Couch Potatoes

Artist: Art Zoran Mojsilov

Commissioned by: North Dakota Museum of Art

Installation: 1998-2002

Medium: Charcoal Granite from Cold Springs, MN

Location: North Dakota Museum of Art

Couch Potatoes is an installation of three stone benches in the form of large boulders located in the southwest corner of the Museum Garden. Mojsilov, a Yugoslavian artist who lives in Minneapolis, was commissioned to create the stone benches in memory of Irving A. and Constance K. Johnson, parents of Lois Johnson, artist; Elaine Lau McKenzie, long time Museum employee; and George A. Wallace, father of Museum Director Laurel Wallace Reuter. The memorial to Elaine McKenzie was funded by those who worked with her during the founding years of the institution where she was a much beloved secretary and assistant to the director. 

About the artist: Born in Serbia, Zeran Mojsilov attended the University of Belgrade from 1975 to 1979. He later emigrated to the United States and now resides in Minnesota. Since the late 1980s, Mojsilov has regularly shown his sculptures at galleries, college campuses, and museums in this country, including such noted art institutions as DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park in Massachusetts, and Socrates Sculpture Park in New York. Recent one-person shows were given to Mojsilov by the Art Gallery at Rochester Community and Technical College, the Conkling Gallery at Mankato State University, and Thomas Barry Fine Arts, all in Minnesota. His sculptures are in collections at the North Dakota Museum of Art, South Bend Art Center in Indiana, and Runnymeade Sculpture Farm in California, among others. He was commissioned to create the Camden Gateway Project, Minneapolis, in 1996. Cuckoo's Nest was previously installed at Pier Walk '98, an international exhibit of outdoor sculpture held annually in Chicago since 1995.