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