Goran Merkaš, painter and graphic designer, graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 1974 in the class of prof. Šime Perić. He was soon recognized as an exceptionally gifted draftsman (first prize for drawing at the 8th Youth Salon in Zagreb in 1976). He exhibited at many collective exhibitions and sixteen times independently (Varaždin, Zagreb, Čakovec, Karlovac, Modena, Castelfranco Emilia). He created one of the largest theater graphic design works in Croatia, working, which is a unique case, continuously for twenty years for one theater, HNK in Varaždin. He was among the few Croatian designers who exhibited at the World Theater Poster Exhibition in Osnabrück. Since the mid-1980s, the phrase "Varaždin theater poster" (E. Fišer) has been used as a sign of recognition and differentiation of Merkaš's achievements in this form of graphic design.