Matko Vekić

Matko Vekić (Zagreb, 1970) is one of the most prominent Croatian painters of the middle generation. Since 2017 he has been a full professor at the Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb, and he is a member of the Croatian Association of Artists (HDLU). In his practice he persistently explores the boundaries between figuration and abstraction, between the object and its psychological weight. One of his distinctive cycles is devoted to the motif of the automobile — not as a mere industrial object, but as a kind of portrait of time, status and decay. Vekić paints the bodies of wrecks and abandoned vehicles, as well as gleaming luxury models (BMW, Mercedes, Peugeot), treating them all with the same gestural, heavy impasto and a dark, earthy palette dominated by black, olive green, ochre and muted pink. Powerful brushstrokes, scraped paint and visible traces of the working process turn each scene into a tense struggle between the recognisable motif and the painterly matter itself. He has exhibited widely in group shows and held more than 50 solo exhibitions, including several major monographic shows: "Animal Circle – Zodiac" (Art Pavilion, Zagreb, 2005), "Symbol, Sign, Emblem, Ornament and Crime" (Gliptoteka HAZU, Zagreb, 2008), "The Cruelty of the Circle" (HDLU, Bačva Gallery, Zagreb, 2010), "Orientalization" (Museum of Arts and Crafts, Zagreb, 2016), "Doubts and Complementarities" (Lauba, Zagreb, 2019), and "Archipelago" (Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, 2021). He represented Croatia twice at the Cairo International Biennale (10th edition, 2006; 12th edition, 2010), and at the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009. His works are part of the collections of leading Croatian museums and galleries, as well as private collections in Croatia and abroad. He is a multiple award-winning artist, including the Slavko Kopač Grand Prix at the 6th Zagreb Painting Biennale, and the Vladimir Nazor State Award for Best Exhibition (2022).