Work Ethic, 1979
About the Artist
MARIJAN KOCKOVIĆ, sculptor (1923–1991) was born in Zagreb on July 23, 1923 as the youngest child in the family. His mother Olga and his father Stjepan, were both teachers.
As he was born after his father’s death, the care for the entire family was taken by the mother. He attended the primary and the secondary school for teachers.
In 1942 he joins the partisans and soon becomes the political commissar of one of the battalions of the 13th Proletarian Brigade. During the II World War he was two times severely wounded. After the war he was honoured several times for his contribution to antifascism and earned the rank of captain in the Yugoslav Navy.
In 1947, after visiting the House of Navy in Split he turns to art, especially to sculpture. On several occasions he had visited the studio of Ivan Mirković, a sculptor from Split who taught him how to make clay models and this significantly influenced his future life orientation.
As a student of the Yugoslav Navy he was sent to the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, where he enrolled in 1947/48. His professors were Grga Antunac and Frano Kršinić.
Due to poor school attendance and failure to follow the Academy program schedule, he was dismissed from the class.
In spite of that, even without a diploma, he made the monument to the fallen soldiers (1949), still standing in the center of Sisak.
His wish was to complete his education so in 1950, he left the army and went to the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana where he was the best student in the class of professor Loboda.
In 1953 he graduated in the class of Professor Karel Putrih with best grades.
After having finished his studies at the Art Academy he moved to Sarajevo where he lived from 1953. to 1966. He worked as a professor of sculpture and art history as well as a freelance artist.
In 1966, after the Sarajevo period, he moved to Dubrovnik where he decided to spend his lifetime working. He built a beautiful house where he had a small studio and a gallery that gave him a sense of independence from the environment in which he lived. From 1968, he actively started to work with tapestries.
From 1970 using his great managerial abilities, he spends almost every year a few months in the United States where many of his works are being exhibited (mostly portraits and tapestries).
Many celebrities of that time, like Yul Brynner, the Yugoslav President Tito, Armand Hammer and many other famous people had their busts made by Marijan.
Since 1972 he is a professor of sculpture at the Summer School Hope College Holland, Michigan, held in Dubrovnik.
After having met Slobodanka Đokić, a young artist engaged in textiles design, in 1975 he enters his third marriage. They got two sons, Marijan (Maro) Kocković (1977) and Neven (Neno) Kocković (1978.).
Writing poetry was one of his passions so in 1978 were published two collections of his poems: the collection of war poems “With your name“and the collection of love poems “About a woman from the heart and chisel”.
He exhibited in more than 100 one man as well as group exhibitions all over the world.
On 30th of May, 1991, he committed suicide and one day after he died, his wife passed away after 9 years of struggle with cancer.
Their two sons grew up cherishing the memory of their father and in honor to his art on July 5, 2006 they reopened his atelier to the public under the name “Gallery Marijan” where occasionally they host other artists.
To Locate the Cache:
Visit the Posted Coordinates and do a little bit of figure’n
Final Coordinates N 43 1A.BCD W 079 5E.FGH
A= Third digit of the date this art work was created, according to the Bronze Plaque
B= The numerical value of the 8th (or 10th) digit on the 5th line of the Bronze Plaque. (eg, a=1, B = 2, C= 3 . . . .)
C= Ginkgo biloba First Digit (Take a look around, BugFinders loves his trees)
D= How many ears?
E= Take a look on the backside of the art piece (Look Closely). There is a series of letters, followed by two numbers. Take the second number, and add 1.
F= How many legs?
G= Take a look on the backside of the art piece (Look Closely). There is a series of letters, followed by two numbers. Find the numerical value of the second letter (eg, a=1, B = 2, C= 3 . . . .) - 1
H= Third digit of the date loaned to the Gallery of Hamilton - 1
Good Luck and Happy Caching!
Previous caches in this series:
Burlington Public Art - Orchids at Upper Middle (GC40DCA)
Burlington Public Art - Billy, Nanny and the Kids (GC44Y1X)
Burlington P. Art - Space Composition for Rebecca (GC47E6B)
Burlington Public Art - Lady of the Lake (GC4BK2E)
Burlington Public Art - 'Village Life' (GC4EDWW)
Burlington Public Art - Spiral Stela (Archived) (GC4KWV9)
Burlington Public Art - Krzysztof's Bench (GC501WJ)
Burlington Public Art - Spiral Stela (Multi) (GC5338W)
Burlington RBG Art - Pollinizers (GC5KD0Q)
Burlington Public Art - Central Park Labyrinth (GC6BXN7)
Burlington Public Art - Centennial Pathway Benches (GC6HE1Q)
Burlington Public Art - Log (GC6YTH9)