Biografija
Jovo Petijevic is born 2 December 1933 in Trebinje (Bosnia and Herzegovina). Artist Lives and is still active in Belgrade (Serbia). Jovo has been carving sculptures for more than 60 years. During this period Jovo has organized about 120 individual exhibitions and several with other artists. Most of his sculptures were sold in Dubrovnik (Croatia), Germany, England, Luxembourg, Yugoslavia and Italy from 70s to 90s.
Artist is mostly driven by love for wood as material and love for sports which is there to unite people. Jovo discovers form using whole tree trunk hence preserving the energy and the core of the piece. Creative process is almost exclusively based on hand creation of wooden sculptures – Jovo hits the chisel with his right palm instead of a hammer. Some of themes the Artist has covered in past include women nudes, abstract forms, religious motifs, owls as symbols of wisdom and lately Spheres.
In last decade work has focused on Sphere as symbol of Planet where all nations come together, measure up in a peaceful and fulling way. As Jovo always had simultaneous love for sport he was inspired by Olympic Games. During Olympic competitions all participants shake each other’s hands, tap each other on shoulder, comfort each other and give each other genuine support – something we all need to do more of in today’s modern way of living.
These emotions also inspired the artist to put together a set of 206 Spheres made of wood from a Yew Tree (Considered a holy tree in many cultures and it is very challenging to work with). Each Sphere represents one country that participated in recent Olympics Games in Tokyo. All these Spheres put together are unique artwork representing the peace, oneness, and coming together of the whole humanity.
Artist also made more then 500 unique wooden pipes created as a gesture of peace.
Most of Sculptor’s exhibitions were in former Yugoslavia (mostly Croatia and Serbia), Italy, Germany from where they were sold to US and Europe.
Artist have also made several donations and made dozens of monuments. Some are listed below:
Donations:
- ‘’Mother Theresa’’ donated to Nobel Institute of peace in Oslo-Norway,
- ‘’Women Statue’’ donated in charity event for Leukemia research in UK (2017),
- Sculpture donated to commemorate 50 years of UNICEF in Serbia
- Sculptures donated as a prize for Publisher of the year in International Book Fair in Serbia for 15 years in a row
- ‘’St. Stephen’’ donation to St Stefan Island (Montenegro) to commemorate its patron saint
Monuments:
- “Traveller’’ – Belgrade (Serbia)
- ‘’Flame’’ – Belgrade (Olympics Committee of Serbia)
- ‘’Athene’s Sphere’’ – Kolasin (Montenegro) – 12 Ton Sphere made out of Granite
- ‘’Students’’ in Bronze – Krepoljin (South of Serbia)
Movies:
- “Sphere’’ – Dragan Elcic
- ‘’Potrait’’ – Danica Acimovic
Petijevic Jovo na SerbianaArt-u od 12.12.2021.