Founders of Contemporary Macedonian Art (Old Authors):
1. Nikola MARTINOVSKI (1903-1973)
The founder of Macedonian contemporary art, he graduated in 1927 from the School of Fine Arts in Bucharest, as the best student that year. In 1927 and 1928 he stayed in Paris where he visited the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and the Académie Ranson.
After returning to Macedonia, in addition to introducing the European modern painting tendencies characteristic of the Paris School in these regions, he also distinguished himself with his social activity. Martinoski led the establishment of the Secondary Art School in Skopje, the Society of Artists, the Art Gallery in Skopje, today known as the National Gallery of Macedonia, and is one of the founders of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
2. Lazar LICHENOVSKI (1901-1964)
Founder of Macedonian contemporary art, in 1927 he graduated from art school with an academic course in Belgrade. He specialized in wall techniques in Paris in the studio of Marcel Linois under Paul Baudouin at the École nationale supérieure d’arts et métiers, he visited the studio of André Lot and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière.
Lichenovski, a representative of expressionism, one of the most authentic painters of landscapes from the Macedonian regions, into which he also introduced folklore elements. He is also recognizable for his still lifes, portraits and mosaics.
3. Petar MAZEV (1927-1993)
Founder of Macedonian contemporary art, one of the most significant creators of Macedonian modern art.
He graduated from the Art School with an academic course in Belgrade in 1953. He was a member of the “Mugri” group. Professor at the Faculty of Architecture, Skopje. Petar Mazev is one of the main initiators of the establishment of the Faculty of Fine Arts in Skopje.
Together with Nikola Martinoski, he is the most eminent representative of expressionism.
He exhibited solo in Skopje and at a large number of group exhibitions in the country and abroad.
4. Dragutin AVRAMOVSKI – Gute (1931-1986)
a prominent Macedonian academic painter and graphic artist, graduated from the Academy of Applied Arts in Zagreb in 1955. Professor at the High School of Applied Arts in Skopje.
He is one of the first Macedonian abstract painters and has a special contribution to the development of contemporary graphic expression in Macedonia. He was also involved in scenography and illustration.
A retrospective exhibition was organized in his honor at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Skopje in 2002.
5. Tomo ŠIJAK (1930 -1998)
A founder of Macedonian contemporary art, he studied fine arts in Ljubljana, and then went on a study tour in Paris.
Šijak is one of the few authors born in the first half of the twentieth century who stood out as signifiers of the avant-garde trends in the then Macedonian fine arts. He is recognizable for his restless investigative spirit, which is why we can characterize him as the author with the most variations in stylistic attitudes.
Šijak remained consistent with bold experimental action and recognizable works, such as his most innovative and aesthetically significant “musandras”.
6. Vangel NAUMOVSKI (1922-2006)
Although a self-taught painter, he is one of the few Macedonian artists who are recognized outside our country, widely accepted worldwide. With an authentic and recognizable artistic expression outside of artistic trends, always current, sensitive and creative, he is noted in the history of Macedonian (and Yugoslav) fine art as one of the most prominent representatives of the so-called “naive art”, a determination that later changed due to his striving for fantastic surrealism.
His poetic paintings, with a virtuoso stroke, capture the world on the border between dream and reality, between the earth and the cosmos, the kingdoms of plants and flowers, the beauties of the Ohrid nymphs, and all of this is painted with strong colors.
Vangel Naumovski’s exhibition at the Mona Lisa Gallery in Paris in 1970 was also visited by Salvador Dali, who later wrote: “This is a painter from fairy tales. He is a naive painter, but the Mediterranean has left a strong mark on him. He is very refined and subtle. This is a complete exhibition. His painting is close to mine. I am not interested in ordinary naive painters. There are elements in Naumovski that can even be scientific. The biological side of his painting is also interesting”; – excerpt from the monograph on Naumovski.
7. Dimitar KONDOVSKI (1927 – 1993)
Macedonian painter, set designer, designer, corresponding member of the Macedonian Academy of Arts, professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Skopje. Graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade (1952).
Kondovski has a special significance for the development of Macedonian contemporary painting in the sixties. In the beginning, in his famous works Chessboard, Harlequin and Balcony, he was influenced by the School of Paris. Later, he formed an autochthonous geometric expression, based on the century-old painting and oriental ornamentation, both from a visual and technological aspect. He used a technology characteristic of the production of icons, painting oil on wood, using gold foil.
He is also known for his work in scenography, graphics, illustration.
He exhibited independently in Skopje, Zagreb. Rome, New York, and participated in numerous exhibitions in the country and abroad.
