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Biography

Damir Mataušić

Was born in 1954 in the city of Zagreb, Croatia. In 1979 he graduated from the Sculpture Department of the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb where he studied under Prof. Želimir Janeš. Since 1973, when he produced his first medal, medals and small plastics have been primary forms of his artistic expression. 

Currently his opus includes over 650 double-sided medals and small plastics, more than 200 medals in gold or silver, as well as about a dozen award medals in the field of culture, science, sports and public life.

Damir is also the author of forty two circulating and commemorative coins of various denominations in the Republic of Croatia and a 15 € coin of the Republic of Ireland.

In public venues he created commemorative plastics in memory to Pope John Paul II in the town of Omišalj, a sculpted section model of the city of Zagreb, Bumbo’s Meadow placed in Bundek Park in Zagreb, and A Grain of Salt for the municipality of Ston.

He is the author of several ecclesiastical works like the altar, altar cross and Way of the Cross for the Church of Blessed Augustin Kažotić in Zagreb; the reliquary of St. Emeric in the Church of St. Emeric in the Šestine neighborhood of Zagreb, and the entire interior of the Chapel of Mary, Mother of the Church, of the Theological Faculty in Đakovo, consisting of the altar, five altar reliefs, ambo, tabernacle, eternal light, procession cross, altar and Easter candlestick, baptismal font, ceiling relief, throne, benches and kneelers, window drawings and engravings, lighting and the overall layout. A special monograph, Mary, Mother of the Church: The Chapel of the Catholic Theological Faculty in Đakovo was published related to the project.

Damir Mataušić has exhibited since 1974 and has held twenty five solo exhibitions. The most significant were critical retrospectives in the Modern Gallery in Zagreb (2020) and the City Museum in Osijek (2013), an exhibition in the Forum Gallery (2010), a monograph exhibition in the Klovićevi Dvori Gallery in Zagreb (2000) and an exhibition in the Dolenjska Museum in Slovenia (2003).

He participated in more than a hundred group exhibitions, including the International Art Medal Federation (FIDEM) exhibitions in Paris, London, Budapest, Neuchatel, Den Haag, Lisbon, Colorado Springs, Glasgow, Sofia and Ottawa) and sculpture exhibitions in Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Switzerland, Italy, Hungary and America. He won competitions announced in Austria (2000) and Japan (2001). In 1996 was awarded by the President of the Republic of Croatia with the Order of the Croatian Morning Stafor for his Cultural Achievements and has won the Grand Prize at the Thirteenth Ivo Kerdić Memorial Exhibition in 2019. He also completed projects for the state mints in Vienna, Cardiff and Budapest. 

About his work were published three monographs : Damir Mataušić by author Feđa Vukić, published by the Croatian Graphic Institute in 1993; Medaljer Damir Mataušić by esteemed author Bogdan Mesinger published in 1998 by the Garestin Gallery in Varaždin and the Klovićevi Dvori Gallery in Zagreb; and Damir Mataušić also made by author Bogdan Mesinger with complete bibliography and list of works published in 2010 by Školska Knjiga in Zagreb.

 Damir Mataušić has ben a member of several university bodies, administrative and artistic councils and served on juries at competitions of national or local significance (Assistant Dean of Administration and Finance of the Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb; President of the Jury for the Vladimir Nazor Award in Fine and Applied Arts, President of the Rector’s Collegium of the University of Zagreb, member of the Budget Committee of the University of Zagreb, member of the Arts Council of the Ivo Kerdić Memorial in Osijek, member of the Governing Board of the Modern Gallery in Zagreb, member of the Arts Council of the University of Zagreb, member of the University Commission for Postgraduate Specialized Studies and member of the  Parent Commision for the Interdisciplinary Domain).   

He taught  thirty students at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb who have succesfully graduated, more than three hundred students have attended his elective courses and twenty five international students (Europe, America, China, Egypt, Australia and other countries) have attended his courses as part of the Erasmus Student Exchange Project.

 

On the position of a tenure professor he teaches Small Plastics and Medal Making for undergraduate and graduate student san well as post graduate specialist and doctoral studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb at the Sculpture Department.  

Damir Mataušić lives and works in Zagreb.