# Mira Gojak

Mira Gojak is an Australian artist who was born in Adelaide in 1963 and now works in Melbourne. Her sculptures are like linear drawings in space, tracing the forces of gravity and suspension that we can feel. They create a sense of inside and outside space. Gojak is also known for her drawings. She has been awarded several times and has exhibited widely in Australia as well as Hong Kong.

## Biography and education

In Adelaide, Gojak's immigrant parents were active in the Catholic Slovenian and Croatian community. Mira has said that she felt she grew up in two different cultural and social worlds. Her mother wanted her to be a doctor, and Mira achieved First Class Honours and a Bachelor of Science in Zoology and animal behaviour Psychology, but Mira found during practical work that she was not happy in the world of zoology. She began to think that art would give her freedom so she went to Melbourne to study Art.
In 1989 she finished an advanced Certificate in Art and Design at Prahran TAFE, Melbourne. In 1990 she matriculated at the Victorian College of the Art, Melbourne where she graduated in 1992 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting). From 2014 she began work on a PhD at Monash University in Caufield, Victoria Her skills have been recognized by grants, prizes and residencies. In 2004 she received an Arts Victoria Art Development Grant for $10,000. From 2004 to 2006 Mira was a studio Artist and the Gertrude Street Contemporary Art Spaces in Melbourne. In 2011 She received an Arts Victoria Grant for $12,500 and in 2014 received another Grant for an exhibition as a Studio Artist at Gertrude Street Contemporary Art Spaces.
In 2005 she won the Maddock's Art Prize, from the Australia Council for the Arts. This prize is granted every two years go emerging artists, and is sponsored by the Maddock law firm.
In 2012 her work was included in 101 Contemporary Australian Artists, published by the National Gallery of Victoria.
In 2014 Mira spent several months in Barcelona where she photographed the sky enclosed by her studio window and crisscrossed with airplane vapour trails. The photographs became the seeds for the series of blue yarn works she exhibited in 2016.

## Works

Her sculptures, which often include colour, are like her drawings on paper that are only in black-and-white. Mira admits that if she finds herself tiring on one medium, she begins to work on the other.
Her works are very linear in both drawing and sculpture. When asked what attributes of line were important, she replied:
   "Fluidity and movement, the ability to scramble fixed boundaries, by eradicating boundaries or making them permeable or resetting and clarifying the boundary itself."
She has also used yarn and wound it to create a mass of line, suggesting a line of great distance, that is wrapped around parts of linear sculptures.
Images of her works shown in 2018 can be seen at https://buxtoncontemporary.com/exhibitions/the-garden-of-forking-paths-mira-gojak-and-takehito-koganezawa/

## Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions :
| 2018 | The Garden of Forking Paths, Buxton Contemporary, Melbourne |
| 2016 | Distant Measures, Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Melbourne |
| 2015 | Erased blue, brackets and arrows, Murray White Room, Melbourne |
| 2011 | Transfer stations, Murray White Room, Melbourne |
| 2010 | Mira Gojak. Presented by Monash University Museum of Art, Curated by Kirrily Hammond, Switchback Gallery, Gippsland Centre for Art & Design, Monash University |
| 2009 | Another ground, Murray White Room, Melbourne |
| 2007 | Cave, Block Projects, Block Place, Melbourne |
| 2006 | Too Near, Too Far, Monash University Museum of Art presentation at the Melbourne Art Fair, Melbourne |
| 2005 | Time and Time Again, CLUBS Project Inc, Melbourne |
| 2004 | Stranded, Studio 12, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne |
| 2004 | Stranded, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, ACT |
| 2002 | Wax me to the vapour and dusk, sometimes. Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne |
| 2002 | Sorrow is no friend of mine, First Floor, Melbourne |
| 2000 | Encounter, First Floor, Melbourne |
| 1998 | Between the Street Lights & the Dark Trees, First Floor, Melbourne |
| Selected group exhibitions ||
| 2019 | The National 2019, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney |
| 2018 | Murray White Room, Melbourne Art Fair, Melbourne |
| 2017 | Future Eaters, MUMA, Monash University, Melbourne Murray White Room, Spring1883, Sydney |
| 2015 | Murray White Room, Art Basel Hong Kong 2015 |
| 2014 | The Piranesi Effect, Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne |
| 2014 | Different Strokes, Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, NSW |
| 2013 | Melbourne Now, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Murray White Room, Sydney Contemporary 13, Sydney Burying Time, Breenspace, Sydney |
| 2010 | Freehand: Recent Australian drawing, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne Contemporary Encounters: A selection of works from the Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne CHANGE, an inaugural MUMA Caulfield exhibition, Monash University Museum of Art, Caulfield Campus, Monash University There’s no time: John Spiteri, Mira Gojak, Bradd Westmoreland, KarlWiebke, The Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne |
| 2009 | Building a Collection, National Gallery of Victoria International, Melbourne GROUP 02, Murray White Room, Melbourne PREVIEW 09, Murray White Room, Melbourne |
| 2007 | A Selection of Recent Acquisitions, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne Materiality, Curated by Kirrily Hammond, Monash University Museum of Art at Gippsland Centre for Art & Design Line between night and day, Collaboration with musicians and composer for Musicircus, Melbourne Festival A Bridge Too Far, Curated by Jacqueline Doughty, Alliance Francaise, Melbourne Too Near, too far, Melbourne-Milan artist exchange, Curated by Chiara Agnello & Roberta Tenconi, Milan, Italy |
| 2006 | Before the Body-Matter, Curated by Geraldine Barlow, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne |
| 2005 | Fellow Anthropoid, Curated by Philip Watkins, Contemporary Art Services Tasmania (CAST), Hobart Nothing before, nothing after, with Alexander Pittendrigh, RMIT Project Space & Spare Room Gallery, Melbourne Pitch Your Own Tent / Art Projects/ Store 5/ 1st Floor, Curated by Max Delany, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne NEW05, Curated by Max Delany with Mutlu Cerkez, Destiny Deacon, James Lynch, Stuart Ringholt, Kathy Temin, ACCA, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne |
| 2004 | The Blindside Effect, Curated by Christine Morrow with David Atkenson, PJ Hickman and Asim Memishi, Blindside, Nicholas Building, Melbourne Southern: A Show Of 10 Australian Artists, Curated by Nicole Tomlinson & Kristi Monfries with David Rozetsky, David Noonan, Sean Meilak, Andrea Tu, Richard Butler-Bowden, Kirsten Berg & Paul Sloan. Home Gallery, Prague |
| 2002 | Why do birds suddenly appear, Curated by Clare Firth-Smith with Kate Daw, Andrew McQualter, James Lynch, Nick Managan, Boutwell Draper Gallery, Sydney New drawings, Curated by Mark Misic with Alex Pittendrigh, Louise Paramour, Louise Forthum, Lisa Young, Mass Gallery, Melbourne |
| 2000 | USEby Asia Pacific Artist Initiatives Project, Curated by Tessa Dwyer & Sarah Tutton, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne |
| 1999 | Nearest Habitat System. Curated by Eliza Hutchinson, with Alex Knox, Alex Pittendrigh, David Noonan & Simon Trevaks, First Floor, Melbourne |
| 1999 | Rubik #3, Video vs Watercolour, Curated by Rubik with Julia Gorman, James Lynch, David Noonan, Ricky Swallow, Andrew McQualter studio, Melbourne |
| 1998 | City Lights 2000: Opening Group Show, Hosier Lane, Melbourne |
| 1998 | Rubik #1 Launch, Grey Area Art Space Inc, Melbourne |
| 1998 | We Are Electric, Curated by David Rosetzky with Andrew McQualter, Foyer/ lightwell, Arts Victoria, Melbourne |
| 1997 | Another Green World, With Andrew McQualter, First Floor, Melbourne |
| 1997 | Chemistry, With Alexander Pittendrigh & Richard Butler-Bowden, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne |
| 1996 | Paint ! Sutton Gallery, Melbourne |
| 1994 | Opening Group Show :Launch of First Floor, First Floor, Melbourne |

## Collections

Art Gallery of New South Wales