Mate Turić was born in 1987 in Zagreb. He is better known under his artistic name Mata
CROata. He completed the Academy of Fine Art (ALU) in Široki Brijeg. He most frequently
works in spatial relief. He mostly works with stone, producing his signature, hand-made
sculptures in his cutting style. .In 2015, he was the recipient of the Artist on Globe Award as
the best young artist in Croatia. In 2016, he won the Artist on Globe Award for exhibition of
the year in Croatia. In 2018, he won an award at the Moslavečki Štrk international exhibition
of miniatures in Popovača. He also won two awards in a public anonymous competition for a
monument to war veterans in Dugo Selo. He has had more than 40 independent exhibitions in
stone, and has created more than 1,000 different stone sculptures, mostly of sailboats, which
in the future might be a possible design idea for large public sculptures.
All of the sculptures that he has created in the last six years are signature works and are linked
as a whole and can be viewed in an atelier.
He has had several exhibits in Zagreb, and also in Vrbovec, Dugo Selo, Sesvete Vienna,
Dubrovnik and others city.
More recently, he has introduced new motifs into his work and is now producing signature
works of stone yachts.
It is also important to mention that Mata CROata is producing sculptures in spatial relief for a
reason, trying to reduce a sculpture to a single point of view - because in the storminess of life
people want to see things as quickly as possible. People are increasingly moving to the cities
and live in apartments, and they do not have enough space for sculptures that they can walk
around. In his work, he often emphasizes a strong symbolism, trying to say a lot with a little,
just like major global companies want to reduce their whole company to a unique and
recognizable logo.
This year (2020) Mate Turić (Mata CROata) will be exhibithing at the Salon d'Automne.
You can find more information about the artist at www.matacroata.com or on Google: Mata
CROata / Mate Turić.
