Mihael Milunović

Mihael Milunović
Mihael Milunovic in 2017
Born (1967-07-02) July 2, 1967
Belgrade, Yugoslavia today Serbia
Nationality Serbian, French, Croatian
Education University of Arts in Belgrade
École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts
Known for Painting, Sculpture, Drawing, Photography
Movement Underrealism
Website https://www.mihaelmilunovic.com/
Mihael Milunović's work "Vision", Ringturm "wrapping", Vienna, 2017

Mihael Milunović (born 1967) is a Serbian, French and Croatian painter His work encompasses a wide range of artistic disciplines, from painting , drawing and photography through large-scale sculptures, installations, to sound, video and objects. His main interests focus on social and political issues. By decontextualizing everyday objects, symbols or situations, Milunović provokes unease in the observer, a blend of alienation and curiosity. His works are featured in prestigious museum collections including MUMOK, Vienna; Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade; Palazzo Forti, Verona ; and Musée d’Art et d’Industrie, Saint-Étienne, France. He participated in numerous individual and group exhibitions, among others: MUMOK Ludwig Museum Vienna; Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris; Musée d'art moderne (Saint-Étienne) ; Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade; The Stedelijk Museum , Aalst, Belgium; Esterhazy Foundation Schloss Esterházy, Eisenstaedt; Musee d'Art Modeste, Sete ; PAN Naples ; The Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel; The Biennials in Poznan and Valencia ; Wiener Secessionsgebäude, in Vienna, and others. In June 2017. Mihael Milunović's work "Vision/Blue Mountain" covered the highest building in Vienna over 4000m2, the Ringturm, seat of Vienna Insurance Group, marking the ten year jubilee of this company's art project "Wrapping of Ringturm". The ceremony was opened with a speech of Sebastian Kurz, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Republic of Austria.

Early life and education

Milunović was born in Belgrade, then capital of Yugoslavia, to Nikola Kolja Milunović and Ana Viđen. His father is a well known Serbian sculptor and first son of Milo Milunović (6 August 1897 – 11 February 1967), a distinguished Montenegrin painter that dabbled in both Impressionism and Cubism and was one of the founders of Academy of Arts, Belgrade in 1937; his mother Ana Viđen is herself a very well known sculptor of Croatian origin. As a child he spent most of his time dwelling in the sculpture studio of his parents, where he had his first encounter with art, and was thought drawing by his mother. Plaster and modelling clay were his first toys, and his early interest in machinery, carpentry and geography, as well as admiration for painters like Velázquez, Titian or metaphysical De Chirico, will clearly leave a mark in his future artistic development.

Milunović studied painting at the University of Arts in Belgrade and at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. He spent one year in the class of Vladimir Veličković at the latter, but his curiosity led him to collaborate also with other professors, notably Marina Abramović, who was visiting professor there in 1995, and Tony Brown. After his studies, Milunović remained in Paris, and made his first steps on the French contemporary art scene. In 1996 he was awarded Laureate of the prestigious Prix de la Fondation Renoir , that introduced him to Sophie Renoir, grand-grand daughter of Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and also to Maya Widmaier-Picasso, daughter of Pablo Picasso. This friendship greatly helped young Milunović in his first years in France. He spent almost two years (1997-1998) working in Renoir's studio in Essoyes, a small village on the southern brink of the Champagne region in France.

