At about the end of my artistic residence in New York, as a result of a surplus of spare time, and prompted by a kind of abstract melancholy, I spontaneously started whistling along to Need Your Love So Bad, a blues standard best known in the Fleetwood Mac version of 1968. This leisurely household activity was the prototype for a public performance that consists of ten three minute variations on the theme, correlating the artificial surrogate of the blue genre with the serialism of the artistic avant-gardes. Leisurely improvised whistling replaces the hyper-emotional electrical guitar solo, while the readymade MIDI accompaniment taken from YouTube substitutes for the delicate musicality of the Fleetwood Mac rhythm section. Nevertheless, in this minimalistic instrumental karaoke-type-treatment, there is still a feeling of longing. Thank you, Peter Green.
Need Your Love So BadNiko Mihaljević (HR)
Performance, 2017 - 2019
Niko Mihaljević (HR)
Niko Mihaljević (Split, 1985) is a conceptual artist and visual communications designer. He took a masters at the Werkplaats Typografie (ArtEZ Institute of the Arts) in Arnhem, the Netherlands. His recent works include the founding of the Crystal Skull Museum (2019), the avant-garde karaoke performance Need Your Love So Bad (2017) and Circumnavigare necesse est, vivere non est necesse (2016.), a philosophical dialogue proving that the island of Prvić is in fact mainland, surrounded by the sea on all sides. In the area of visual communications he studies and documents vernacular amateur graphic design and typography (Big Choice of Italian Pants: Zagreb A4 Street Design, 2016). He won the Radoslav Putar Prize in 2016 (Young Visual Artists Awards) for the best young Croatian artist. He composes esoteric recitals for synthesizer such as Soft Temple II. He works as a freelance graphic designer and as assistant professor in the media design department at University North (Sjever).
contact: mihaljevic.niko@gmail.com
