Crazy sea

Tea Mori? Šitum (1987) established her painting style through the use of a rich color palette and expressive brushstrokes. Her painting is the reflection of a perennial artistic experiment which began with photography during her high-school years and, during her college years, began expanding into the field of performance art and digital photography until she finally found herself in the painterly craft. After graduating from the Art education department of the Academy of Fine Arts, the University of Zagreb in 2012, she devoted herself to painting (out of true love, but to a small degree out of playful, typically Dalmatian defiance) realizing the prevalent stance of the contemporary art scene – that painting is passé. By approaching painting as an experiment, but also as a kind of play, she deepened her artistic expression through a total of 10 solo exhibitions and by participating in over 20 juried group exhibitions both in Croatia and abroad. On this path, she has demonstrated how traditional painterly techniques can still be adapted to the needs, aesthetics, and spirit of contemporary society, both in terms of a selected color palette, the (re)shaping of traditional motifs and through the messages that lie hidden under thick layers of paint. Apart from painting, her curiosity has facilitated her curatorial experience. Tea is the conceptual creator of the “Split Tiramola”, a manifestation which she organized in 2006 and 2007 and which lives on to this day. She continued to enrich her experiences in the role of Gallery Director of Culture center Bol on the island of Bra? (2010) and later through taking part in the organization of several group exhibitions, of which the most noteworthy is, perhaps, “Natura Maris“ (Split, Croatia – Vannes, France, 2015). She continues to refine her knowledge by participating in literary criticism workshops, artists’ colonies and by being actively engaged in the artistic and cultural life of the city of Split (for example, by creating the annual “Vinka Lukovi?” award of the Mi Association for the promotion and development of volunteering, 2016 – 2017). She has been a member of the Croatian Association of Artists (HDLU) since 2011 and a member of the Croatian Association of Visual Artists (HULU) since 2013. Tea currently lives in Kaštel Gomilica near Split, Croatia and manages to balance her family life, including two small children, work in her own atelier/gallery (located at Sinjska Street 7, Split, Croatia) and her active, passionate painterly practice.