Metro Pictures presents David Maljkovic’s first solo exhibition at the gallery January 17 – February 21, 2009. Maljkovic’s films, collages, sculpture and installations deal with the Modernist remnants of Socialist Yugoslavia and their echoes in the present.

This exhibition focuses on the politicization of abstraction in Yugoslavia in the mid-twentieth century, specifically EXAT-51, a group of artists active in Zagreb from 1950 to 1956 formed to protest the dominance of officially sanctioned Socialist Realism and the condemnation of all forms of abstraction. Maljkovic has created two new films for the show. “Images With Their Own Shadows” was shot at the museum/estate of EXAT-51 founding member Vjenceslav Richter and uses audio from a final interview with the artist and architect. Another film, “Retired Form,” was shot in Memorial Park Dotscina in Zagreb around a futuristic monument by artist Vojin Bakic. The films and related collages and sculptures will be presented within an architectural installation created by the artist.

Born in 1973 in Rijeka, Croatia, Maljkovic currently lives and works in Zagreb. Recent solo exhibitions include P.S. 1, New York; The Whitechapel Gallery, London; Kunstverein, Hamburg; CAPC, Bordeaux; and Kunstverein Nürnberg. Recent group exhibitions include “Eyes Wide Open,” Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; “The Violet Hour,” Henry Art Gallery, Seattle; and the 5th Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art.