MARC STRAUS

MARC STRAUS is pleased to announce an exhibition of new paintings by Croatian artist Zlatan Vehabovic. This will be the artist’s first solo exhibition in the US and will inaugurate the gallery’s new space at 299 Grand Street (between Allen and Eldridge).

Vehabovic is likely the most highly regarded young artist in Croatia having won First Prize for Zagreb Salon 2010, The International Association of Art Critics (AICA) Award 2010, as well as an Essl Award in 2007, (Emerging Artists in Southeast Europe) 2010, and with a solo exhibit in 2011 at Lauba Museum in Zagreb, and inclusion in many important group shows.

His new work has turned to figuration – here of younger adults at a moment of a highly charged interpersonal issue. It has a filmic and almost surreal quality and is basked in grey and dark hues. We have no other entry point and no further data but there is a sense that for these young people struggling with love and separation the emotional impact is largely new and raw.

Vehabovic earned his Ph.D. in painting at the vaunted Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb and he has taken the slow road embracing the great painting history of Western Europe where technique and paint application matter. These works up close are luscious, mature, and powerful.

Zlatan Vehabovic, b. 1982 Banja Luka, lives and works in Zagreb, Croatia. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. from the Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb, Croatia. Solo exhibitions include: Kranjcar Gallery, Zagreb (2011). Lauba House, MMC Luca, Pula (2010). HDLU, Zagreb (2009). Gallery Galzenica, Zagreb (2007). Gallery SC, Zagreb (2006). Selected group exhibitions include: Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb (2011). The Knoxville Museum of Art (2011). Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY (2010). Essl Museum (2009). Paolo Maria Deanesi Gallery, Rovereto Italy (2010). Museum of Contemporary Art, Pula (2009). Werket Museum, Avesta Sweden (2008). S&G Galleries, Berlin (2008).