Valentin Oman – HomoMediterraneus I

He was born in 1935 in St. Stefan near Villach (Austria). He graduated in painting under Hilda Schmid-Jesser at the Academy of Applied Arts in Vienna in 1962. He specialized in graphics with Prof. Rik Debeljak at the Academy in Ljubljana. In the 1960s, he was interested in the reality of the outside world, the individual confronted with the forces of the world trying to destroy personality. In the 1970s, he created a series of frescoes (notably the frescoes in Klagenfurt, Slovene Gymnasium) and numerous works in sanctuaries (Kriva Vrba, altar decoration in Plešivec). In the early 1980s, he increasingly explored color through mural painting. In the early 1990s, a cycle of wall paintings was created in the parish church of St. James, which the author himself called the Way of the Cross of Humanity.

Amid constant changes, the coherence of his work and his social engagement remain, which is particularly evident from the Paris cycle in the early 1990s entitled Paris Requiem, created during the war in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. His social activism is ongoing. He is active among the Slovene minority in Carinthia. As early as 1964, he won first prize at the Ex tempore in Piran. He exhibited both solo and group shows in prestigious gallery venues and won significant awards (Frechen, 1972 and 1974; San Francisco Special Purchase Award, 1971; Prešeren Award, 1980; Jakopič Award, 1995). The University of Klagenfurt awarded him an honorary doctorate honoris causa. His works are found in public and private institutions, galleries, and museums (including the famous Vienna Albertina). He lives and works in Vienna and Finkenstein, Carinthia.