Travel Book Berlin - Miroslav Sekulić-Struja

Growing up in Croatia during the tumultuous final years of the former Yugoslavia, Miroslav Sekulić thrived on comics. His artistic skill, honed by copying plates from classics like the Astérix series, was his mainstay as he drifted between schools, jobs and military service. The hyperactive young man became an illustrator and acquired the nickname Struja, 'the electric one'. After winning the Young Talent Award at the Angoulême International Comics festival in 2010, Sekulić moved to France and embarked on a string of graphic novels. One of them, 'Petar & Liza', led to the idea of his doing a Travel Book for Louis Vuitton, and a destination was chosen: Berlin. Along with his companion Ana and their two dogs, Sekulić combed the city on foot, in the winter, drawing inspiration from the changing vistas and endless nuances of grey. And from the spectre of the no-man’s-land that once separated East and West. Working directly in gouache and acrylic, he captured the city’s painful history and ultimately its happier tale of reunification and reconstruction, an apt metaphor for the artist’s own life. Since the Travel Book Collection was created in 2010, it has invited artists from across the globe to explore places they have never experienced: a world centre, a countryside, a wilderness. By entering unknown territory, they discover a new culture, different architecture, varied ways of life. The Travel Book Collection is a mirror of contemporary creation, reflecting the depth, breadth and diversity of the planet’s many aesthetic and artistic worlds. Each artist is free to choose their expressive technique: drawing, painting, collage, illustration, manga, scratch card. Their favourite material: pastel, oil, watercolour, ink, pencil…