MAK MELCHER
CRUMPLED OBJECTLESSNESS

From 5 September to 1 October, the National Museum of Modern Art presents, at the Josip Račić Gallery, an exhibition of Mak Melcher, a multi-award-winning artist of the younger generation, titled " Crumpled Objectlessness ". This versatile artist, born in Mostar in 1983, obtained a degree in sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 2008, in the class of professor Miro Vuco, and from 2003 to 2004 he worked as an assistant to the recently deceased sculptor and academic Marija Ujević Galetović. Since 2010, he has been employed as an assistant to the sculptor Dalibor Stošić. At the Bedekovčina secondary school, he taught vocational subjects in the stonemasonry technician course, and since 2011 he has been a teacher at the Sculpture, Stage and Ceramics Design Departments at the School of Applied Arts and Design in Zagreb, that he also graduated from in 2003. As part of the International Symposium Cavae Romanae in 2010, he was selected for the realization of a sculpture in public space in Vinkuran near Pula, and in the summer of 2019, as part of International Cultural Cooperation, he participated in the prestigious Cité Internationale des Arts residency in Paris.
The concept of Mak Melcher's ninth solo exhibition, in which he presents his recent works on paper, is formulated by Željko Marciuš, museum consultant of the National Museum of Modern Art, who is also the author of the foreword in the bilingual catalogue accompanying the artist's exhibition at the Josip Račić Gallery, in which he writes: (…) With the new cycle, the sculptor transforms into a painter-draughtsman, and he, in turn, transforms back into a sculptor. Although creating objectifications, they are non-objective in their meaningfulness, as they don’t signify the concrete world of things, but rather the one from which they are constructed. The artist’s architectural instinct is present here as well. His minimal spatial interpretations exist at the intersections of monochromes and (duo)chromes, painted coloured fields, and the material-substantial principle guided by the theory of citation in a broad spectrum of reflections also points towards formless art that, through materiality, lack of form, and the physical factuality of the artwork, becomes a substitution for corporeality in the image. The metaphor of colour and materiality is anti-intellectual as it refers to itself; the stripped-down act of creation without invoking reality. (…)

Biography
Mak Melcher was born on 8 March 1983, in Mostar. After having completed the School of Applied Arts and Design (Department of Ceramics) in Zagreb, he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb, in 2003. In 2008, he graduated from the Sculpture Department in the class of Professor Miro Vuco. During his studies, he was the City of Zagreb scholarship recipient. From 2003 to 2004, he worked as an assistant to the sculptor Marija Ujević.In 2008, he worked at the Ujević Art Foundry as a wax retoucher, where he had the opportunity to learn the complete casting craft.From 2008 to 2009, he collaborated with conservator-restorers in the Hedom company on the restoration of Upper Town façades.From 2010 to the present day, he has been working as an assistant to the sculptor Dalibor Stošić.From May to June 2010, he worked at Bedekovčina High School as a teacher of specialized subjects in the stone masonry technician program. From 2011 to the present day, he has been teaching at the School of Applied Arts and Design in Zagreb at the Sculpture, Stage and Ceramics Design Departments.As part of the International Sculpture Symposium Cavae Romanae 2010, he was selected to be an artist in residence in Vinkuran near the city of Pula in July 2010, and create a sculpture in public space.As part of the international cultural cooperation program, during July and August 2019 he participated in the prestigious artistic residency Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. He is the recipient of several awards, including: “Iva Vraneković” Award - Artist to Artist (2016), 3rd Prize of the 32nd Youth Salon (2014), and an equivalent acquisition prize in the competition for the monument to Croatian defenders in Beli Manastir (2011).

From 2005 until today, he has staged 8 solo exhibitions, participated in more than 30 group exhibitions at home and abroad, and has taken part in 7 sculpture symposiums and colonies from 2004 to the present. He is a member of the Croatian Association of Visual Artists (HDLU). Since 2011, he has been working as a professor at the School of Applied Arts and Design in Zagreb.

