About Me
My name is Nikola Durdevic. I live in Zagreb, capital of Croatia (Europe).
I am a professional contemporary painter.
Our deeds are the mirror of our soul. As great as the soul is, so great are the deeds.
When you paint or draw, let your soul guide you, not your hand. If you are guided by your hand, the magic will disappear.
My favorite painting styles are figurative and abstract expressionism. I find these styles to be reflections of my soul. I like to paint energetically, spontaneously and very passionately with intense colors and strong brush strokes.
I finished “Art School” in Osijek (city of the eastern Croatian region). Also I have studied and finished “The School for Visual Arts Education, Creativity and Design Studio Tanay” in Zagreb (capital). In my work I explore the relationship between the figurative and the abstract, the connection between the otherworldly and the real, and in this creative process I build my own and unique style of expression. I am a member of the “Croatian Association Of Fine Arts”.
I live in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia (Europe).
Please visit my YouTube channel Nikola Durdevic.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My painting emerges from an inner space — a zone where memory, emotion, and archetypal imagery overlap. I do not begin with a motif, but with a state of being. For me, a painting is not a representation of the external world, but a trace of an inner process — a record of a moment where the conscious and the unconscious meet.
I work at the threshold between abstraction and figuration. The figure in my work often appears fragmented, as a trace or an echo, never as a fixed identity. It functions as a psychological or spiritual force rather than a portrait. The body becomes a sign, not an object; the face a field of tension, not description.
The painting process is intuitive, gestural, and physical. Gesture, layering, accident, and control coexist. I am not interested in closing meaning, but in opening it — allowing space for the viewer to recognize their own inner states, transitions, and fractures within the image.
Thematically, my work explores identity, time, transformation, and the invisible forces shaping human experience. I am drawn to liminal states — between dream and waking, presence and disappearance, matter and the unseen. Painting, for me, is a meeting place — between artist and viewer, and between different layers of reality.
My work does not seek to explain, but to invite presence. Each painting functions as a visual threshold — a space where perception slows, meaning remains open, and the viewer is encouraged to encounter the image without predefined answers.
CRITICAL TEXT
Nikola’s painting demonstrates a clear and coherent engagement with expressive and post-expressionist visual language, yet it goes beyond mere gestural intensity or emotional release. His works function as visual records of inner states, where the figure appears as a symbolic carrier of psychological and metaphysical tension.
One of the strongest aspects of the work is the dynamic tension between control and dissolution. The painted surface often becomes a contested field — between color and line, structure and chaos, presence and erasure. It is precisely within these unstable zones that the work gains its distinctive power. Meaning is not delivered; it is experienced.
Even when figuration is recognizable, it is never illustrative. Faces and bodies are not portraits but archetypal remnants, almost archaeological traces of identity. This positions the work away from narrative figuration and closer to an introspective, almost ritualistic mode of painting.
An important dimension of the practice is its sense of seriality. Individual works rarely function in isolation; they belong to broader internal cycles. Titles act as poetic thresholds rather than explanations, guiding perception without fixing interpretation.
Within a contemporary context, this body of work can be read as a serious and authentic contribution to expressive figuration that engages with spiritual and existential questions without simplifying them. It is painting that demands time, attention, and inner presence — and its strength lies precisely there.
Shows
Mjesna zajednica – Bapska, (Solo)
Bapska, Croatia
Nov 1986
Mjesna zajednica – Bapska, (Solo)
Bapska, Croatia
Feb 1987
Maggea (Collages – Solo)
Zagreb, Croatia
Oct 1998
Knjiznica Staglisce (Solo)
Zagreb, Croatia
Jan 2002
Arcotel Gallery (Group)
Zagreb, Croatia
Jul 2007
Dugave Library Gallery (Solo)
Zagreb, Croatia
Oct 2023
Slobostina Library Gallery (Solo)
Zagreb, Croatia
Nov 2023
Gallery of “Croatian Association Of Fine Arts”, (Group) – “Welcome!”
Zagreb, Croatia
Feb 2024
Gallery of “Croatian Association Of Fine Arts”, (Group) – “Figure”
Zagreb, Croatia
Feb 2024
Gallery of “Croatian Association Of Fine Arts”, (Group) – “Abstraction”
Zagreb, Croatia
March 2024
Gallery of “Cultural Center Travno”, (Group) – “Spancir in Zagreb”
Zagreb, Croatia
March 2024
Gallery of “Croatian Association Of Fine Arts”, (Solo) – “Pulse Of The City”
Zagreb, Croatia
April 2024
Gallery Crta – “Center for Culture and Information Maksimir”, (Group) – “Spancir in Zagreb”
Zagreb, Croatia
May 2024
More coming soon…
My artworks are also available on:
