WORDS OF WISDOM IN MONACO
: You were then a graphic designer before you started as an artist ?
MM : Yes , for seventeen years I ’ ve been contributing to various publications including the ‘ La Gazette de Monaco ’. I was also into interior design , making lay-outs for the clients to see my work . I finished up in Nice thanks to a friend who invited me to decorate the Congress Centre ( Palais des Expositions ) for a retro car show . I fell in love with Nice and the French Riviera , and settled down here . A printer I was working with lent me a room not far from the Congress Centre .
: How did your passion for sculpture come about ?
MM : One day I had had enough of making lay-outs . They have let me master the concept of volume , however . I thus had the idea of getting into sculpture . My first works were produced in a small apartment in Beaulieu where I lived before moving to Nice . My first client actually owned that place . He fell in love with two of my ‘ ladies ’, ‘ La rockeuse sur la
© Matéo Mornar
© Matéo Mornar
A grandiose project of ‘ habitable ’ sculpture ‘ La tour de la paix ’ (‘ The Peace Tower ’)
Prince Rainier really appreciated my work . He called me ‘ my little Croatian ’.
A bronze statue , a tribute to the marriage of Prince Albert II and Princess Charlène main ’ and ‘ Sophie ’. He let me live there for free for a year so that I could carry on with my work .
: For years your universe was exclusively populated by women . Why this predilection ?
MM : Women are life . I was disappointed by some , so I decided to sublimate them through my sculptures .
: They seem very fleshy and yet light ...
MM : My women are both fleshy and airy . I still want them protective and loving . I believe that the most beautiful dancers are well-rounded ...
: You mentioned you were disappointed . What about your private life ?
MM : I have succeeded in my professional career and I am surrounded by some good
Hello Monaco Spring 2021 / 29 www . hellomonaco . com