Siniša Majkus (born 1962 in

Rijeka Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Primor ...

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

), is a contemporary sculptor who, using metal wire, creates sculptures which have the characteristics of spatial drawings. He currently lives and works in

Matulji Matulji ( it, Mattuglie) is a municipality in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Croatia. It is located west of the city of Rijeka, north of the town of Opatija, and it borders Slovenia. Municipality There are a total of 11,246 inhabitants in the mu ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

. Majkus graduated in 1989 at the

University of Zagreb Academy of Fine Arts A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which rou ...

under the class of

Miroslav Šutej Miroslav Šutej (29 April 1936 – 13 May 2005) was a Croatian avant-garde painter and graphic artist. Šutej was born in Duga Resa in 1936. He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb and was an associate in Krsto Hegedušić's master ...

. He is currently a senior assistant at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, University of Rijeka. Siniša Majkus's works fall into the emergence of a new school of sculpture in Croatia during the 1990s. This new wave of sculpture focused on appropriating everyday objects and materials to create an aesthetic of the everyday. Majkus adopted metal wire as his primary sculptural medium. Majkus then twists and morphs the wire into three-dimensional forms as a pencil would draw line and create shape on paper, and it is for this reason that his works are often described as a ‘sculptural drawings’. In addition to participating at many solo and group exhibitions, he is also the recipient of several awards, including the University of Zagreb, Rector's Award (1988), Second Prize at the Mediterranean Youth Biennale (1995) and the 6th Croatian Sculpture Triennial Award (1997). He also won the annual

Vladimir Nazor Award The Vladimir Nazor Award ( hr, Nagrada Vladimir Nazor) is a Croatian prize for arts and culture established in 1959 and awarded every year by the Ministry of Culture. Named after the writer Vladimir Nazor (1876–1949), the prize is awarded to Cr ...

for his exhibition, ''Embryo'' at the Art Pavilion in Zagreb (2004). Siniša Majkus also has a number of public sculptures erected throughout Croatia. The earliest public sculpture, from 1997 is ''Putanje'' (Path) which is located in the Istrian town of Roč. In the capital city of Zagreb, the monumental sculpture ''Crvena stijena'' (Red rocks, 2001) stands commissioned by the

Filip Trade Collection The Filip Trade Collection (Croatian: ''Zbirka Filip Trade'') is a large private collection of contemporary Croatian art. The collection is a subsidiary of Filip Trade, a distribution company with its offices located in the capital city of Croatia, ...

. Two public sculptures have also been positioned nearer his current home in Matulji. In

Opatija Opatija (; it, Abbazia; german: Sankt Jakobi) is a town and a municipality in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in western Croatia. The traditional seaside resort on the Kvarner Gulf is known for its Mediterranean climate and its historic buildings r ...

the sculpture ''Linne'' was erected in 1998, and ''Nordkapp'', 2003 is the most recent public sculpture commissioned from Majkus and it stands in front of the Cultural Society Zora in Matulji.''Public monuments on the Opatija Riviera fficial tourist website for the Kvarner region'' http://www.kvarner.hr/kultura/english/visual.html (accessed, 29/03/2011).

Bibliography

:*Valušek, Berislav - ''Siniša Majkus'', (exh.cat. Galerija Karas, 1997). :*Vuković, Radovan –''Siniša Majkus: Embryo'', (exh.cat. Art Pavilion, Zagreb, 2004).

Notes and references

1962 births Artists from Rijeka Croatian contemporary artists Vladimir Nazor Award winners Living people {{Croatia-artist-stub