(1942, Nové Zámky – 2016, Skalica) Slovak sculptor and graphic artist. One of the founding members of the Gerulata group. During the 1960s, when the political climate in Czechoslovakia was relatively relaxed, he studied sculpture under Professor Jozef Kostka at the Bratislava Academy of Fine Arts (1960–1966). His experiences during this period influenced his free conceptual approach to sculpture. From 1973 to 1993 he was an external teacher at the Academy of Performing Arts, and in 1990 he began teaching at the Academy of Fine Arts. In 1991 he became an associate professor, and in the following year he was awarded his full professorship. Meliš headed the Academy’s Department of Sculpture for three years (1999–2002). He was one of the most prominent Slovak exponents of environment art and land-art, which explored interventions in landscape settings. He inclined towards an anti-aesthetic approach, influenced by conceptualism and neo-Dadaism, and his works often expressed statements on ecological issues and questions of individual personal freedom. He was prohibited from exhibiting publicly during the political crackdown that followed the Prague Spring in 1968 and lasted throughout the 1970s (a period known as the “normalization”). During this period, he focused his attention on visual poetry and the creation of “hypothetical” sculptures – i.e. designs that were never actually made. For Meliš, it was always more important for a work to express its message in an uncompromising manner than to present an aesthetically pleasant form. He often worked with texts, and he used simple materials and everyday items. He also created sculptural elements for architectural projects, all bearing his original artistic imprint.