Matko Vekic's (1970, Zagreb/Croatia) artistic strategy involves a wide range of traditional painting devices and witty formal gimmicks, even as engaging the other media in a meaningful dialogue. His interest has always been primarily in the structure of the chosen model, and he mostly works in large formats using a subdued palette, his manner displaying certain features of informel art, and using the roller, the spatual and stencils, as well as the brush. The propensity for foregrounding, reconciling, and interpretation of opposites has repeatedly been singled out as the defining trait of Vekic's work. There is an ongoing dialogue of concrete and abstract in his oeuvre, with the motifs, taken from nature and the city alike, interlinking in often extraordinary ways. © Petar Prelog
