Stories

The Department of Art and Art History was honored to have our first ever visiting artist Amer Kobaslija in residence March 8-15, 2017. His visit was preceded by a large exhibit of his work in our gallery for the entire winter quarter. In conjunction with his exhibition, Amer gave a public lecture on his work. During his residency, Amer visited classes where he engaged with students, and explored the Department’s new VR technology.

Originally from Banjaluka in Bosnia, Amer Kobaslija (b. 1975) fled his war-ravaged home-land in 1993 to a refugee camp in Nuremberg, Germany. Later he traveled to Düsseldorf, where he attended the Kunst Akademie. In 1997, Kobaslija was offered asylum by the United States and immigrated to Florida. There in Sarasota, he completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Ringling College of Art and Design. In 2003, he went on to pursue a Master of Fine Arts degree at the Montclair College of the Arts in New Jersey and has since established his base in New York City.

A 2013 Guggenheim Fellow for painting, Kobaslija has had numerous one-person exhibitions in Paris, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New Orleans. He is represented by George Adams Gallery in New York where he has had seven solo shows in the last decade, including the 2015-16 traveling survey exhibition Amer Kobaslija: Places, Spaces. In conjunction with this exhibition, George Adams Gallery published a comprehensive monograph on Kobaslija’s art and life.

Kobaslija’s paintings have been reviewed and reproduced in numerous publications including The New York Times, Art in America, ARTNews, New York Magazine, New York Time Out, and The San Francisco Chronicle. Kobaslija’s visit and show were co sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences and an Arts for Social Justice Program grant.