Nik Markovina was born in Croatia, former Yugoslavia on the island of Korcula in 1959. His family emigrated to Australia in 1961. During his school years, he demonstrated a flair for creative expression.
Following the completion of formal education in 1976, Nik pursued his artistic ability with dedication. At home, he worked on developing a unique creative style, which a combination of surreal and industrial art. Nik paints from imagination; his characters and social settings symbolize his feelings on human vexation and self-gratification. Sometimes dark and depressing, at other times, sensual and full of hope; life itself.
In the early nineties, while working as labourer with his father, Nik dug up some rusty pieces of steel in a trench. This was the catalyst for a new direction. The painted images began to appear as three dimensional forms initially in welded steel, then later in stainless steel. In this new medium, Nik found a new way of expressing himself. The paintings were emotionally torturous, whereas the sculptures are physically exhausting. Most sculptures are linked to particular paintings. For example the painting “Birth of a nightmare” came to life as a 1.5 m, 60 kg steel sculpture.
At present, Nik is in a constant creative cycle involving painting, drawing, sculpting and stainless steel jewelry.
Nik’s feelings on painting and creating:
“ Some of the images appear as I’m painting. In other situations, paintings are planned in my mind for several days, months or years before they are refined and appear on canvas. Some build up from sketches, which I filter through and later expand upon when painting. I often paint a series of images over a few months.” The same process applies to his sculptures.