Matko Mijić, New Paintings

To 2 March, the Josip Račić Gallery presents an exhibition by Croatian sculptor Matko Mijić, featuring a series of paintings created using mixed media on canvas or wooden panels, each measuring 80 x 120 cm. These works were created after 2020 and the artist’s retrospective at the National Museum of Modern Art in 2018, curated by Margarita Sveštarov Šimat. For this retrospective, Mijić received the annual “Vladimir Nazor” Award for Visual and Applied Arts.
Curated by Branko Franceschi, director of the National Museum of Modern Art, the exhibition is accompanied by a bilingual catalogue in Croatian and English, designed by Ana Zubić.

(…) These works were first showcased at the Kaštela City Museum in 2024 and are also featured in his most recent monograph, which was recently presented to a packed audience at the Cata Dujšin Gallery of the Trogir City Museum, a place where Mijić has lived and worked contentedly for decades. The paintings represent a fusion of the old and the new Mijić. The “new” in terms of his medium, as he is traditionally known as a sculptor, and the “old” in their motifs, which originate from the sculptural compositions that have long formed the basis of his sculptural practice. (…) – Branko Franceschi from the foreword in the exhibition catalogue

MATKO MIJIĆ (Split, 1955) spent his childhood in Milna on the island of Brač, where he finished elementary school. He graduated from the High School for Applied Arts in Split. In 1981, he obtained a degree in sculpture from the Faculty of Applied Arts inBelgrade. After his studies, he returned to Milna and lived there until he moved to Trogir in 1985. From 1984 he was a member of the Croatian Association of Freelance Artists until he started working at the Arts Academy of the University of Split in 2004, where today he is a tenured full professor. Since 1985 he has been living and working in Trogir, where he has created most of his oeuvre. He has been exhibiting independently since 1976 and has had 45 solo exhibitions to date: Forum Gallery, Zagreb – 1992 and 2007, Gallery of St. Krševan, Šibenik – 1995, 2009 and 2011, Klovićevi Dvori Gallery, Zagreb – 1998 and 2002, Museum of Fine Arts, Split – 2003, Günzburg 1995, Treviso/Venice 1999, Institute of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts – Milesi Palace, Split 2014, Ivo Kerdić Memorial, Osijek, 2016, National Museum of Modern Art, 2018)and more than 200 group exhibitions (Triennial of Croatian Sculpture continuously, Contemporary Croatian Sculpture 2009 – Vienna, Berlin, Bratislava, 2010 – Zagreb, Ljubljana, Trieste, Pécs; Art Medal World Congress, Sofia, 2014). Mijić’s works are part of the holdings of museum and private collections in Croatia and abroad: Museum of Contemporary Art in Dubrovnik, National Museum of Modern Art in Zagreb, Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, Museum of Fine Arts in Split, Museum of Fine Arts in Osijek.

The exhibition has been made possible with financial support from     

Photo: From the exhibition set up / Photo: Goran Vranić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb

Milo Sakač
Nessuno Torna Indietro

The National Museum of Modern Art is presenting an exhibition of a recent series of paintings by Milo Sakač, created in mixed media on paper. Milo Sakač, a qualified architect, has been successfully exhibiting his work since the 1980s, both at home and abroad. The series titled Nessuno torna indietro, produced between 2023 and 2024, signifies a departure in style, execution, and materials from his previous easel painting work, moving towards a more sketchy and intuitive form of expression. This exhibition features a selection of 18 monumental achromatic compositions, characterised by their elongated format, which is dictated by the use of protective building paper as a surface. The series employs non-painting materials typically used in construction, serving as a tribute to the artist’s concurrent work in architecture. The exhibition is curated by Branko Franceschi.

" The exhibition of Milo Sakač’s monochrome paintings on paper at the Josip Račić Gallery represents his first significant exhibition since 2023, when a retrospective of his work that also included a new painting series was showcased at the University Gallery in Split. Artists such as Sakač, who are in their prime and full of vitality seldom realise, however subliminal it may be, that a retrospective exhibition serves as a symbolic landmark for both the public and themselves, indicating a potential conclusion to their previous career trajectory, creative pursuits, or sources of inspiration. Every retrospective is essentially a recapitulation of an artist’s existing body of work, after which genuine progress can only arise from a rebirth, a reinvention of oneself, an attempt, or better yet, a movement towards an entirely new and unexplored creative avenue that involves a sincere investigation of the medium and a redefinition of accumulated knowledge and artistic experience. As the curator of the aforementioned
retrospective, I observed this crucial step forward in Sakač’s consistently vibrant practice, evident in a series of paintings created using non-painting, construction acrylics and coatings on rolls of protective construction paper, which show a certain lack of ambition in terms of métier.. (from the Branko Franceschi's text)

Biography
Milo Sakač was born in 1963 in Čakovec, Croatia. He graduated from the Faculty of Architecture,University of Zagreb in 1988. He works as an architect and paints in parallel. In 2017/18 he opened a painting studio in Vienna, and during summer, he lives and works in Omiš where he has established a studio and a gallery. He is a member of the associations of visual artists: The group Q202 Leopoldstadt Wien, Produzentengalerie Wien, Hungarian visual artist Worldwide and HDLU Varaždin. Since 1988, he held numerous solo exhibitions and has participated in group exhibitions in Croatia, Austria and Hungary. In 2023, the University Gallery in Split presented a retrospective review of his oeuvre.

The exhibition remains open until 1 December 2024.
Images: works by Milo Sakač from the Nessuno torna indietro cycle, 2023 – 2024 / façade paint Takril, Jub brilliant interior paint, water-based acrylic varnishes, Drvofix glue, charcoal, acrylic paint Shminke on protective construction paper. dimensions variable
Photo: Goran Vranić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb

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