes, which almost brings the drawing to a level of abstraction. But at the same time, everything is there. 

Here is a link to my previous acquisition of Modesty Blaise by Colvin.

 

Poster for "The Last Cowboy"

This is my poster design for the documentary film "The Last Cowboy”.

"The Last Cowboy is documentary film about the eternal dreamer from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hari Džekson. The American wild west was out of his reach so he created his own right at home and in the sixties officially changed his name from Aljuš Musli to Hari Džekson. This is a film about a man who created an illusory reality from his dreams of being a heroic cowboy who would save the world, in which he himself lived. He was a fan of westerns and he filmed a couple of them, in which good always triumphs over bad. When the world he dreamed about collapsed due to the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, so did his dreams collapse and he along with them. His film about cowboys who saved and at the same time decorated the world in the middle of Balkan, remained unfinished. But some of his friends tried to finish the open ending he had left.”

"Few years ago in Ljubljana I met Mirko Ilić, graphic designer who was born in Bijeljina in Bosnia and Herzegovina and who lives and works in New York City today. I interviewed him for RTV Slovenia. He told me about the man who filmed westerns by the river Drina, who knew everything about western films, who officially changed his name from Aljuš Musli to Hari Dzekson, whom the inhabitants of Bijeljina considered a kind of court jester… I didn't believe him. The story sounded unbelievable. It sounded too Hollywood. I thought, of course, Mirko comes from America. The next day I verified the story online and I saw movie material. It was a script that wrote itself. In other words, Mirko Ilić offered me a script that just needed to be written. Thus was born a film about a cowboy who lived his dreams and dreamed his whole life.” 

–Tadej Čater, documentary film director

You can read more about Hari Džekson here and here.

 

Photo of city of Bijeljina is by Ajdin Kamber.

 

 

 

Comic "Trees" by Jason Howard

My recent acquisition is page 12 from the third episode of the comic Trees from 2014. The art is done by Jason Howard. I bought this comic exclusively because of the beautiful textures which were unfortunately destroyed when the comic was colorized.

 

Today on the Streets of Zagreb, Croatia

My billboard and poster announcement design for the 13th Miroslav Krleža Festival are on the streets of Zagreb, Croatia again today for the third time. 

Miroslav Krleža (1893-1981) was the most celebrated Croatian writer. In 2021, I was asked to create a poster and billboard for the 10th Miroslav Krleža Festival. I created Krleža’s profile wearing his characteristic hat, and because one of his most famous novels is titled Zastave (The Flags), I made his profile out of all incarnations of Croatian flags during his lifetime.

Originally, the organizer of the festival, Teatar Poezije Zagreb, assigned a new poster design every year. Because they were pleased with my designs they have used it every year since.

 

Winner of the 2024 PRINT Awards

PRINT Magazine announced the winners of the 2024 PRINT Awards.

I am really pleased that my design of "Milton Glaser: Pop" won first place in the category "Books: Entire Package."

"For forty years, the PRINT Awards have taken the pulse of the design industry. A global competition since 2020, the winning entries in the 2024 PRINT Awards reflect—and celebrate—a range of visual design trends, such as a blend of technological advancements, creative explorations in type, texture, and color, and user-centric approaches in both print and digital—an exciting year for us all!"

You can see more of the "Milton Glaser: Pop" book design here.

 

 

New A.C.2020 Comics

Here are a few more pages from my visual essay series A.C.2020. I originally created this series to express my anxiety and uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. With time, in the series I also tried to address my other anxieties and visual observations.

Each visual essay comprises self-contained single-page stories created in greyish-blue tones to reflect the subject.

You can see more pages of this essay series here.

 

European Poster Exhibition in Guilin, China

I am happy to share with you that my posters Oedipus, The Tin Drum, The Loser, and Uncle Vanya, which I created for JDP-Yugoslav Drama Theater in Belgrade, Serbia, were included in The European Poster Exhibition at the Guangxi Normal University Press Art Museum in Guilin, China. The exhibition, organized parallel to the Beijing Opera Art International Poster Biennale Exhibition, will be open from May 25th until June 23rd.

The other artists featured in this exhibition, as well as the country that they are from, are Slavimir Stojanovic Futro/Serbia, Slobodan Štetić/Serbia, Aleksandar Mijailovic/Serbia, Jovan Tarbuk/Serbia, Studio Cuculić/Croatia, Ecouter Pour Voir Studio/France, Mikhail Lychkovskiy/Belarus, Jouri Toreev/Belarus, Birgit Kern, Germany, Aleksander Walijewski/Poland, Paweł Pacholec/Poland and Lyuba Tomova/Bulgaria.

I am thankful to the curator LI XU, and to the co-curator Ivan Mišić for inviting me to be part of this exhibition. 

You can see more of my JDP Yugoslav Drama posters here.