• born in 1937 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia
• immigrated to Canada 1973
• Sumatovacha School of Art (Drawing, Painting), Belgrade, Yugoslavia (1957-59); M.F.A. University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Yugoslavia (1960-65)

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From 1959 to 1965 Bonifacho developed Eyes over Belgrade, a series of art works which appeared on the roofs and facades of buildings in Belgrade, making the artist the subject of media attention throughout Europe. In the late 1970s Bonifacho exhibited his first paintings, a series of pop-art inspired works, conveying the artist’s disillusionment with American Cold War propaganda. Growing up in war-ravaged Belgrade, Bonifacho’s memories of the violent destruction caused by allied bombing perhaps account for Bonifacho’s recurring images of targets and gunsights. Bonifacho has said that "I don’t remember things that happened two years ago as vividly as I remember the war . . . bombing, killing, murders--we were occupied by Germany and bombed on a daily basis by the Allies" (1992). An expression of his "apocalyptic vision," Bonifacho’s Combustion Series (1988) is an abstract articulation of the artist’s anxieties regarding the threat of nuclear devastation and environmental degradation. In this series, "colour could be made to transcend language in addressing the most emotional precincts of issues which most troubled him; cynical and strategic nuclear planning, heedless and wide-spread environmental degradation, and mankind’s seemingly ceaseless capacity for inhumanity" (Ted Lindberg, 1997). Troubled by the destruction of the Gulf War, Bonifacho created the Earth and Fire series, in order to convey his opposition to this American military attack. In Parallellogramme (1997) the artist has departed from pure vibrant colour, choosing to paint abstract geometric compositions in a restricted metallic palette. This was not only a departure from Bonifacho’s normally vibrant palette, but "there is also the illusory qualities of the metallic substance and the way it implies an additional sculptural quality--as if the surfaces were freshly cut bronze" (Janice Whitehead, 1997). Bonifacho has explained briefly his affinity for a minimalist style: "Minimalist art depends on the repetition of simple geometric formations and on certain elementary principles of construction. This style is, perhaps, distinguished by the use of plain, lucid structures that tend to reveal themselves in their entirety from any viewpoint. The shapes, the unity, the projection, the metallic colour and the order of elements mounted on canvas are . . . aggressive and powerful. The materials used to shape these forms for me have significant meaning" (1990).

Peloponnesus Series
Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia

Earth and Fire
Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia

Blackboards
Fran Willis  Gallery, Victoria, British Columbia

The Canadian Collection at APEC
Vancouver, British Columbia

Two Artists
Gango Gallery, Portland, Oregon

Collective Show
Kimsey Miller Gallery, Seattle, Washington

West Coast Artists
Fran Willis Gallery, Victoria, British Columbia

Four Artists
Fran Willis Gallery, Victoria, British Columbia

Three Artists from the Permanent Collection
Richmond Art Gallery, Richmond, British Columbia

Artopolis 1993
Vancouver, British Columbia

Scotland Series
Fran Willis Gallery, Victoria, British Columbia

Artopolis '90
Roundhouse, Vancouver, British Columbia

Contemporary Art Abroad
National Museum, Belgrade, Yugoslavia