8. Ivan VELKOV (1930-2008)
Velkov belongs to the ranks of eminent Macedonian painters, also a university professor, a member of the post-war generation of artists, who played a particularly significant role in the development of Macedonian painting in the 1960s.
He graduated in 1953, in 1955. he received a master’s degree from the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade. In 1960 he specialized in Paris.
He was a professor at the Faculty of Architecture in Skopje and a member of the “Mugri” group.
His work falls within the framework of figuration, informel and geometric abstraction.
Since 1955, he has been exhibiting independently in Skopje and other locations throughout the former Yugoslavia. He has participated in numerous exhibitions around the world.
9. Trajce JANCHEVSKI (1928-2015)
Jancevski is one of the most prominent Macedonian academic painters and a member of DLUM. He completed his primary education in his native Kumanovo, and completed secondary art school in Skopje with professors Nikola Martinovski and Lazar Lichenoski. He graduated from the Academy of Applied Arts in Belgrade. There, due to his exceptional talent, he was allowed to study scenography at the same time. In the period 1964-1965, he specialized in Paris.
For many years, he worked as a scenographer at the Drama Theater in Skopje, and for a certain period as an associate professor at the Pedagogical Academy.
He participated in numerous national and international exhibitions, starting with the Fifth International Exhibition of Contemporary Art in New Delhi (together with Picasso, Chagall).
10. Vangel KODZOMAN (1904-1994)
Artist, academic, one of the founders of Macedonian contemporary art, member of MANU. He is also one of the founders of the Society of Fine Artists of Macedonia in Skopje and a long-time member of its board.
From 1924 to 1928 – department of the Art School in Belgrade. In 1928 he continued his studies at the two-year academic course for pure art. Towards the end of his studies he was on a study trip to Italy.
The name and artwork of Vangel Kodzoman is embedded in the foundations of modern art in Macedonia as one of the few artists who began his creative activity in the early 1930s, in historically unfavorable military conditions.
The most common motif in his works (watercolors, paintings, drawings) are the landscape and the old city architecture. His artistic style ranges from academic realism with post-impressionist and cubist features, to elements of Fauvism and coloristic expressionism.
His work is of great importance, especially because he is considered one of the founders of the Secondary Art School in Skopje, the Association of Fine Artists in Macedonia, and as a participant in the national liberation and anti-fascist war on the territory of Macedonia.
Numerous solo exhibitions, as well as a participant in group exhibitions in the country and the world.
11. Spase KUNOVSKI (1929-1978)
Spase Kunovski is considered the most significant representative of surrealism and metaphysical painting in Macedonia.
He graduated from high school as a student of Nikola Martinoski and Lazar Ličenoski. He continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, where he graduated in 1953. He completed numerous study stays in European countries, and was one of the then Yugoslav painters who represented Yugoslavia at prestigious art events in numerous world metropolises. He was a member of the “Dawns” group.
His work was influenced by the works of the Belgian painter René Magritte, known for creating enigmatic urban landscapes with fantastic figures in a gray-blue range.
Kunovski’s painting is considered to belong to the widespread school of “metaphysical painting”. Inseparable elements of his painting are irony and black humor. According to Vlada Urošević, Kunovski is “a painter of loneliness, of fear: the figures on his canvases stand in a moment of anticipation that seems to precede some cataclysm.” Urošević adds “they are paintings of difficult dreams; their logic is the logic of dreams.”
Kunovski’s work undoubtedly belongs to the top artistic achievements of contemporary Macedonian art.
12. Ljubomir BELOGASKI (1911-1994)
Belogaski – founder of Macedonian modern art, prominent academic painter and university professor. He is considered the most famous and most significant Macedonian watercolorist.
He completed his higher education in Belgrade, and in 1947 he specialized in graphic techniques at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana.
A long-time professor and pedagogue in several high schools and at the School of Applied Arts in Skopje, from 1949 until his retirement he was a professor at Architek Faculty of Fine Arts in Skopje.
During his long and fruitful creative activity, Belogaski will experiment with several techniques, but watercolor will remain his permanent determination, in which he achieves top achievements, forming his personal handwriting of a top master. The range of his artistic personality is quite wide: still life-flowers, portrait and landscape. Whatever he paints, the motif is always structured in a clean and solid composition, with a clear aesthetic concept and coloristic harmony.
He is the recipient of valuable awards and recognitions, and a participant in numerous exhibitions.
13. Dimitar PANDILOV (1899-1963)
Dimitar Avramovski Pandilov – founder of Macedonian contemporary art, prominent artist, representative of impressionism and one of the founders of DLUM.
He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia, 1924. He lived in France (Montpellier and Paris), where he also worked at the “Grand Chaumière” Academy (1928).
Professor at the High School of Applied Arts in Skopje.
