Ljubodrag Popović Ljuba
LJUBODRAG POPOVIĆ LJUBA (Tuzla, 1934 – Beograd, 2016) was a Serbian painter who throughout his life, worked between Valjevo – Belgrade – Paris. He was a member of the Mediala Art Group and SASA.
The subject of his paintings is mostly the female body, headless faces, decayed forms, fragmented objects and elements of architecture. His backgrounds are most often landscapes with unusual lights, vegetation and ruins.
While in high school he painted film posters to get free movie tickets. He arrived in Belgrade in 1953 and found out that the entrance exams were already complete and he would have to wait til next year to enrol. In order not to not waste time, he enrolled in art history and drawing lessons in Šumatovačka Street.
After a year he applied for both the Academy of Fine Arts and the Academy of Applied Arts and passed both. After a year in Applied Arts he was expelled from the faculty because of the drawings of women who had deformities. His professor believed his drawings “polluted the environment”. Ljuba then enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts.