Zoran Šimunović – Gimme a Kiss

Contemporary Croatian artist and curator Zoran Šimunović has been active on the art scene since 2013. Born in 1984 in Nuštar near Vinkovci, into a farming family, he developed strong work habits from an early age while enjoying a happy, carefree childhood that he now fondly recalls in his paintings. He worked for eight years as a curator at the Vukovar City Museum and currently manages the “Slavko Kopač” Gallery in Vinkovci. Alongside his curatorial work, Šimunović paints every day in the attic studio of his home in Osijek. To date, he has held 28 solo exhibitions. During his university years, he began with abstract painting, but gradually turned towards figuration, realising it allowed him to express himself most fully. Yet, non-figurative elements remain an integral part of his work, and this distinctive fusion of abstraction and figuration has become a defining feature of his artistic language. Art historian Branko Franceschi describes Šimunović as “a painter who approaches figuration with the instinct of an abstract artist”, while art critic Iva Körbler observes: “The elegant and virtuoso composition of his paintings carries no decorative intent; instead, it recalls some of the finest abstract painters of the 20th century, who used abstraction as a means of seeking harmony and proportion in everyday life”.[1]

He develops his work in thematic cycles – beginning with explorations of emotion in the exhibition In the Limitless Spaces of Imagination, and continuing with Expectations and Hommage to Space, which record his personal mental landscapes. In these series, he turns his gaze to the spaces that surround and define him. His paintings reveal a commitment to deconstructing real space, through which he constructs an intimate, artistic one where every corner bears his personal imprint. The depiction of physical space gradually evolved into a reflection of the spiritual and emotional in the Growing Up cycle, where he delves into memory and contemplates the experiences that shaped him. This body of work is, in a sense, a tribute to parenthood – a dialogue between his own childhood and his role as a parent, marked by a conscious decision to focus on the positive and pass on the joy and lightness of life to his child. When we are children, everything seems beautiful – this is precisely the idea Šimunović sought to convey through his paintings, inviting viewers to adopt a new perspective and a different way of interpreting reality. In the works from these cycles, he highlights the objects that occupied his thoughts. As Anita Ruso Brečić wrote in the text accompanying the Hommage to Space exhibition, these objects are in fact “artefacts of his existence”.[2] This line of exploration continues in the series Do Astronauts Need Art and Do Dolls Have Emotions, where he questions the importance and meaning of art and how deeply it is woven into our everyday lives. Art, in a sense, is omnipresent – every object we use bears traces of design and creativity – and Šimunović reclaims these ordinary items from his surroundings, imbuing them with new significance. In the cycle Do Dolls Have Emotions, he introduces the motif of the inflatable doll, using it as a humorous element. This playful approach continues in his latest cycle, Gardens, which features charming nudes or courtesans. What were once inflatable dolls in his earlier works have now become real women, rendered in soft, rounded forms with flowing hair – a kind of Eve in Šimunović’s paradisiacal gardens. The women’s limbs are rounded, balloon-like, subtly recalling the work of Jeff Koons, as art historian Anita Ruso Brečić observed in connection with his earlier motifs.[3]

These voluptuous women occupy the central part of the composition, as the figure motif is typically positioned at the heart of Šimunović’s paintings, while the edges remain largely free of detail. At times, he extends beyond the frame, yet he still adheres to the traditional canvas and its limits. Alongside the courtesans, his familiar motifs reappear, inviting viewers to interpret their meanings and relationships within each work. When wandering through Zoran’s creative worlds and gardens, one never knows what might appear – but it always surprises and delights. Gardens of Pink Dreams preceded his exhibition at the Klovićevi dvori Gallery, playfully titled Give Me a Kiss. In this latest and still evolving cycle, the motif of the heart emerges, introducing a new, fresh note of love that continues the spirit of cheerfulness and optimism characteristic of all his previous series.

The exhibition will remain open until January 11, 2026.

Exhibition author: Zoran Šimunović
Exhibition curator: Valentina Bach
Exhibition layout: Zoran Šimunović
Visual identity: Sanja Bachrach-Krištofić

[1] Iva Körbler, Virtuozni pejzaži Zorana Šimunovića u Galeriji Račić, Nacional, 18 February 2021, URL: https://www.nacional.hr/likovno-povecalo-virtuozni-pejzazi-zorana-simunovica-u-galeriji-racic/ [2 October 2025]

[2] Anita Ruso Brečić, Hommage to Space, Dubrava Culture Centre, 2019, URL: https://ck-dubrava.hr/2020/03/03/zoran-simunovic/ [2 October 2025]

[3] Anita Ruso Brečić, Hommage to Space, Dubrava Culture Centre, 2019, URL: https://ck-dubrava.hr/2020/03/03/zoran-simunovic/ [2 October 2025]