Dusan ( Dushan) Ristic

An ethnic Rrom (Gypsy) ( a stateless people), born in Yugoslavia ( a state theat doesn't exist) in 1970


Dusan Ristic is a Romani artist from Eastern Europe . A graduate of the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade , Dusan has exhibited his work in Eastern Europe and the U.S. He is also a musician and a Romani rights activist. He is currently working in oils, primarily with very large canvases.

In painting, I feel that I have to make my mind free, find a "zero position", begin without a preset purpose. The creative process starts with making stretchers and preparing canvas - that's painting, too, and whether I am in the studio or not, I am aware of working on the piece. I might spend half a day in the studio simply looking at the canvas and meditating on it, or just being near it, working or resting, or touching the empty canvas - I transfer energy and thought to the canvas in all of these ways. I want to pass my pure self to the canvas. No prejudice, no advance rules, no preconceptions. While I'm painting, learned rules in my subconscious may affect me, but I want to emphasize spontaneity over technique or the official "good". I'm willing to violate technique and standards for the sake of energy and spontaneity. I want to be the medium - I want to be like a brush, me and my brain and my energy, thinking spontaneously as I work spontaneously. In order to be closer to the canvas, I often work with my fingers instead of a brush so that my identity flows directly through my hands onto the canvas.


This series and my ideas about it are inspired by the genetic code, by DNA and bioengineering, by the latest knowledge about playing with DNA (which is like playing with fire - can be both helpful and dangerous). The paintings of my Genetic Code series carry the names of copies ( Genetic Code #1 Genetic Code #2 ... LAndscape #1 Landscape #2...) , although each painting is unique. I want to affirm that each clone is also unique.


The series has two sub - sereis what is Genetic Code and Landscape. We have DNA, but the CODE is not complete in our human bodies. The other piece that we are all seeking is in the Divine. As I was working "spontaneously", conventional landscapes and skies, the natural world, appeared in the paintings, which I don't consider an accident. The group of genetic-code paintings and the group of landscape paintings together are ONE.