Denis Kraškovič
Croatia
Denis Krašković was born in 1972 in Zagreb, where he finished the School of Applied Arts and Design. He graduated in sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 1994, in the class of Professor Stanko Jančić.
In 2012, he completed a master’s degree in sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana, under the mentorship of Professor Jože Barši.
He started teaching in 1997 sculpture-related subjects at the School of Applied Arts and Design in Zagreb. In 2008, he first became an assistant professor and later an associate professor at the Department of Fine Arts of the Academy of Arts and Culture in Osijek.
As part of his work as a teacher, he founded the Jarčevac International Student Fine Arts Workshop (wood sculpting), and led many other creative projects for students.
In 2015 and 2016, he was a visiting professor at the Department of Sculpture of the Faculty of Music and Visual Arts in Pécs, Hungary.
He is the recipient of many awards and recognitions for his work as both an artist and a teacher. He won, amongst others, the 2000 Grand Prix at the Youth Salon in Zagreb, the 2015 Grand Prix at the Zagorje Art Salon, the Special Jury Prize at the XI. Triennial of Croatian Sculpture in 2012, and was awarded the second prize at The Residents video competition in Olomouc, the Czech Republic.
His Journey to the End of the World of General Umberto Nobile’s Expedition was ranked by Q Strip magazine in 2015 amongst the top five Croatian comic books of all time.
He has exhibited at numerous solo and group exhibitions in both Croatia and abroad – from Zagreb, Split, Rijeka, Osijek, Pula, Dubrovnik, to Berlin, Budapest, Turin, Prague, Krakow, Vienna, Los Angeles, Johannesburg, etc.
He is the author of fascinating public sculptures, such as The Whale sculpture on Jarun Lake, The Walrus and The Lamb sculptures outside the Arena in Zagreb, and two monumental sculptures, Neanderthal I and II, in Krapina. His public wooden sculptures Goodness in Kostanjevica on the Krka River and A Monument to a Happy Childhood in Kočevje in Slovenia should also be singled out.
He has been a member of the Croatian Freelance Artists’ Association since 2019 and has worked as a freelance artist ever since.