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 MY SHORT BIOGRAPHY
Benjamin Žnidaršič was born on 21st June 1959 in Podcerkev in the
Lož valley. He finished elementary school in Cerknica. When he attended
Secondary electrotechnical school in Ljubljana, he moved to Komenda in Upper
Carniola. After he finished secondary school, he started working as a
technologist at IMP company. Meanwhile, he got married and got two daughters,
Urška and Neža. In 1986, he suffered a spinal cord injury after falling from a
cherry tree and became quadriplegic. After the accident, he has published three
books of poetry. He organized cultural activites in the Paraplegics association
of Slovenia from 1994 to 2003. While organizing art courses, he also started
painting. In 2003, he received the grant of the Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists of the World (AMFPA Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artist of the World - www.vdmfk.com). In 2009, he also became an associate member of the association, which proved his progress in painting. He became a fully entitled member in 2011. From 2003 to 2006, he was the public relations representative for the
Paraplegics association of Slovenia and the director of many projects. In 2009,
he founded the Institute for cultural integration and socialization of social
groups – ARS VIVA (arsviva.znidarsic.net). Painting and care for culture have
become his life style. He lives and works in Postojna. Since 2000 he has held 19 independent and 121 group exhibition.
GREAT
ACHIEVEMENTS: In 2005, he received a quality certificate for abstract art in the contest for the Golden
palette, which is held annually by the Slovenian Union of Fine Arts Associations. In 2006, he was awarded the prize of Naša žena magazine in the
category benefactor of the year. In 2007, he was awarded the plaque of the
Community of Postojna for humanitarian acts and artistic creativity. He was
awarded the 5th prize fot his painting “Oljke” in the 18th International
Ex-tempore contest, organized by the Centre for culture, sport and events of
Izola. He was awarded a judged prize among 120 works from 6 states in the 9th
International Ex-tempore contest in 2008 in Coseano, Italy. In 2009, he was
awarded two prizes in the same contest. Among 250 painters from 5 states, won
in the category of paintings brought from home and those painted at the
competition. In 2010, he was awarded a redemption prize among 275 artists from
9 states in the international Ex-tempore contest in Piran. In 2010, he was
awarded a quality certificate for his drawing in the contest for the Golden
palette, organized annually by the Slovenian Union of Fine Arts Associations.
His books:
- Book of poems Ritem srca (Rhythm of the
harth), self-publisher 1995
- Book of poems Zlate perutnice (Golden wings),
published by Paraplegics Association of Slovenia 1995 - Book of poems (4 authors), Most na drugi breg
(A bridge to the other bank), published by Paraplegics Association of Slovenia
1998
- Book of poems (various authors), Sijaj
drugačnosti (The shine of otherness), published by the association Jasa 1999
- Autobiographical work Govorica življenja (The
language of life), self-publisher 2006
FINE ARTIST CRITIC POLONA ŠKODIČ
Benjamin Žnidaršič has shown a lot of interest for all fields of expression in his creative and active life. But in the last ten years painting and poetry have become those nearest to him. He has become involved and active in initiating and organizing different projects - from painting exhibitions to cultural and humanitarian events which don`t only happen in Slovenia but also abroad. Although he began painting as an amateur only a few years ago, the local and also wider public was pleasantly impressed by him. This brochure is a product of his achievements and was made to present some of his most characteristic works.
He has shown the talent for drawing and painting at an early age, but as the time went by he had to put his creativity in the background. This was a result of his obligations and everyday problems he had to deal with. But he never cut the link that tied him to the world of art. On the contrary - with years his affection only grew bigger. But with his affection also grew a wish to seriously start painting. And he finally did it - not only with enthusiasm but also with the right aproach which he proves with his every work. With a help of a mentor he educated himself as a painter and started to explore principles and values of colours as well as studying the art object and landscape.
His creativity incoorporates various themes. Often he uses traditional landscape motives as well as different still lifes and other figuretative compositions. He is closelly conected to his birth place - Inner Carniola countryside - which reflects in many of his watercolour and oilcolour paintings. In his works we can notice how effectionate he is to the styles of old painting masters but on the other hand he wants to give his paintings an unique mark. In his realistic tale he smoothlly incoorporates a tuch of impressionism or even expressionism. He has a convincing sense of building a compositon as well as a feeling for perspective - he knows how to model with colour, light and shading. His landscape impressions are sometimes very realistic but often with a soft tuch of lyricism and poetic spirit. His favurite painting tehniques are watercolours and oilcolours. Those techniques give him a lot of options of expression - transparity, freshness, softness, clearity of colours and spontaneousness. The author is discovering charms of nature in playful colours of yearly seasons. Sometimes he is impressed by a flowering branch, a madow or a lonely tree sourounded by fields. He is intrigued by all forms of water - river, lake or sea. That is why he often uses motives from coastal regions in his paintings. One of them is a resoult of his co-operation on traditional ex-tempore in Piran - an unusual perspective on a facade of a house in Piran.
The author is fascinated by nature and it`s endless changing and that is why he wants to catch and portray those short moments and make them endless. His brush moves can be very soft and light but they can also be quick, strong and expressive. Colour palette is changing depending on the painters mood. He is able to give his paintings a certain plastic and depth by layering colours.
But landscape isn`t the only motive he is intrigued by. He also turned out to be very sucessful at painting human body and silent life pictures. In this paintings we can notice that he often puts impression, vision and colour before the figure itself.
With his every new work Benjamin Žnidaršič spreads the boundaries of his creativity. He has decided to carry on painting with joy and endless will. Painting has become his way of living an communication with the sorounding. Even though he paints with his mouth he doesn`t see this as an opsticle on his path. He finds a way to artisticlly express himself whenever he has the chance - wheather in poetry or art of painting. He is still learning how to be in sync with himself and the world. The world responds as a co-creater of many culturally and socially oriented contents. His good reputation has also traveled abroad. That is why his paintings can be admired in some of the largest cities in Europe. That is not a coincident but a result of value and message that authors paintings bring to other people.
Polona Škodič
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