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Slaven Lunar Kosanovic

Slaven Lunar Kosanovic (also known as Lunar), (born 1975 as Slaven Kosanovic in Zagreb) is a Croatian artist.

Biography
Slaven Kosanovic, better known as Lunar, is a Croatian graphic and [|street artist], philosopher and interdisciplinary person; coming to both music and art as a child, Lunar entered what would become a career as an artist in 1989 when he first picked up a spray paint can. Thirty years later, he is a unique living witness and participant in graffiti’s evolution since then as both a subculture and an art form, and the transformations of graffiti, hip hop, and electronic music subcultures in supporting one another towards their current mainstream popularity.

Lunar has always been pushed by curiosity, discovery, and creativity. Around the time he realized he probably couldn’t make it as a paleontologist or natural scientist, a la David Attenborough -- his childhood dream -- Lunar was also fascinated by graffiti, hip hop culture, and discovering and collecting every possible form of music that he could find. Entering the world of graffiti was a way for Lunar to assert the other, non-scientific side, of his identity as an interdisciplinary artist, to make sense of the world and find a place in it. As he began painting and establishing his network throughout Croatia, he was inspired by painters and musicians from other cities and countries who were building their lives in pursuit of the most idealistic dreams; by the early 1990’s Lunar was painting with them and friends throughout Europe, while offering them insider knowledge of where and how to paint in Croatia, and places to stay when others came to Eastern Europe.

Lunar describes street cats as confident, cheeky, independent, and symbolic of the streets; he also pulled his first artistic inspiration from his cat, Jinx. His artistic career, built largely around continual reinvention of his Catso character, has also been much like that of a street cat: charting his own path, making his own rules, and constantly pushing his boundaries of creativity. Thus, by the mid-1990’s, in seeking to expand beyond graffiti and nomadism, and to push the limits of his own creativity, Lunar entered a career in graphic design (while continuing graffiti); recently, he has also started hosting his own national-level radio show in Zagreb and DJing, both as a way of sharing his passion and excitement for hip hop and electronic music that has always inspired and propelled him as an artist.

Lunar’s constant search to discover and learn from other peoples’ experience, perspectives, and creative methodologies has led him to create art on every continent, and to be included in global graffiti publications including Graffiti world-Street art from 5 continents, 100 European graffiti writers,World Piecebook, Street art & Graffiti Europe, Street Art Graffiti Guide Paris, Graffiti Planet, Style is a Message, Painted Walls Havana, Munich Walls, Street Art Amsterdam, Street Art Zagreb, 400ml, The Book of Tags, and Cinco -- 5 Years of Calle Libre. Beyond the world of graffiti, Lunar’s work and ability to independently turn creativity into a successful career have also earned him features in Playboy, Forbes, Backspin, [|DJ Mag], Stylefile, Graphotism, Xplicit Grafx, Bomber, Urban Roots, and Code Red, and invitations to speak at TEDx Maksimir 2015 and CreArt Encounter 2019 in Aveiro, Portugal.

Lunar’s book “From Zagreb with Love” was hotly anticipated as one of the first histories written of graffiti as a clandestine, global, multidisciplinary art movement in Eastern Europe, which also maps its parallel development with rap and electronic music, written from the inside by one of its first practitioners.

Lunar is a Zagreb-based artist who emerged from the early Croatian graffiti scene painting, exhibiting and publishing his works worldwide. He painted and exhibited in numerous cities across the globe including Amsterdam, Athens, Auckland, Berlin, Bogota, Hamburg, Hanoi, Havana, Kigali, Lisbon, London, Marseille, Melbourne, Mexico, New York, Oslo, Paris, Rotterdam, Saigon, Seoul, Sydney and Tokyo.

Art
Lunar's art evolved from graffiti lettering.

Selected solo exhibitions

 * 2003. Beastz'n Bugz, Kulturni centar Centra Kaptol, Zagreb
 * 2006. Beastz'n Bugz, Invisible NYC Gallery,New York
 * 2007. Iki,Shibuya Camp,Tokio
 * 2009. Promatranje ptica, Galerija Vladimir Nazor, Zagreb
 * 2013. Golden Age of Ballooning, Galerija Boonika, Zagreb
 * 2013. Pop-up Exhibition, Kunsthalle Platoon, Seoul
 * 2013-2014 400 (Photography exhibition along brother Ivo Kosanovic), Galerija Boonika, Zagreb / Galerija SKC, Rijeka / AU, Brunnengasse 76, Vienna / Kuca Plamena Mira, Tuzla
 * 2015. Kontinenti, Galerija Karas, Zagreb
 * 2016. Lines & Fills / Galerija Boonika / Zagreb
 * 2016. Lines & Fills / Galerija Ericsson Nikola Tesla / Zagreb
 * 2017: Knjiznica za mlade, Karlovac
 * 2019. The Trees / Clinic for tumors / Zagreb
 * 2020. From Zagreb with Love / Pop-up show / Mural Harbor gallery / Linz

Selected group exhibitions

 * 1994. Pisanica s razlogom, / Klovićevi dvori, Zagreb
 * 1996. A Tribute to Style, Kahlmann Museum, München
 * 1998. Crossing Bridges, Klub Insel, Berlin
 * 1998. Graffiti, Moderna galerija, studio Josip Račić, Zagreb
 * 2004. Tiger Tiger (exhibition of three)/ Club Gjuro/ Zagreb
 * 2005. Umjetnost ulice:10 godina graffita u Zagrebu, Muzej grada Zagreba
 * 2005. Graff-ite, Crewest Gallery, Los Angeles
 * 2006. Balkan Express, Galerija Collegium Artisticum,Sarajevo
 * 2006. Hope Box Project, Go Gallery, Amsterdam
 * 2007. Spray, Mehrin Gallery, Teheran
 * 2007. The Walls Belong to us, an art benefit for Alan Ket's legal defense, Powerhouse Arena Brooklyn, New York
 * 2007. Hope Box Ice Cream Event, Mai Gallery, Hanoi
 * 2007. Hope Box Christmas Ice Cream Event, Oude Kerk, Amsterdam
 * 2008. Hope Yourself,Go Gallery, Amsterdam
 * 2008. Aerosol Symphonies 2, Go Gallery, Amsterdam
 * 2008. 400 ml, La Maison des Metallos, Paris and other cities
 * 2008. HBX International Day of Peace, Ajara nacionalni muzej, Batumi
 * 2008. Hope Box, Tbilisi International Airport
 * 2009. Hip Hop Lives Here, [|Auckland]
 * 2010. Bijenale hrvatske ilustracije, Klovićevi dvori, Zagreb
 * 2011. Expo for Mattia, [|Palazzo Filangieri,Napoli]
 * 2011. Meštart on Board, Muzej suvremene umjetnosti, Split
 * 2011. Something For All The Family / 03.09.-16.10.2011. Go Gallery / Amsterdam / Curated by The London Police
 * 2014. Bunker eXHibition / Bunker Frieda Ottensen / Hamburg
 * 2016. Combat Calligraphy / Zap Graffiti / Liverpool
 * 2016. Pic N Mix / Go Gallery / Amsterdam / Curated by The London Police
 * 2017. Face 2 Face / w. Danny Rumbl / Foundation Mesh, Rotterdam
 * 2017. Melting Potes / Gallery Very Yes / Reunion
 * 2019. 28 Stars Art Show / Go Gallery / Amsterdam
 * 2019. In Da Wood II / Galerie Speckstrasse / Hamburg
 * 2019. Hnrx / Mots / Lunar - Selected Works / Lendnine gallery / Graz