He exhibited solo in Skopje, Yugoslavia, Sofia. Participant in numerous group world exhibitions.
Pandilov is a representative of the genre of bitovo, his works depict the folk life and the bit of the Macedonian people.
He died in the Skopje earthquake on July 26, 1963.
14. Tanas LULOVSKI (1940-2006)
Tanas Lulovski – Tane, Macedonian painter, one of the doyens of Macedonian contemporary painting, member of DLUM.
Born in the Lerin village of Zhelevo, Aegean Macedonia, he was part of the refugee children during the Civil War in Greece. He graduated from the Institute of Fine Arts in Bucharest, where he had his first solo exhibition. With an Italian state scholarship, he specialized at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome.
Until 1985, he worked as a freelance artist, then became a professor of painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Skopje. He was the recipient of many Macedonian and international awards.
In July 2006, Professor Dr. Vladimir Velichkovski published a monograph on Lulevski.
On December 20, 2018, his retrospective exhibition was opened at the National Gallery of Macedonia-Daut Pasha’s Amam.
15. Mile KORUBIN (1922-2000)
Mile Korubin— Macedonian painter and pedagogue.
In 1951, he graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade. He specialized in Paris in 1963/64. He worked at the Historical Museum in Macedonia.
His painting opus goes through several different discourses. In the early phase, the influences of some French painters are dominant. His most common motifs are fragmented urban landscapes-travelogues from the various countries he visited. The rich coloristic expression in the last, abstract phase is calm and articulated through warm tonal gradations.
He has won many awards and recognitions.
Macedonian painters (middle and newer generation):
16. Ana TEMKOVA
Ana Temkova, born in 1943 in Kavadarci, Macedonian academic painter, member of DLUM. .In 1966, she graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade, specializing in mosaic in Ravenna-Italy. She had study trips to France, the USSR, Italy, Greece, Spain, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and Turkey.
In the period 1987-1993, she was a professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts – Skopje. Since then, she has been an independent artist again.
Temkova, is recognizable for her intimate painting expression with details of architectural examples from Macedonian houses, portraits, art records, accompanied by still lifes, flowers, mirrors, interiors.
Numerous solo exhibitions and participant in group exhibitions around the world.
17. Sveto MANEV
Born in 1945 in Sveti Nikole, he graduated from the High School of Applied Arts in Skopje, with professors Dimitar Pandilov and Dragutin Avramovski – Gute. He graduated from the Academy of Applied Arts, Department of Painting, in Belgrade, in 1970. Professor of “Evening Nude” at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Skopje.
From 1963 to 1970, he worked on conservation and restoration projects with teams for the protection of fresco paintings in a dozen churches and monasteries in Macedonia. In the period from 1970 to 1975, he was engaged in the conservation and documentation of the ancient mosaics at the Heraclea site near Bitola. Since 2002, he has been a professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Skopje in the subject of Nude.
He is a member of the art group “77”. He had study stays in England, the Netherlands, Greece, Poland and other countries.
In 2020, with the retrospective exhibition in Cifte Amam and the publication of a monograph, the painter rounded off his first, forty years of creativity.
He has held over 15 solo exhibitions in the country and abroad, including the solo exhibition at the El Greco Gallery organized on October 17, 2018.
18. Konstantin TANCHEV – Dinka
He was born in 1940, in Valandovo, and graduated from the Academy of Applied Arts in Belgrade in 1967. Dinka is a retired professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Skopje.
During his decades-long fruitful creative life, he left a significant and strong mark as a a renowned author and graphic designer. In the field of applied graphics, he is considered a leader in our country, an innovator in design, a theater set designer, a top poster maker and a publication designer. Above all, he left his mark through his graphic and painting works.
He has a significant place in the development of Macedonian contemporary fine art.
In April 2019, his large retrospective exhibition was opened in Daut Pasha’s Amam, in order to confirm his place in the development of Macedonian contemporary fine art.
He had a large number of solo exhibitions in numerous world metropolises, as well as in Skopje. He has received more than 40 domestic and international awards.
19. Kole MANEV
Kole Manev, born in Kostur, Aegean Macedonia in 1941, is a famous Macedonian painter and filmmaker in the field of documentary film (he is the creator of six scripts for feature films).
He was educated in Skopje (School of Applied Arts) and Belgrade (Academy of Fine Arts), and then went on a study trip to Paris. In Prague, he attended lectures on animated film.
“Through his work, Manev reflects the life of the uprooted, of people scattered around the world, spiritually crippled, in whom restlessness after childhood and the extinguished hearth is lurking. Hence the emphasized restlessness and sadness in the eyes of his characters, left at a crossroads in the solitude of the night to conduct a dialogue, often with the long and mournful silence” – academician Rade Siljan.