Solo exhibitions:

    • 2012 – “Metamorfoze” – “Vladimir Bužančić” Gallery, Zagreb
    • 2013 – “Metamorfoze” – Antun Augustinčić Gallery, Klanjec
    • 2013 – “Reljefi i object” – “Izidor Kršnjavi” Exhibition Salon, Zagreb
    • 2016 – “Triptih” – Mazuth Gallery, Zagreb
    • 2016 – “Exhibition of award-winning artists of the 32nd Youth Salon: Fran Makek and Mak Melcher”– Extended Media Gallery (PM), HDLU, Zagreb
    • 2017 – “Pavle Pavlović & Mak Melcher” – 3.14 Gallery, Zagreb
    • 2017  – “Atelier 07” – Raga Gallery, Zagreb
    • 2020 – “Atelier 08” – Forum Gallery, Zagreb
    • 2023 – “Ugužvana nepredmetnost” – “Josip Račić” Gallery, Zagreb

Group exhibitions:

    • 2005 – “Pasionska baština” – “Kristofor Stanković” Gallery, Zagreb
    • 2006 – “Pasionska baština” – “Kristofor Stanković” Gallery, Zagreb
    • 2006 – “28th Youth Salon” – HDLU, Zagreb
    • 2007 – Triennial of Croatian Medal Making and Small-Scale Sculpture – “9th Ivo Kerdić Memorial” – Museum of Fine Arts, Osijek
    • 2007 – “Mozaik od zamisli do ostvarenja” – Vinkovci Municipal Museum
    • 2007  – “Zemlja” – “Branko Ružić” Gallery, Slavonski Brod
    • 2008 – “10²” – ULUPUH Gallery, Zagreb
    • 2008 – “Zemlja” – Church of St. Elias on Meraja, Vinkovci
    • 2010 – “10th Ivo Kerdić Memorial” – Museum of Fine Arts, Osijek
    • 2010 – “2nd International Biennial of Painters and Sculptors – Mediterranean 2010– Milesi Palace, Split
    • 2010 – “Artexchange 3: Istrian Art Fair” within the Marisall Gallery – Multimedia Centre (MMC), Rovinj HDLU
    • 2011 – “Exhibition of professors of the School of Applied Arts and Design” – “Izidor Kršnjavi” Exhibition Salon, Zagreb
    • 2014 – “32nd Youth Salon” – HDLU, Zagreb
    • 2014 – “HangArt” – Marina Zadar, Zadar
    • 2014 – “Annual exhibition of HDLU members” – HDLU, Zagreb
    • 2015 – “Exhibition of works of the 43rd Paradiso Art Colony” – Paradiso Gallery, Rab
    • 2015 – “12th Triennial of Croatian Sculpture” – Glyptotheque HAZU, Zagreb
    • 2015 – “16th Paradiso Art Colony” – Makek Gallery, Zagreb
    • 2017 – “Materiality in Contemporary Croatian Art” – Ring Gallery, HDLU, Zagreb
    • 2017 – “Exhibition of professors of the School of Applied Arts and Design” – “Izidor Kršnjavi” Exhibition Salon, Zagreb
    • 2018 – “13th Triennial of Croatian Sculpture” – Glyptotheque HAZU, Zagreb
    • 2019 – “13th Ivo Kerdić Memorial” – Museum of Fine Arts,Osijek
    • 2019 – “Exhibition of professors of the School of Applied Arts and Design” – “Izidor Kršnjavi” Exhibition Salon, Zagreb
    • 2020 – “Antun Augustinčić Gallery in the Night of Museums from 2010 to 2020” – Antun Augustinčić Gallery Studio, Klanjec
    • 2021 – “Špud – Povratak” – Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb
    • 2022 – “Collection of the Antun Augustinčić Gallery Salon 1992. – 2022.” – Antun Augustinčić Gallery Studio, Klanjec
    • 2022 – “14th Triennial of Croatian Sculpture” – Barrel Gallery, Zagreb
    • 2023 – “Carte Blanche” – Barrel Gallery, Zagreb
    • 2023 – “Four Elements” – Museum of Fine Arts, Split
    • Photo: Goran Vranić and National Museum of Modern Art's archives © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb, 2023.

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