Rutger Brandt Gallery
The Rutger Brandt Gallery’s mission is to showcase contemporary art by emerging young artists as well as established international artists in a multi-generational program. They aim for a long-term commitment in developing the artists’ career and the gallery acts as a liaison with other galleries outside The Netherlands.
At the EXPO Chicago, they will present a solo exhibition of work by Radenko Milak called ‘NASA Secret Space Program’. The ‘NASA Secret Space Program’ watercolors are inspired by archive photographs of space programs led in total secrecy by NASA after World War II. These research programs were one of the beginnings of the mode of observation of the universe that keeps pushing further the unveiling of what is invisible to the naked eye such as dark energy, dark matter or black holes. At the same time, the aesthetic of these images reminds us of the black and white cinema of the 50s. His work is expressive and extremely subtle; two extremes that are not naturally present at the same time in an artwork. His dark stripes, spots and sweeps are honest, sharp and are directly transferred in different shades of black watercolor to paper, reveiling the image in extreme details while making sure the painterly quality is not lost. In 2017, Milak was represented as the main artist at the National Pavilion of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the Venice Biennale.

Feb. 10, 1961. Ham the Chimpanzee in Space by Radenko Milak. Courtesy of Rutger Brandt Gallery.

Supersonic Wind Tunnel at what is now the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland by Radenko Milak. Courtesy of Rutger Brandt Gallery.

Rutger Brandt Gallery at EXPO Chicago 2019, courtesy of Rutger Brandt Gallery.