Zoltan Novak

Zoltan Novak (Zagreb, 1963) is one of the most prominent Croatian painters of postmodern narrative figuration. He graduated in 1989 from the teaching department of the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. From 1997 to 2003 he worked as a professor of drawing and painting at the School of Applied Arts and Design in Zagreb, and since 2004 he has been teaching painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. Beginning his painting career in the 1980s, he developed a distinctive oeuvre marked by large-format canvases densely populated with figures of urban man — isolated, anonymous, trapped within the contemporary megalopolis. His signature motif of the walker pervades his entire body of work as a symbol of existential perseverance and alienation. In 2009 he represented Croatia at the 53rd Venice Biennale. He has exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Croatia and abroad (Rome, Paris, Munich, New York, Berlin). For his exceptional cultural contribution he was decorated with the Order of Danica Hrvatska with the effigy of Marko Marulić. His works are held in the collections of the National Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Arts and Crafts in Zagreb, the Vukovar City Museum, and the Faggiano Collection in Pula.