ABOUT US

Dejan Knez was born in Belgrade in 1969. He showed an interest in photography from an early age as he was fascinated by this form of expression as well as of the 'alchemical' nature of the photographic process. His first encounter with this medium was by the age of 12, after attending the 'extra' school lessons in photography. Bewitched by the magic of the 'darkroom' he continued to experiment with photographic images, with the minds alike, throughout his school education years. But, however enchanted by photography, after initial several years of education, under the strong pressure of his parents and the society of the times he was encouraged to reassess and alter his further education decisions and continue studies of economy and sociology, for which he showed little interest. His initial love and interest for photography slowly faded and went into the hibernation state.

After the second year of the studies he was forced to abandon his studies and flee the country due to the brutal conflict of interests and outbreak of war in his native country. He took a refuge in the Netherlands, a country with the thriving art scene.

Destiny brought him under the roof of the Classic Art teacher at the Rietveld Art Academy who helped him overcome the terrible feeling of loneliness and agonizing frustrations caused by the war. And slowly, after being 'au fait' with the city of Amsterdam he began to appreciate his whereabouts especially the exquisite beauty of the architecture and 'nonchalant' way of life, which will be later represented in many of his photographs.

Having the broad spectrum of interests especially his appeal toward unusual, attracted him into various aspects of urban subculture and landed him in the epicenter of immense creativity of Amsterdam's flourishing multicultural art scene.

Living a city of a great artistic heritage helped him get aquatinted with the number of inspiring Dutch and foreign artists practicing diverse art forms such as music, street art, film, writing, calligraphy, painting, photography, graphic design, cooking... It did not take long for Dejan to dig into his sub-conscience and revoke his hibernating passions. It was inevitable for him to reach for the most appropriate medium to express his apprehensions of the newly emerging situations which gave him little choice but to embrace his gift and express his gratitude by documenting the beauty as well as the dynamics of the city he now lived in. After all, the decisive quality in a photographer is the faculty of seeing things and being tempted by them.

In 1996, Dejan became a resident photographer of the Tattoo Museum in Amsterdam and have worked there until its closing in 2000. He also worked for several Dutch, German and Spanish lifestyle magazines. His works have appeared in numerous solo and group exhibitions and books and has published two of his own books.

In 2014 he moved to the Adriatic coast of Croatia and settled in the beautiful island of Korcula where he still resides.

Seeking the truth in his photography, his instinct drove him to what was simple and vital, natural light, which he still uses almost exclusively and the unusual perspectives. Another aspect of his work is representation of reality in which nothing is staged or posed in any way. It is more matter of either being constantly watchful awaiting for revealing expressions or gestures and unrepeatable configuration of events or being fortunate enough to find himself at the right place at the right time. Certainly, methods which required considerable amount of time and stubborn patience.

His inspiration is strongly influenced by the great photography classicists such as Frederick H. Evans, Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Weston, Clarence White, George H. Breitner, Jacob Olie, Henry Cartier Bresson, Brassai, just to mention few but also bt the great Japanese ukiyo-e masters such as Hokusai, Hiroshige, Yoshitoshi as well as Italian comic book artist like Battaglia, Tacconi, Brindisi, Bonelli etc.