Additionally, Manev is a respected portraitist and author of landscapes and still lifes
He has had several solo and group exhibitions in Macedonia, France and in the countries of the region. The author is the winner of a large number of international awards and recognitions for film and painting, including the Knight of France.
He is the leader of the large and significant group of Macedonian painters, exiled from their homelands in Aegean Macedonia during the Greek Civil War of 1948.
20. Dancho KALCHEV
Kalchev was born in Skopje in 1957. He graduated from the Pedagogical Academy, and in 1984 he also graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in the class of Dimitar Kondovski. Kalchev lives and works in Gevgelija. He has been a member of DLUM since 1984. He has presented his works with eight solo exhibitions in Macedonia, Germany, Australia, and has participated in more than fifteen group exhibitions in the country and abroad.
Art critics consider Kalchev to be one of the most renowned Macedonian painters of the middle generation.
21. Niche VASILEV
Born in 1948 in Strumica, academic painter and member of DLUM.
He graduated from the School of Applied Arts in Skopje in 1969. He continued his studies at the National Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia and the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.
He worked as a set designer at the National Theater in Strumica and later as a
professor in high schools in Strumica.
In his rich artistic career, he has received numerous awards and recognitions.
22. Reshat Ahmeti
Reshat Ahmeti was born in 1964 in Gostivar, a Macedonian academic painter and member of DLUM. In 1998. he graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Skopje, and in 2001. he received a master’s degree from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Pristina.
So far, he has had over 20 solo and 50 group exhibitions in Macedonia and abroad, and has participated in many domestic and international colonies. Since 2000. he has been a Professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Tetovo.
Since 2003. He has been the President of the Commission for Fine Arts Education at the Ministry of Education of Macedonia.
23. Simon NICHEV
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24. Vancho JAKOV
Vancho Jakov – Macedonian artist, born in 1964, graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Skopje in the class of Professor Rodoljub Anastasov.
The main theme of his works are Macedonian landscapes, wheat fields, old Macedonian buildings, architecture, or love for his homeland.
Participant in numerous exhibitions in Macedonia and abroad.
25. Vladimir GEORGIESKI (1942-2017)
Georgievski was born in Skopje, Macedonian academic painter, professor at the Faculty of Architecture and the Faculty of Dramatic Arts.
After graduating from the secondary art school in Skopje, he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade, where he graduated and completed his postgraduate studies. He has made study trips to Italy, France, Russia, Great Britain, the USA, Belgium and the Netherlands.
In the entire work of Vladimir Georgievski, man and his fate are a constant theme, an aesthetic provocation and a creative preoccupation. Georgievski has gone through several phases of artistic expression, but always successfully preserving his originality. In his paintings, drawings, reliefs, sculptures, theatrical costumes and scenographies, characters from all layers of civilization are presented: the Spanish nobleman Don Quixote, Dostoevsky, Bach, Beethoven. Adam and Eve are also alive in Georgievski’s oeuvre, as well as the Holy Trinity, the drama of crucifixion and mourning. The motifs of old shoes, bread, stones, dry leaves recall the traces of human existence.
Vladimir Georgievski worked as a set and costume designer ….. for over 30 theater performances in Macedonia and the countries of the former Yugoslavia.
He had solo exhibitions in Skopje, Belgrade, Istanbul, Vienna, Rome, Kiev, Sofia and St. Petersburg.
On December 12, 2014, an exhibition of paintings and drawings by Georgievski was opened at the El Greco Gallery, organized on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the death of the famous Spanish Renaissance painter El Greco (1541-1614).
This artistic event was a kind of homage by Vladimir Georgievski to the great Spanish painter.
“Although different in color, the dense weaving of their biblical writing takes place through the expression of the complex narrative structure. The poetics of the elegant, longitudinal body morphology of El Greco, in our master is modified through the dramatic robust deformation of the line that is a consequence of human suffering…”, says Koncha Pirkoska about the exhibition.
26. Miroslav MASIN
Miroslav Masin, born in 1963 in Niš, Macedonian academic painter and member of DLUM.
He graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Skopje, Department of Painting. He was on study stays in England, France and the Czech Republic.
Starting with solo exhibitions in 1988, Miroslav Masin has so far held more than fifty in the country and abroad, including in numerous European countries.
Masin also participates in installations and performances, video clips, and he is the stage designer of three plays.
His initial work moves in the direction of realism/surrealism, and later turns to abstraction. He has several cycles: “Fish-Bird-Woman”, “A Thousand Kisses”, “Monkeys”. His last phase is abstract, and in a combined technique. He is known for the fact that in his works, although rich in color, he uses the whiteness of the canvas.
