10 Questions with Goran Tomic

Goran Tomic is a Collisionist Autodidactic Artist from Sydney, Australia, who has exhibited his Collages, Video Installations, and Performance art over the past 25 years. Raised on Rauschenberg and born posthumously, he flaneur the urban decay, searching for his Wilderness Robe.

ARTIST STATEMENT

“My collages are a manifestation of the chaotic mayhem of modern life in a big city. The latest series of collages was constructed when my immediate living environment changed from a wonderful old house with a large workshop to an apartment block existence. With hardly any space or storage, I had to downsize my work to smaller-sized cardboard, manilla envelopes, and various second-hand children's and nature book covers. The idea was that they could fit into a folder in a carry bag/satchel and be worked on wherever I was. The collages were started and conceived while in transit, either in cafes, pubs, libraries or even on public transport. The initial energy is my surroundings, and then the finishing touches are fine-tuned at home.” - Goran Tomic

Count Vestibule, Collage, 27x39 cm, 2024 © Goran Tomic

INTERVIEW

You have a long career that already spans over 25 years. But when and how did you start getting involved with visual arts?

As a child, I was always drawing, and I recall precisely the moment when I was 12 and I first saw Psychedelic posters from the 1960s. I felt there was something timeless and otherworldly involved; I felt that I was somehow IN or part of these posters, almost like I was there before, and I was pulled into the fire. I was a late bloomer artistically in High School I studied Music, and it wasn’t until I left school and created some music flyers for my friends that the visual side of things kicked in. There was a long period of restlessness that included the devouring of many, many Art books and biographies. Being an Autodidact (self-taught), my friends, Teachers, and Professors were my books and vinyl records, so I had the best. I first exhibited in 1999 a solo show of Assemblage boxes and drawings under the influence of Robert Rauschenberg and Jean Michel Basquiat.

What, for you, is the most enjoyable part of your art?

The fact that anything is possible; the Imagination is free to alter, extend, and distort reality and create fantasy realities, and how one tiny piece of color, shade, or shape can change the big picture (from little things big things grow) like Microcosms of society. How Art can be used as a tool for therapy and psychoanalysis to expel energies, frequencies, and emotions, tapping into the unconscious. I become my true self when I’m in the zone of a Higher Focus. You Lose yourself to Find yourself.

A Wanderer Book, Collage, 27x39 cm, 2024 © Goran Tomic

You work with different mediums, such as Collages, Video Installations, and Performances. What inspires you to choose one medium over another?

The Medium that fulfills the deepest connection to the concept generally wins. With my explorations into Performance art, it was simply that I needed to be the Art, to physically act it out; once the fear and doubt were conquered, I was liberated to be Me, and I found my own style/voice. Currently it’s more about space and storage which governs the medium. So I adapt to my environment like a Chameleon...as Picasso said, “Build me a Museum, and I’ll fill it.”

Let’s talk about your collages. Can you explain what your idea is and how you are working on it?

The overall idea is to create something intriguing and appealing to the Spirit and Soul, not just for the Mind and Eyes. I’m after superimpositions of stories and emotions like in Video or Film, where you can place two or endless different scenarios against or on top of each other like two mirrors making an infinity. The possibilities are endless and beginningless. When I’m tranced at work, it’s as if I’m actually traveling into places I’ve never been. I see all the different images in one collage as different faders on a 24 or 48-track studio console. Each channel has its own volume, intensity, energy, sharpness, and significance, and I play around with the faders, bringing this one to the fore or dropping that one to a backing track, if you know what I mean.

Where do you find inspiration for your work, and what is your creative process like?

Inspirations come from daily routines, History, especially Art and Music History, the world of mispronunciation, the absurdity of existence, and the Velvet Underground. There are many historical art references and comments in my collages, some tongue-in-cheek, and some deadly serious. My creative process is to firstly NOT think about what I’m doing and layer images/colors, then remove some, then layer more things, then remove, and so on. So, in effect, Collage and Decollage ( Thank you, Jacques Villegle). During this process, many strange things reveal themselves, and decisions/directions are made, like when to stop.

Why do you use this visual language? And how has it evolved over the years?

It has been a process of elimination, and I have found the visual language that works for me, which is collage. Painting and other forms didn’t take me anywhere. You can see the evolution clearly, the manic and stressful periods of my life, periods where I was challenged with physical living space or alone at the time. So the breathing space and serenity needed comes out in the Collages. Looking back through my career, I can pinpoint what emotional or mental state I was in by the art I was making. I’m constantly evolving as a human being and pushing deeper into a Jungian type of self-understanding, so my art is central to my sentience.

The Secret to Sign, Collage, 27x39 cm, 2024 © Goran Tomic

You used different types of images. Where do you source them? And what do they represent for you?

I source my materials from second-hand bookshops, op-shops, neighborhood book cupboards, and what I find Flaneuring the streets of Sydney or wherever I am. The images represent Lost souls waiting for a new purpose. They are power puzzles and Mind games, expressions of personality/behavior that you are unaware of; the images choose me! They choose me whether I want them to or not, similar to a tarot card reading.

What do you hope the public will take away from your work? What is the ultimate message you want to communicate?

I hope they will pick up on my search for the Self, find inspiration to enjoy and nurture their own true self by feeling mine, and connect with the freedom and playfulness of my ideas.

What are you working on now, and what are your plans for the future in terms of new projects?

I’ve been working on a series titled “Mapping Approximation” which is a large expansive collection of collages delving into the consciousness of the Modern Inferno (images included here are part of this series). A few new projects are in the machine gaining momentum as I am always gluing, I don’t know where they will take me, but my future goals are to exhibit in Europe and North & South America.

Finally, do you have any upcoming shows or collaborations you are looking forward to?

There are no physical shows or exhibitions at the moment, but there are several inclusions in Art and Literary magazines for this year. Hopefully, there are Galleries out there who may see this and dig what I do and like to show or represent me, fingers crossed. Thank You, Al-Tiba9 contemporary.

Artist’s Talk

Al-Tiba9 Interviews is a promotional platform for artists to articulate their vision and engage them with our diverse readership through a published art dialogue. The artists are interviewed by Mohamed Benhadj, the founder & curator of Al-Tiba9, to highlight their artistic careers and introduce them to the international contemporary art scene across our vast network of museums, galleries, art professionals, art dealers, collectors, and art lovers across the globe.

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