Dalibor Stošić
(1958)
Large Torso, 2010
oak, steel
178 x 82 x 131 cm
MG-8624
Dalibor Stošić earned his sculpture degree from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 1985, in the class of Professor Stipe Sikirica. He worked in the studio of Dušan Džamonja until 1988. He subsequently continued his training in Italy and France, where he established himself as a respected contemporary sculptor. Stošić later worked a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb.
Stošić’s striking sculptural oeuvre is characterised by a reductionist expression and hard materials such as wood and metal, which he assembles into diverse organic forms. His sculptures are compact, featuring closed geometric forms and refined execution, their proportions harmonious and their composition symmetrical. Varying his techniques and remodelling his designs, Stošić often develops a motif over an extended period of time.
Despite its perfectly polished surface, the organic epidermis of the Large Torso (also referred to as the Minotaur) remains untouched by the time-induced cracks and irregularities of the wood. The monumental corpus of ebony, with minimal interventions, is reinforced by a secondary steel central square axis that fills the ancient oak trunk, aged for hundreds of years in the river. Enclosed within the volume, in the duality of the organic outer layer held by a cold metal geometric structure, lies the sculptor’s vision of art, which, through the high aestheticization of the constructive elements of his sculptures, allows for the coexistence of the mechanical and the organic; civilisation and nature.
Text: Tatijana Gareljić, museum consultant of the National Museum of Modern Art © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb
Translated by: Robertina Tomić
Photo: Goran Vranić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb
