NIKOLA VUDRAG

Sculptor Nikola Vudrag, 29, enrolled at the Academy of Applied Arts in Rijeka, but changed direction during his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, where he was named best student of 2012. Most of his work is in Corten steel, with traditional iron, bronze and aluminum. The large-format iron portraits, which were a great success in Paris, since practically everything was sold, are made on a polystyrene structure that serves as a template and contains a multitude of small iron bars onto which the metal is then welded. Vudrag finishes some of his sculptures with a gold coating. Vudrag's best-known work among Croatians is his Nikola Tesla sculpture. Made of metal, it has been on show in a large multimedia exhibition at the Croatian House of Fine Arts in Zagreb since 2017 and will be exhibited during 2019 in New York. Vudrag is also known for co-creating the 12-meter-high sculpture of Our Lady of Loreto in Primošten. During the two-day show in Paris, the exhibition was visited by representatives of the Notre-Dame de Lorette church in Paris, who suggested that Vudrag sketch a sculpture for this neoclassical church in the center of Paris.