As he himself says, “Each of my new cycles is an upgrade of the previous one, the works arise from what I have done so far, of course, in a different way.
When I make a new painting or prepare a new cycle, no matter how much I want to act, I am still free and old enough to do what I want, and it comes out on the canvas. Usually amateurs act, and I am not an amateur, I do not want to and cannot flatter the audience, neighbors or colleagues. The works simply come out of me”.
27. Rubens KORUBIN
Korubin was born in 1949 in Prilep, a Macedonian academic painter and member of DLUM. He graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade, where he also completed postgraduate studies. He has had several solo and group exhibitions, both in the country and abroad. He has won five national awards, including the Grand Prix at the DLUM Winter Salon in 2005.
Rubens Korubin has been at the very top of contemporary Macedonian painting for many years. He works in several media (painting, drawing, graphics, and mosaic), and his works represent rare, perfect unions between the subject and the manner of expression.
Korubin’s art testifies to an exceptional ability to portray a rare emotional wealth, and it also possesses all the signs of great painterly mastery. A romantic painter, he is an artist who expresses his own delicate vision
28. Vasko TASHKOVSKI
Vasko Tashkovski, born in 1937 in Bitola, Macedonian painter, leading representative of surrealism, fantasy painting, ecological and cosmic themes in Macedonian fine art, with wide recognition worldwide.
He graduated from a secondary art school in Skopje, and then graduated from the Academy of Applied Arts in Belgrade. In addition to painting, he also deals with special scenography for theater, television and film projects, as well as scenography for various events (music and theater festivals, public events in the field of culture). For many years he worked as a scenographer at Macedonian Television, with over 300 realized scenographies.
In his creative opus, Vasko Taškovski has several cycles consisting of various themes titled: “Ecology”, “Urban Anthills”, “Coastal Events”, “Ports”, “Horses”, “Roots and Organisms” and other free motifs. His works can be found in a large number of private collections, galleries, museums and institutions in the country and the world.
29. Pavle KUZMANOVSKI
Pavle Kuzmanovski, born in Tetovo in 1939, Macedonian academic painter, member of DLUM. He graduated from the Academy of Applied Arts in Belgrade. He completed study stays in Venice, Turin, Frankfurt and Cologne. In 1973 he became a member of the Association of Fine Artists of Macedonia.
So far he has organized 40 solo art exhibitions in the country and abroad. He participated in about 250 collective exhibitions and 30 international art colonies in the country and abroad.
Winner of significant awards for painting.
30. Goce BOZHURSKI
Goce Bozhurski, born in 1958 in Kumanovo, Macedonian artist.
In Bozhurski’s work from the past period, which belonged to a specific artistic expression close to of a subtle and nostalgic realistic concept through a refined painting procedure, the latest achievements from the “SkrabArt” cycle have the appearance of abstract structures although the starting and moving substrate is caused by objective reality.
He has had over thirty solo exhibitions, participated in a large number of group exhibitions and in the work of twenty art colonies in Macedonia and the region. He has received significant national and international awards.
31. Konstantin KACHEV
Born in 1967 in Tashkent, former USSR, after moving with his parents to Skopje, he graduated from the School of Applied Arts and then began his studies at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of “Sts. Cyril and Methodius”.
For several years he worked as an external collaborator of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments in the Republic of Macedonia and a restorer of wall paintings.
As a winner of numerous world awards and prizes: Medalle de Bronze from the Society of Fine Artists in Paris, two gold and one silver and bronze medal from the art festival “Cup of Russia”, and many others, he is among the most famous of our painters in Europe.
He has presented himself at several solo exhibitions, New York, Paris, Sofia, Skopje, and is a participant in numerous group exhibitions abroad.
32. Milan ANDOV
Milan Andov was born in Skopje in 1974, graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Skopje, Department of Graphic Techniques and Design (prof. Dimche Nikolov, Dimitar Malidanov, Kostadin Tanchev-Dinka). He is a member of DLUM and the author of several solo exhibitions, and participates in a large number of group exhibitions in the country and abroad.
He is a winner of several awards and recognitions.
33. Dimitar MANEV
Born in Shtip in 1948. – painter, art teacher. Graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade (1975). Since 2001, he has lived and worked in Chicago. He has had solo exhibitions in Skopje, Zagreb, Ljubljana, Paris, Chicago. His works are in many public and private collections in the country and abroad.
In the seventies, he painted abstract, and since the eighties, large figurative compositions, in which he applies the collage procedure in the spirit of postmodernism.
34. Stanko ĐORĐIEV
Stanko Đorđiev, born in 1954, graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Skopje, in the class of Prof. Petar Mazev. He has been a member of DLUM since 1984.
