Radenko Milak was born in 1980 in Travnik in the former Yugoslavia, he currently lives and works in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Radenko Milak is one of the outstanding artists of global contemporary realism. He has built a reputation as a prolific observer and chronicler of our turbulent, often violent times, drawing from iconic images, mostly photographs that he found online or took himself. Using black ink on paper, he creates mysterious images of vast architectural complexes, where each window offers a glimpse into a different story or situation.Milak often takes inspiration from iconic literary and cinematic works such as Franz Kafka’s The Trial and Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. Through these references, he reflects on the condition of the modern individual—exposed to the invisible mechanisms of power and control—while exploring notions of surveillance, alienation, and the slow dissolution of intimacy and individuality within the structures of contemporary life.
Milak graduated from the Academy of Art, University of Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2003, and from the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Art Belgrade in 2007. In 2012, he was awarded the Premio Combat Prize for Drawing in Italy, and in 2019 the L’Accolade Award in France. Milak’s works are frequently exhibited at prestigious international art events like the 57th Venice Biennale, where he represented Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Innsbruck International Biennial of the Arts in 2024. His paintings can be found in several public and private collections, such as the Collección SOLO in Spain, the Albertina Museum in Vienna, Folkwang Museum, Germany and the Ludwig Museum in Budapest, Antoine de Galbert Foundation in France and Moleskine Foundation in Italy. Last year he completed a two-months artist residency at the DC Foundation in Miami.
