One Hundred Views of Kesennuma: Paintings of Japan’s Altered Landscape

Join us for a presentation by Roman J. Witt Visiting Artist and 2013 Guggenheim Fellow in Painting, Amer Kobaslija: 1:45PM — 2:30PM in the Stamps Print Studio on Nov. 13, 2013. 

“I’m trying to give you a sense of what it feels like to stand on a hill, looking out across a landscape of destruction. I want to commemorate what was lost but also say to the victims and survivors, ​‘Your painful experience will not be forgotten.’ Art can serve a purpose, to help us remember.”

Drawing on his own experience of survival, Bosnian-born painter Amer KobaÅ¡lija responds to the devastation caused by the tsunami that hit the Tôhoku region of Japan in 2011. Originally from Banjaluka, Bosnia, KobaÅ¡lija fled the war-ravaged country in 1993 arriving to a refugee camp in Nuremberg, Germany. In 1997, KobaÅ¡lija’s family was offered asylum by the United States. He completed B.F.A. in Printmaking at the Ringling College of Art and Design and M.F.A. in Painting at Montclair State University.

Kobaslija has had numerous one-person exhibitions in Paris, New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and Miami. He is represented by George Adams Gallery in New York. Kobaslija is the receipent of many grants including the Joan Mitchell Foundation; the Pollock-Krasner Foundation and 2013 Guggenheim Fellowship. Kobaslija’s works have been reviewed and printed in publications such as The New York Times, Art in America, ArtNews, Art & Antiques, The Village Voice, New York Time Out, New York Magazine, The New York Sun, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The Florida Times Union, among others.

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Center for Japanese Studies: One Hundred Views of Kesennuma: Paintings of Japan’s Altered Landscape