He has participated in numerous solo exhibitions and over 80 group exhibitions in Macedonia and abroad
35. Nove FRANGOVSKI (1939-2017)
Born in Galicnik, he is one of the most prominent representatives of the middle generation of artists in Macedonia. He has been a member of DLUM since 1967.
He graduated in painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade, then specialized at the Academia di Belli Arti in Rome. He has been on study stays in Paris, the USSR and the Czech Republic.
He formed and celebrated the Galicnik Art Colony, which has been affirming Macedonia for 30 years. Frangovski remains in Macedonian contemporary art as an artist who contributed to defining the new figuration on the domestic scene, working on themes with an engaged socio-political dimension.
After the figurative phase, he will deal with abstraction, until his last years, when he managed to combine abstract passion with associative figuration. His works are included in significant domestic and international collections.
Numerous solo exhibitions as well as participation in over 150 group exhibitions in the country and abroad.
36. Zoran KOSTOVSKI
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37. Dejan BOŽINOVSKI – Koska
Dejan Božinovski – Koska, born in 1984. in Kumanovo, is a young talented academic artist, who is influenced by the modern art movement. He graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts Cyril and Methodius in Skopje.
38. Lidija SAZDOVSKA
Lidija Sazdovska, born in Belgrade, academic painter and pedagogue, member of DLUM. She graduated from the Pedagogical Academy and the Academy of Fine Arts in Skopje.
Sazdovska’s work is classified into several thematic cycles. In each cycle, a gradual change in the artistic interpretation of the female figure and portrait is observed. The central motif in her works is the woman as a kind of glorification, the bearer of life and the pivot of the family.
So far, she has realized numerous solo and group exhibitions, participated in several art colonies, and has also won two awards for her pedagogical achievements.
39. Aleksandar ZAFIROVSKI
Born in 1984 in Skopje, he graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Skopje.
In Zafirovski’s works there are no people, nor the presence of modern society. The landscapes he shows us are pure, unpolluted, virgin. The theme that he most often deals with in his works are meadows.
He is the winner of several state and international awards, whose works are in famous world private collections.
He has held numerous solo exhibitions in the country and abroad, as well as participating in group exhibitions.
40. Borko SPASOVSKI
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41. Gorjan GJORĐIEV
Born in Skopje in 1964, Macedonian academic painter and member of DLUM. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Skopje, Department of Painting. He has held numerous exhibitions before domestic and foreign audiences and has been honored at performances, group and colonies in the country and abroad.
“Painting is a state of my being… Painting is only a discovery in complete darkness. Every good artist will paint what he himself is. I have a tendency to paint things that spin in my head like a broken record – bulls, angels, trumpeters, I want and manage to present them from my own perspective that radiates with a lot of mystical power. To draw the viewers to my message and beauty. The way of working is urgent, seemingly spontaneous, but it requires a great feat (inner strength) and concentration.”
SCULPTURE:
Sculptors:
42. Aleksandar IVANOVSKI – Karadare
Aleksandar Ivanovski Karadare, born in 1943 in Priep, Macedonian sculptor and member of DLUM. Graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana in 1968.
For many years, Karadare has concentrated on observing people and their psychological and spiritual reality in urban living conditions. The artist himself notes: “By observing people, I try to sense life” and that “it must be the same with sculpture. Life must be in it, otherwise it would be just a form”.
Karadare does not work according to a model, but according to the memory of a penetrating observer who models realistic characters and figures taking into account the whole and the spatial solution of the scene. He is fascinated by the “creation of the human form” from the changes of the body and the soul trapped within it. His goal is to achieve the fullness of being with all its characteristic movements and transformations. The inner life of man is shaped and expressed by the external features of the character and the specific configuration of the body.
He has had several solo exhibitions in Macedonia and has participated in several significant collective exhibitions abroad. Winner of numerous awards and recognitions.
43. Petar HADZI-BOŠKOV (1928-2015)
Petar Hadzi Boškov is one of the most prominent Macedonian sculptors, one of the most significant modernists in Macedonian contemporary art, and an honorary member of MANU.
He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana, Department of Sculpture. Later, he specialized in sculpture at the Royal College of Fine Arts and the Slade School of Fine Arts in London.
In 1965/66, he was a visiting professor at the Cooper Union of Fine Arts in New York.
For many years, he was a professor at the School of Applied Arts in Skopje. In the period 1980-88, he was a full professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Skopje, where he was also the dean for 5 years.
A peer of the revolutionary and avant-garde pulsations in the artistic life of our country in the fifties of the 20th century, he made his work and the battle for independent sculptural articulation that author who had a great influence on the formation of Macedonian society as modern,
Hadzi Boškov’s influences mainly come from the world-famous sculptor Henry Moore, and for a certain period these two collaborated together.
