Gligor Stefanov
born in 1956 in Skopje, Jugoslavia (today N. Macedonia), lives in Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Grabing of the Space, 1985
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MoCA Skopje
Gligor Stefanov is one of the most prominent Macedonian artists since the early 1980s. Even after graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade in 1981, the artist treated sculpture as a developed installation of objects. By the mid-1980s, he had created several installations and assemblages from cotton, straw, grass, clay, and wood, in both public and gallery spaces.
“Grabbing in Space” is one of the most significant works from the artist’s “Dragons” series (1984–1988). Its accumulated linear elements, made of straw, represent a claw-like hand in motion. Begun after Gligor Stefanov received his master’s degree in Belgrade in 1985, the work was first shown as part of his solo exhibition in 1986 at the MoCA Skopje. The success of the exhibition and the support from MoCA Skopje resulted in the artist being selected as the first representative of the Pavilion of the independent Republic of Macedonia at the 45th Venice Biennale in 1993.
The MSS-Skopje purchased the work in 1986, at a time when Gligor Stevov was rapidly rising on the Yugoslav art scene. Since then, the work “Rape in Space” has been regularly featured in group exhibitions.