My name is Joško Buljanović. Under the pseudonym “Joko Bird”, I conceal my inner freedom. “Joko” is a nickname, a memory of childhood, carefree days, and early dreams, while “Bird” comes from my fascination with birds. To me, birds are a symbol of something much greater – divine mysticism, happiness, peace, inspiration, and immortality.
In the eyes of birds, I have always seen something mysterious. As a child, I would lie on the grass, gaze at the sky, and dream of being a part of it. I wandered through forests, listening to their song, one of nature's most beautiful sounds, feeling that it was not just a melody, but a language for understanding. I believe that every world, every society, is a small part of something greater and that everything is connected.
During my studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Split, and later in Sarajevo, I developed an interest in paleography, studying the development and history of writing systems, as well as semiotics, analyzing systems of signs. By combining these fields, I developed my own pictographic style. Each of my works in art and visual communication is based on letters, signs, symbols, icons, and logos.
I began painting during the COVID-19 pandemic. In that period, when the boundaries between the outer and inner worlds vanished, painting became my way of expression, and birds my only motif and totem. Through letters, symbols, and signs, I create my own pictorial language – sincere, personal, and authentic. I write with paintings, I paint with words.
Inspired by children's and primitive art, I strive for purity and simplicity in my work, which is the hardest to achieve. I aim to awaken in the viewer a sense of childlike joy, innocence, and curiosity. Through simplicity, with an open heart, I seek to charm and invite the viewer to step into a world of birds that hover between dreams and reality.
With my works, I move towards abstraction, yet always retain clear recognizability. The birds are simplified to the utmost limits – but they remain present, in their essence, condensed and plucked. In complete maturity and originality, my aim is to depict their pure, untainted essence.