He organized more than 30 solo exhibitions in Macedonia, in the areas of former Yugoslavia, in England, the USA, Turkey and Greece and participated in more than 300 group exhibitions in the country and abroad. In 1978 he was a participant in the International Biennale in Venice.
He realized 16 monumental monuments that were installed in Macedonia, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and France.
During fifty years of his fruitful work, he has also created around 2000 graphics and drawings.
He is the recipient of 30 national and international awards. His works are represented in state and private collections in Macedonia and around the world.
44. Dragan POPOVSKI – DADA (1933-
Dragan Poposki Dada was born in 1933, Prilep, Macedonia — Macedonian sculptor
He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts (1961) and completed postgraduate studies (1964) in Belgrade. He worked as a professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Skopje. He made study trips
to Greece, Italy, England, France, Germany, Poland, the USA.
Since 1965, he has held several solo exhibitions and participated in numerous group presentations in the country and abroad. He is the author of several monumental works and is the winner of several awards, including the highest republican award “October 11” in 1981.
The artistic development path of Dragan Poposki – Dada is long, with several developmental creative stages. His forms have specific inspirational sources in nature and the things that surround him, they are conveyed in the form of a light stylization, through more or less associative forms that select details to the point of minimizing their associativity. On the other hand, his figures are also subtly stylized, with a monumental feeling in the careful construction of the relationship of the masses.
Dragan Poposki – Dada is a doyen of Macedonian contemporary sculpture, who made a strong mark and left indelible traces in the development and international affirmation of Macedonian contemporary fine art
45. Dimo TODOROVSKI (1910-1983)
Dimo Todorovski, born in Thessaloniki, a prominent Macedonian a member and academician of the first generation of sculptors who founded the modern form of this fine art in Macedonia. He is the only sculptor who appeared in the country between the two world wars.
He studied in Belgrade, where he graduated from the Art School with an academic course, in the sculpture department. After returning to Macedonia, he participated in the establishment of the Art School in Skopje (where he was also a professor until his retirement), but also in the establishment of the Art Gallery in 1949. Todorovski was also a corresponding member of MANU, and died in Skopje in 1983. Even today, in the Trnodol neighborhood where he lived, his empty house with the studio stands, for which he left a bequest to be converted into a memorial home.
Dimo Todorovski, in addition to works with themes from the National Liberation War and social themes, also created portraits, among others, of his friends Nikola Martinoski, Lazar Ličenoski, and Ana Lipša Tofović. He is known as an author who was completely devoted to sculpture, to sculpting, although he faced many financial problems throughout his life. His older brother Pance Todorovski encouraged him to study, and due to lack of money, during his studies he also worked as a sign writer, at the Niš Theater, and as a set designer. As a student, he participated in competitions and received redemption prizes, but unfortunately, many of his sculptures from before World War II were destroyed. “In principle, he was a man with a big heart, he was not materialistic, he did not know how to put a price on his works. It was important to him that the work was beautiful, that it met his criteria”
The statue “Oro” on the Prilep square. A work from 1972
The National Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art contains several works by Dimo Todorovski, and some of his works are part of private collections. Moreover, as many as 90% of his works are made in plaster, only 10% are cast in bronze. The National Gallery houses 23 works by Todorovski, 17 of which are cast in bronze, four in plaster, and two made of terracotta. The Museum of Contemporary Art houses 25 of his sculptures, 22 in plaster and three in bronze. The monument to Meckin Kamen is the work of Dimo Todorovski, made in 1983. Also, one of his most significant works is the sculpture “Pit” which is kept in the Daut Pasha Hamam. Finally, he is the author of the monument to the NOV in Trnitz
46. Sasho POPOVSKI
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47. Boro MITRIĆEVSKI
He graduated from high school of art in Skopje in 1948/49. He received his first knowledge of sculpture from Professor Dimo Todorovski. He enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. He continued his education with Professors Grga Antunac and Andrija Krstulović. In 1954, he graduated in the class of Professor Vanja Radaš. He returned to Skopje where he worked and created continuously. He worked as an art teacher, and then as a freelance artist. From 1979 to 1984, he was the director of the Art Gallery “Daut-pašin amam” in Skopje, from which position he retired. He made study trips to numerous European and Asian countries. Academician Boro Mitriđeski has organized a large number of solo exhibitions, mainly in Macedonia and the former Yugoslav republics, and at group exhibitions he presented Macedonian sculpture in several art centers