The Forgotten at MCA
Mihajlo Arsovski is the first author in the Forgotten Macedonian Artists series. The aim of this series is to highlight the significance of the Macedonian artists who have contributed to the establishment of the art scene outside their homeland, yet, unfortunately, have not received sufficient exposure or been paid the homage they certainly deserve within it. Artists who must not fall into oblivion, not only due to the cultural legacy they have bequeathed, but also for the sake of future generations who can thus familiarise themselves with these artists, possibly for the first time.
Therefore, MCA will make efforts towards presenting an author each year.
Influences
On the one hand, the ‘50s wave of poster art, as a mainstream and subculture that developed despite the pressure exerted by Polish communism, and on the other, the onset of pop culture in the USA, of course, was an imperative for a great deal of the artists in then SFRY to create works under the sway of the new waves. In the ‘60s, the advent of total design as a systematic methodological form of design, had an integrative influence on Mihajlo Arsovski (tickets, invitations, posters, interior design), who was guided by personal experiences and needs in the shaping of the art scene.
Mihajlo Arsovski was born in Skopje on 9 July 1937 to a family of left-wing photographers, who moved to Zagreb after World War II. Towards the middle of the 1960s he had already started creating his distinctive visual language by fusing collage, photomontage, typographic quotes, frequently underscoring precisely the pictorial and visual impact. He is one of the most authentic pioneers of 1960s graphic design, recognised for his bold visual solutions, whose innovativeness can be identified even in present-day Croatian designers. By compounding images of high and pop culture he is certainly the originator of postmodernism in graphic design. His oeuvre is typified by his explicit personal views, resistance to conventional rendition, and his brave critical distance from the fine arts scene of his day.
“The Macedonian art scene can and should learn how to broaden its curriculum, both artistic and educational, as a foundation for its future development. Arsovski at Home is an idea that I had established in my mind in 2014. Its final implementation at the MCA makes me particularly proud, because this is how the recent history of the Museum is being written, as part of the newly opened Department of Architecture and Design, which will offer a museological processing of works in the fields of design and architecture and their appropriate treatment. It is never too late…” – said Laze Tripkov, Director at Museum of Contemporary Art.
More about the exhibition: Mihajlo Arsovski – Posters
