Zoran Crnkovic
Zoran Crnkovic is a New York City based painter and sculptor, born in Croatia at the end of 60's. Through his childhood he was drawing, painting, carving, and sculpting much thanks to guidance from his creative father of incredible skills as engineer, builder, architect, craftsmen, carpenter, draftsman etc.. but also inspired at an early age by his uncles, one in Croatia who was renown actor and talented water-colorist, and Australian-based uncle who was multi talented artist and all-around renaissance man of many skills. Zoran was of broad interests so he pursued to study music and later physics, wanting to unite his devotion to art with his fascination of science. Art prevailed. After four solo shows in Croatia, he traveled to New York City to have few solo shows there and decided to stay.
Zoran continued his art studes in NY, enrolling in classes at the Art Students League of New York, where he was also a monitor in drawing and painting classes and sometimes substitute instructor. He was accepted into the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Copyist Program, which gave him the chance to study Baroque art, in particular paintings of Caravaggio, his all time art hero.
From working at studio in the South Bronx in late 90's, Zoran got involved with a group of artists in Long Island City (LIC), Queens and together they formed "The Space" collaborative. From there he has set up studio in the LIC building block known as 'Crane St. Studios' with over 200 working artists or '5Pointz' for its graffiti exterior, and stayed there for a decade, until the end of era when through gentrification brick and mortar neighborhood got replaced by skyscrapers of metal and glass.
His art evolved over the years, painterly and conceptually. Earlier work was minimalist abstraction of world around, with collections such as Cityscapes with play of color-fields, light, and textural contrasts, than Neo-Platonic and archetypal body of work which was even more abstract, leaving color to take over forms. Over time, he moved into more conceptual themes based on philosophy, science and mysticism.
As long time teacher and innovator in meditative practices, Zoran's interests have been around various ways art can reflect, demonstrate and communicate philosophical and metaphysical concepts. Present series of 'Labyrinths' is meditation on journey, pilgrimage and migration.
With over 20 solo and 100 group shows, Zoran continues to paint and sculpt from waterfront studio in LIC, Queens. He is for two decades instructor at the oldest art club in US, the Salmagundi Club NY, where his life sketching and drawing class is direct link to Club's beginning in 1871 when it emerged in downtown NY as Salmagundi Sketch Club.