Relja Penezic was born in Belgrade, in the Yugoslavia in 1950. After studies of fine arts at the University of Belgrade, he relocated to Paris, France where he based his art practice from 1975 to 1980. In 1985 he immigrated to the United States. Until 1991 he was based in New York City and his art practice consisted mainly of painting and printmaking. He started experimenting with digital media, video and photography in 1991 when he moved to San Francisco where he lived until 2007. From 2007 to 2017 he was based in Los Angeles, Today, Penezic lives with his wife, composer Victoria jordanova, in Navarre, Florida and is focused exclusively on painting. He exhibits his work internationally and his paintings and media pieces are part of numerous private and public collections around the world.
In 1996 Zakros InterArts label Chronic Art published his “Computer Film Sketchbook” and premiered it at the San Francisco International Film Festival. His 2002 Audio/Video installation and performance in collaboration with Victoria Jordanova at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Yerba Buena center for the Arts in San Francisco entitled “Panopticon” was turned into film distributed by The Cinema Guild of New York. In 2004 he was selected to create a permanent site-specific media installation “The Alaska Cycle” by Alaska Arts Council. In 2005 and 2006 Penezic created two large-scale site-specific paintings “Alaska Time-Lapse” and “Views of Tundra” for the Alaska Psychiatric Institute, commissioned by Alaska Arts Council. In 2014 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation commissioned him to create innovative media content for their Digital Art Display on 5th Avenue in Seattle.
In addition to an international career as an artist, he served as a Creative Director for ID8, Los Angeles based branding agency, an Art Director and a Designer for Jump Ship Studios, San Francisco, and a Designer/Visual Effects Artist for Fleet Street Pictures of San Francisco. Relja Penezic was a Master Printmaker for John Nichols Printmakers of New York specializing in silk-screen and lithography limited editions. He was a lecturer at the Maryland Institute College of Art, Princeton University School of Architecture, Haverford College, and Bowling Green State University.
