Eva & Franco Mattes

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Darko Maver (1998-99)

In 1998 we invented a reclusive artist named Darko Maver. His life was set in former Yugoslavia and heavily influenced by the ongoing war.

 

 

Eva & Franco Mattes, Darko Maver

 

 

His early works were life-size sculptures supposedly made of wax, rubber and fabric.

 

 

Eva and Franco Mattes, Darko Maver

Darko Maver (Dead Hand)

 

 

Eva and Franco Mattes, Darko Maver

Darko Maver (Fetus n.1)

 

 

Eva and Franco Mattes, Darko Maver

Darko Maver (Fresh Flesh)

 

 

He roamed ex-Yugoslavia depositing gruesomely realistic puppets of murder victims in abandoned buildings and hotel rooms. The models were so realistic that they apparently shocked the people who found them.

 

 

Eva and Franco Mattes, Darko Maver

Darko Maver (Deposition)

 

 

Eva and Franco Mattes, Darko Maver

Darko Maver (Ecce Homo)

 

 

Eva and Franco Mattes, Darko Maver

Darko Maver (Skinned Rembrandt)

 

 

work maver exhib bologna

 

 

 

maver exhib bologna 2

Darko Maver Censored Works, installation view, Bologna (1999)

 

 

work maver maver dead

 

 

Darko Maver died in April 1999 in the Podgorica prison during the NATO bombing. The photo of his death circulated widely in the media. Soon after Maver’s death a string of posthumous shows culminated in the 48th Venice Biennale.

 

 

work maver exhib biennale

Installation view, Italian Pavilion, 48th Venice Biennale (1999)

 

 

After the show we publicly claimed we had invented his life and artworks. No sculpture ever existed, the images documenting his artworks were photos of real atrocities found on the internet.

 

 

work maver press

Press clippings before and after theĀ unveiling

 

 

blog exhib pre owned

Installed at Cell Project Space, London