Period 1999-2009

Soon after his return to Paris, in 2000 he exposed his works in Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, within the exhibition "L'autre moitié de l'Europe", in a part curated by dr. Lorand Hegyi. Milunović met Lorand Hegyi during the show, and the long term collaboration was born. Milunović artworks were included the next year (2001) in MUMOK Museum Ludwig in Vienna, Austria and consequently in Collection Siemens AG in Vienna. He debuted with the Galerie Ernst Hilger, and continued working with him until 2004. Between 2001 and 2003, Milunović participated in a number of important group shows and Biennials, as it was case with Biennale of Valencia in 2003, together with Roman Opalka, Dennis Oppenheim and Ilya Kabakov. During this period Milunović also collaborated on number of exhibition projects with Cité des Sciences in Paris. Milunović moved from Paris to Saint-Etienne in France's, central region, where he developed projects with the École supérieure d'art et design Saint-Étienne, where he held an experimental class, and also many artistic and exhibition projects; he participated in several museum shows in Musée d'art moderne (Saint-Étienne) in 2004 (Passage d’Europe together with Anri Sala, Dan Perjovschi, Simon Hantai) and 2005 (Domicile, with Jan Fabre and others). He traveled and exhibited in South Korea (2006) and Italy, notably in Palazzo d'Arte di Napoli (PAN), and started working with Gallery Changing Role in Naples, Italy and Galerie Georges Verney-Carron in Lyon, France. In 2006 he founded NGO ProArtOrg that organised the first Belgrade show of an important american artist since the war in Yugoslavia 1991-1995. It was the show of Dennis Oppenheim followed by a series of lectures given by Thommas Messer, director emeritus of Guggenheim Foundation and dr. Lorand Hegyi, then director of Musée d'art moderne (Saint-Étienne). In 2007 he opened a show "Uncomfortable Realities" in Galerie Piece Unique in Paris, France, showing new sculptural works and works on paper. The show gained great attention. In 2008 he started a collaboration with Galerie Guy Baertschi from Geneva. In 2009 he moves again to Paris, only to complete a large sculptural work entitled “ Mothership”, realised with a group of de-scolarised children in Saint-Etienne and with a help of NGO Paria and city of Saint-Etienne.

Period 2009-2017

At the end of 2009 Milunović moves to Brussels, and start working in a large studio generously lent to him by art collector Galila Barzai Hollander. He is travelling very often to Serbia, where he is starting a number of curratorial projects with Museum of African Art, Belgrade, Mixer Festival and Parobrod Cultural Center. He is deeply involved in bringing the young artistic scene of Belgrade into the light. From 2010 to 2015 his working and living space mainly becomes Belgrade, where he also rented a large working space. He started to paint large scale paintings that were shown in Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade in 2014, and consequently became part of important art collections (Collecion Solo, Wiener städtische, Esterhazy). In 2015 he returns to Paris, where he lives and works since.

Mihael Milunović, "Pact", 200x250cm, oil on canvas, 2014
Mihael Milunović, "Assembly", 56x76cm, china ink on paper, 2014
Mihael Milunović, "Succession", inox steel and plywood, 2007
Mihael Milunović, "Blue Tank", 200x250cm, oil on canvas, 2014
Mihael Milunović, "Boxers", 56x76cm, china ink on paper, 2012
Mihael Milunović, "Oblivion", 200 x 250cm, oil on canvas, 2014

Education

1987 - 1995 University of Arts in Belgrade (Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in Fine Arts).
1995 - 1996 Specialized Studies at École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts (ENSBA), Paris, France, class of professor Vladimir Veličković.

Exhibitions

Group shows: MUMOK Ludwig Museum Vienna; Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris, France; Musée d'art moderne (Saint-Étienne), France; Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade, Serbia; Stedelijk Museum, Aalst, Belgium ; Esterhazy Foundation, Eisenstaedt, Austria ; Musee d'Art Modeste, Sete, France; PAN Naples , Italy; The Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany; The Biennials in Poznan, Poland and Valencia, Spain ; Wiener Secessionsgebäude, in Vienna, Austria and others.

Individual exhibitions: Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade, Serbia, Fondazione Mudima , Milan, Italy; Gallery Piece Unique , Paris, France; Galerie Art Baertschi & Co , Geneva, Switzerland; Georges Verney Carron, Lyon, France; Voice Gallery, Marrakech, Morocco and others.

Collections

His works are present in the permanent collections of the MUMOK - Museum Ludwig in Vienna; Musee d'Art et d'Industrie, Saint-Etienne , France; Collection Moët & Chandon, LVMH, France; Collection Siemens AG, Vienna, Austria; Sammlung Esterhazy, Eisenstadt, Austria; Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade, Serbia; Collecion Solo, Madrid; Collection Telenor,, Belgrade, Serbia; Collection Renoir, France; Collection Maya Picasso, France; Collection Leube, Salzburg; Collection Palazzo Forti, Verona, Italy; Collection Azraq - fondation Alliances , Marrakech, Morocco; Collection Barzai-Hollander, Brussels; Collection Wiener Städtische, Austria and Serbia; as well as in many other private and public art collections around the world.

References

    Sources

    This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.