Tomislav Ostrman was born in Zagreb in 1978, where he completed elementary school, high school and elementary music school. He studied at Law School and graduated at Arthouse – College for Visual Arts in Ljubljana in the class of Professor Darko Slavec. Currently he is pursuing his postgraduate doctoral studies under the mentorship of Professor Igor Rončević, whose assistant he has been since 2013. He is a member of the Croatian Association of Artists and LIKUM (Croatian Artists’ Cooperative). He has had numerous acclaimed exhibitions and his works can be found in collections all across the globe. By the means of his creations, he explores relational aesthetics, non-verbal communication, anthropology, semiotics, and the natural phenomenon of whistling; he has transformed and incarnated the latter into a story called „the Planet of the Whistlers“ (art historians have described it as „the magic planet of positivity“ and „Sweet Utopia“ as well). The main character of the story, a sailor called „Whistler“, represents the homo ludens. He is an ideal man of truthful and positive thinking. In line with his story, Ostrman devised a commercial brand „Sailors & Whistlers“ as a part of his doctoral work, further exploring the motives present in his painting. One might say his art is about utopia, optimism, and humour; hence, we call his art “Sweet Utopia”.
How Ostrman describes his art:
Whistle planet (Planeta Fućkalica)
(My sweet utopia)
Nicolas Bourriaud has invented the term “Relational Aesthetics” and its essence is a social mission.
The social mission of the Whistle Planet is a way of life, the purpose and objective of art.
The art becomes unpretentious and the object of art is not as important as the interpersonal relationships that become the main subject of artistic work. The work of art becomes a link between individuals and an instrument of raising spirits.
Art as itself does not intend to change the world but to change the immediate social surroundings in small but notable steps. Bourriaud calls: „Live your life as a work of art“. The Whistle planet calls: „Be happy!“ How can one be happy? Whistle planet would say: „Being happy is art!“ If you are not a child, become one, party, play and giggle – that is the initiation to the Whistle Planet. We might say that my art delves in utopia, optimism and humour (art historian Sanda Bajzek described my world as „Sweet Utopia“).
THE PARTY PLANET OF WHISTLER SAILORS IS A METAPHOR FOR A POSITIVE STATE OF MIND – AN IDEAL SOCIETY THAT SHOULD ONLY EXIST. THROUGH MY ART I WANT TO URGE THE SOCIETY TO MOVE IN THAT DIRECTION.
The Party Planet of Whistler Sailors is an ideal planet that exists in a spiritual dimension, i.e. the dimension of consciousness. Hence, each and every homo ludens (the playing human), each and every one to observe the world with a bright outlook and a warm heart is a citizen of the Party Planet of Whistler Sailors by the virtue of being himself.
The face of the Planet is hidden; those who live on the Planet see the world nicely as a colourful, delightful and cheerful place – in their eyes everything is happy, they can see the „true colours“.
This is my reminder in the end: feel alive, warm your heart up, and be one of the Whistlers!