For HOT MESS, Lovro Artuković is presenting drawings with charcoal on paper. These are staged images with himself and his friends posing for his artworks during the lockdown. The artist is interested in the tension between the artificiality of drawing and the efforts that are made to reproduce something in reality or to represent the real. Theatrical impressions of these drawings are underlined by the choice of costumes for those portrayed and depiction of natural elements around them.
Lovro Artuković (b. 1959 in Zagreb ) is a painter and graphic artist based in Berlin. After graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, he continues to both create and work as an assistant professor at the same institution. In 2001 he moved to Berlin, where he further developed his artistic practice. Artuković is recognized as one of the most significant Croatian and European figurative painters by both cultural professionals and the public. His works are part of the collections of highly acclaimed institutions, most notably: Albertina Modern in Vienna, Deutsche Bank Kunsthalle in Berlin, Museum of Modern Art Split, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Rijeka, and private collections in Zagreb, Vienna, Zurich, Berlin, and New York. He has recently exhibited as solo shows in Berlin at Atelier (2019), Oblik (2019), Galerie subjectobjext (2018), Galerie Kairos (2017) and group shows in Zagreb at Moderna Galerija (2019), Contemporary Art Museum of Zagreb (2019), Plavi Salon (2019) and at the Contemporary Art Museum of Rijeka (2018). He was awarded with the prestigious Croatian prizes T-HT Award in 2015 and the Annual Award from the Croatian Association of Artists (HDLU) in 2001, as well as the Audience Award at Deutsche Bank KunstHalle in 2013.
Charcoal on paper
115 x 80.5 cm