Associate professor of art Zdenko Krtic was one of 23 artists commissioned by CNN to submit a piece of art for its project, "9/11 Ripple: Ten Years Later."
"CNN editors Teri Anvid and Steve Goldberg, the authors of the project, came across my work as they were looking for national artists whose work they felt would best express complexities of post-9/11 world," Krtic said.
"According to their own statement, although they were the ones creating and producing this online exhibition, they did not want to dictate the content. Instead, they allowed individual artists' interpretations and responses to shape the content."
Each artist was allowed to send in five of their works they felt best reflected 9/11 to be considered for inclusion in the project.
They could either create something new or submit existing work for the project.
"I have been dealing with universal issues of distress and recovery in my paintings for some time now," Krtic said. "The events of 9/11 were only one of many tragedies that I was impacted by and that I chose to reflect on in my work. This particular focus in part of my work started even earlier, in early '90s, as a direct response to wars and tragic events that occurred in the Balkans--not surprising since I grew up in that part of the world and since I still have some of my family there."
Krtic is a native of Croatia who remembers the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, an event reflected in his work.
The piece he contributed to CNN is titled "Sediments."
Krtic said it is part of a series of paintings called "Recovery" that focuses on the human body and the land that is inhabited during times of distress and recovery.
Krtic's artwork has been exhibited in galleries and museums across the world.
Some of his features can be seen in overseas exhibitions in Denmark and Croatia, while his works are also displayed in Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Alaska, Georgia and Alabama.
"What is particularly interesting about professor Krtic's work is that he combines very traditional methods of encaustic painting with contemporary state-of-the-art equipment such as laser cutting, and that's what is shown in his piece on the CNN website," said Barb Bondy, associate professor of art.
Krtic has received a host of awards and grants for his dedication to the arts, including the Alabama State Council on the Arts Fellowship for 2008-09 and a 2007 Excellence in Research Award.
He has also completed artist residencies at the American Academy in Rome in 2007 and 2009.
Krtic received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Zagreb Art Academy in Zagreb, Croatia, and his master's degree from the University of Cincinnati.
CNN divided the various artwork into four themes: the day, absurdity, statements and symbolism.
Krtic's piece was placed under "symbolism" based on CNN's interpretation of the artwork and Krtic's statement about the piece.
The project is an online exhibit and will remain on CNN's website through the end of September.
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