Dan Meluzin has not surrendered to the magnetic power of digital technologies, but rather to their consequences, the growing pressure of the world of media, advertising, celebrities, consumption and the related transformations of culture and the superficialization of the perception of social values. He presented himself as a vital, self-confident and provocative artist who revitalized painting through the triviality and shoddiness of his themes. He drew his inspiration from the work of Van Gogh, from his method of working with paint, color and light, as well as from classical and postwar Modernism, Pop art in particular, which he transformed in his own painting concept. Based on some Pop art practices he is usually referred to as a successor of Pop art, which, however, is only one aspect of his work. The fundamental connecting element is media, the world of advertising and consumer traps, of which Meluzín picked several basic themes: fruit, cakes, Milka chocolate, flowers, the world of women – perfume and lipstick, portraits, tennis. In composition solutions he uses the Pop art principle of series, repetition and the arrangement of paintings in rows one above the another. The mechanical technique refers to a stereotypical cliché which Meluzin counterbalances by his excellent painting. The subject of his paintings is elaborated from precise depictions up to free painting abstract structures, and collages of images... It features a wide range of techniques, from pure chiaroscuro through gestic painting, dripping, stains, pastes and collages. As an observer he records events and the consumption way of life benevolently, perhaps with elements of hedonism and indulgence. His relation to the phenomenon of painting and his ability to uncover such aspects can be related to the tradition of Flemish and Dutch colorists and painters of various types of still lifes. Meluzin does not assume a critical position, however the themes of his work allow spectators to discover hidden contexts.
Eva Trojanová
Dan Meluzin was born in Bratislava in 1974. From 1990 to 1999 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava in the studio of prof. Rudolf Sikora. During this time he also participated in internships at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania (1995), and at Cité Internationale des Arts Paris (1998 and 2000). He lives and works in Bratislava.
2019 Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum, Bratislava-Čunovo
2018 Savoy Gallery, Bratislava
2017 Golf Tour with Golf Revue, Slovakia, Austria
2014 Galéria Čin Čin, Bratislava
Francúzsky inštitút, Bratislava
Paneurópska univerzita, Bratislava
2011 Galéria Čin Čin, Bratislava
2010 Galéria Čin Čin, Bratislava
2009 Flóra, Piešťany
2007 Commerzbank, Bratislava
2006 SOGA, Bratislava
2005 Galéria SPP, Bratislava
2004 Strabag, Bratislava
2001 Východoslovenská galéria Košice
