June 30 – August 30, 2009
It seems Zoran Mojsilov, a Serbian born and raised in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, was born an artist. At a young age, Mojsilov found himself drawn to making things. He became a toymaker for the neighborhood children at the age of two. By the time he entered his teens, he already understood that he wanted to be an artist, focusing his craft on carved wood. He studied art in Yugoslavia at the University of Belgrade from 1975 to 1979. He moved to Minneapolis in the mid-1980s where he worked as a carpenter. In 1990, Mojsilov opened his first solo museum exhibition of drawings and wood sculpture at the North Dakota Museum of Art. By 1995, granite fieldstone became Mojsilov’s next best material to combine with wood or to enclose with steel.
The exhibit features stone, steel, and wood sculptures as well as charcoal studies of the sculptures. Museum curator, Laurel Reuter states, “Mojsilov’s art is neither for the timid nor those who prize craftsmanship, sleek design, and fine finishes. Rather, this artist traffics in awkwardness, in precarious balances, in authority born of strength, and in power born of wisdom.”
Installation Images
Zoran Mojsilov, Balkan, 1996
Limestone & Wood, 7′ x 7.5′ x 5.5′
Zoran Mojsilov, Pig’s eye, 2009
Wood, 15′ x 7.5′ x 6.5′