in our country and around the world, including Alexandria, Belgrade, Vienna, etc. He is a member of the Mugri group. In the past 60 years, Acad. Boro Mitrikeski has created over 350 works such as figures, nudes, compositions, torsos, then portraits and sculptures of small plastic (wood, marble and bronze). The 10 monuments and memorials he has created should be particularly emphasized, of which we will mention: “Zelezara”, a metal sculpture, Skopje; “Karposh” Monument, marble, Kratovo; NOB Monument, Delchevo; “Dojran” Fountain, Dojran; “Cyril and Methodius” Monument, bronze, “St. Cyril and Methodius” University, Skopje, etc. Acad. Mitrikeski is also actively involved in the so-called intimate plastic or sculpture in a gallery format. In his artistic expression, he uses durable materials such as bronze, marble and wood. Acad. Mitrikeski has directed his work in two directions: one is large plastic, and the second is intimate, i.e. the plastic of the interior, the so-called. gallery-format sculpture. In the portraits “My Mother”, “Blaže Koneski”, “Lazar Ličenoski”, “Petar Mazev” and others, he very successfully captures the character and psychological expression of the person, while the approach to the treatment of the plastic in the figure is stylized and simplified, with emphasized lyricism and softness, which persistently follow the structure of the material. Acad. Mitriđeski is inspired by both the closer and more distant national history, namely the sculptures and relief-portraits of St. Clement and St. Cyril and Methodius, then the portraits of the revivalists, especially the portrait and figure of Marko Cepenkov. Ilinden and the National Liberation War are present as a motif and permanent inspiration for the author. Boro Mitriđeski occupies a prominent place in Macedonian fine art as a member of the so-called middle generation of Macedonians.
Among the Macedonian painters and sculptors, a generation that brought radical changes to our plastic art, bringing it closer to the most significant current trends in contemporary European and American sculpture, he created portraits, chamber lyrical forms, reliefs, monumental sculptures and compositions that represent a lasting value of Macedonian sculpture in the past six decades.
Boro Mitrikeski is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions, including: the Republic Award “October 11”, the “Masters of Neres” award of DLUM, etc. He was elected a full member of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts on July 26, 1997. He died in Skopje on November 24, 2018.
48. Jordan Grabuloski – Grabul (1925-1986)
Jordan Grabulovski – Grabul, academic sculptor and member of MANU, graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade in 1952. He was on study trips to Italy, Greece, Egypt, Syria. He was the director of the School of Applied Arts in Skopje, President of DLUM, member of the art group “Denes”, correspondent h His artistic realizations, interwoven with motifs from social themes, themes from the New National Movement and themes from the post-war construction, are a lasting mark and confirmation of his creative potential.
Grabul is one of the founders of contemporary sculptural expression in Macedonia in the fifties and sixties of the 20th century, i.e. a representative representative of monumental sculpture in the post-war art of Macedonia and of minimalist sculpture.
He participated in several exhibitions in the country and abroad. He exhibited solo in Skopje (1966, 1970, 1986, 1988 — retrospective), Ohrid (1961), Paris (1985), and in group exhibitions in numerous cities around the world.
49. Blagoj ČUSKOV
Blagoj Čuskov born in 1936, in Štip, Macedonia — Macedonian sculptor.
Blagoj Čuskov is probably one of the most enigmatic sculptors and painters of Macedonian contemporary art. As a sculptor with an exceptional authorial identity, his works are part of numerous private and gallery collections around the world. Although a top representative of Macedonian modern sculpture, his sculptural works are not adequately exhibited and communicated in Macedonian national galleries, museums and institutions. Hence the urban myth of Blagoj Čuskov, a myth whose narrative presents him as an original, unrepeatable, unique and fascinating sculptor who does not fit into the canonical system of values. Chushkov’s opus actualizes, on the one hand, natural, human and traditional beauties, and on the other, emphasizes social anomalies. This opus is so rich that it can be read as an encyclopedia. It contains depictions of numerous human figures, especially women, mothers, saints, angels, refugees, dancers, musicians, players (trumpeters, trombonists, double bassists, kavalists) and then animal figures (cats, goats, bulls, sheep, horses, pigeons, roosters), all caught in flight, in movement, in transformation, that is, extremely dynamic, with a tendency to deform to the point of grotesqueness. His collection of terracotta birds, for example, is an aestheticized collection of rare endemic ornithological visions of the bird archetype, visually rich, tactilely malleable and each as if a world unto itself
Regional authors:
50. Ljubka KIRILOVA
On the occasion of celebrating its 20th anniversary, on December 13, 2011, an exhibition of sculptures by Ljubka Kirilova, a significant Bulgarian academic sculptor, was organized at “El Greco”.
51. Olya IVANITSKI
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52. Mersat BERBER
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