WHALE (ON LAKE JARUN)

This is one of the most successful artworks I’ve ever done. Every day, children spend time jumping, climbing or sliding on it. There is nothing more rewarding than knowing that children adore your work. The sculpture was actually commissioned by the disco club Aquarius and I remember that its owner Ms Ana ripped me off when it came to the payment. Recently, the sculpture has been moved closer to the lake without my approval. On the whole, this was still a great job. My friends Petar Šalić and Sven Klobučar helped me make it. Plastic manufacturer Boško Popara, who builds small boats, and his workers were in charge of the polyester work. The sculpture is three and a half meters wide and was created in 1999.

SAVE THE THREATENED MUSHROOM

Save the Threatened Mushroom is a mind game played by two players. This is its gigantic version that was displayed in the exhibition THE END held in Dom HDLU (the Home of the Croatian Association of Artists), i.e. the so-called Džamija. The exhibition included some 600 drawings and graphics of critically endangered animal and plant species, which were also used to create the animated film Stabat Mater (music was composed by Bero Puhlovski, a radio jazz drummer), which will soon be published on this blog.

GAME RULES: The game starts on the empty board, while the players alternately set 34 figures on the black round fields in such a way that the next move has to be made on the field next to the previously placed mushroom, or if that is not possible, the figure should be placed on the nearest available field. When all the figures have been placed, the game continues. Any figure can be moved for one field or by jumping over one or more figures onto the free field (as in the game of checkers). The same figure cannot be moved twice, i.e. one full round since the previous move. The aim of the game is to win a square, thus saving a threatened mushroom species, i.e. to score a point. Each square can be conquered four times, and at each scoring the player puts a chip on the conquered field. The square is being won by putting the same four kinds of mushrooms (either poisonous red ones or edible white ones). A yellow mushroom is a joker and worths the same as the poisonous or edible mushroom, i.e. it can replace them. There are 34 chips and the winner is the player with the most points won. The chips have the photos of the threatened species of mushrooms in Croatia. There are more than 350 of them!!!

CRITICALLY ENDANGERED SPECIES

These are but a few out of more than 550 drawings of the endangered species that were shown in the exhibition THE END???. The fact that there are more than 40,000 endangered animal and plant species in the world is simply frightening. Furthermore, almost half of these species are critically endangered. The drawings were made after the photos of the species available on the net. These are graphite drawings on paper 30x30 cm. The web site of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources and their Red List were immensely helpful. Here’s the link to this great page: http://www.iucnredlist.org/

Finally, from all this drawings I made video Stabat mater with beautiful music from jazz drummer Bero Puhlovski. Here is link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz1IvqVxOks

PULPO PETRIFICADO (PETRIFIED POLYP)

The painting was created in 2006 for a big exhibition featuring Federico Garcia Lorca, the famous Spanish poet. The exhibition was held in the National and University Library in Zagreb, where I had a chance to meet Lorca’s niece – a really nice lady with whom I talked about him. Lorca was brutally killed by the Spanish fascists. Pero Smiljanić, an art collector and merchant from Bjelovar, almost got hold of the painting, but luckily it didn’t fit into his car (it was a few centimeters too wide for his car). I’ve decided to give it to Ms Lorca and I’m waiting for Enes Quien to get better, so we can figure out how to get this painting to Spain. The painting was made in acrylic and by gluing photocopies on canvas. Lorca was a great poet, so here’s a poem to remind us of that:

Horseman's Song
Cordoba.
Distant and alone.

A black nag, the giant moon,
and olives in my saddlebag.
Even if I know the way,
I never will reach Cordoba.

Over the plain, through the wind,
A black nag, the bloody moon.
The Reaper is watching me
From the tall towers of Cordoba.

Oh, such a long road!
Oh, my valiant nag!
Oh, the Reaper awaits me
before I ever reach Cordoba!

Cordoba.
Distant and alone.

PROFESSOR LOZIĆ’S SUNDAY AFTERNOON

This drawing on A4 paper, created in 1999, was exhibited only once in Ortona, Italy in 2001. There, my colleagues Zlobec, Friščić, Mezak, Đukić I had a joint exhibition that was held in an old Masonic palace. We slept in an old people’s home, where we had an entire floor to ourselves. The biggest fun for us was racing in the wheelchairs and pouring water from the hydrant on the terrace of this terrifying building, where every night we could hear an old man incessantly wailing mamma mia, mamma mia. The month spent in Italy was a terrific experience, and the entire event was described in Zlobec’s book Abruzzo – on the other side of the sea (the book was translated to Albanian). Yesterday, the owner of this drawing became Irena Kuduzova, who kept begging me to give it to her, since it had been for certain time with her husband Igor Kuduz, an artist and designer, who published the drawing in his advertising leaflet.

SAVING ONESELF

Saving oneself, diptych, acrylic on canvas

The work was created in 2005 in an art colony in Ptuj, Slovenia. Actually, in this workshop, I was supposed to make a wooden sculpture Prayer Bench, which was to be displayed in the atrium of a beautiful renovated baroque castle with a hi-tech library. Prayer Bench was supposed to be 3 meters high. Of course, I asked for some material for the entire project and a symbolic fee of 500 euros. My request was rejected and the Tenzor Gallery director, who organized the entire event, hurled insults at me for that. Well, great! At least my compatriots won’t have to breathe in the smell of chicken shit (there is a huge chicken farm near Ptuj) which you can sense every now and then in this otherwise beautiful small town near the Drava river. Since I did spend four days there, I left them this painting, more because of Maja Marković, a custodian from Samobor, who invited me to this colony, than anything else. It is really incredible how some people are used to having artists work for free. Nothing is for free in this world (except maybe with the naive artists, but definitely not the ones from Hlebine). I have no idea where the painting ended up, but I hope they gave it to some of the sponsors.

HILLS, NEEDLES AND I

Hills and needles(s) to say me



Oh, my people



STUCK-UP



Needle I



Desert Needle (owner Enes Quien)

Hills, Needles and I was an exhibition held in the Izidor Kršnjavi Gallery, which I am currently running. It should have been held in the private gallery Stančić, but ten days before the opening, the director told me that there would be no exhibition, even though everything had already been arranged. After we settled our dispute, four days before the opening night, I accidentally found out that two days after the opening of my exhibition, some fashion designers’ works and a fashion show were to be presented in the same space. Unbelievable! Naturally, I cancelled everything and threw the invitations away. Enes Quien and Igor Zlobec (who was really funny this time, and what’s best he quoted Stanko Špoljarić – only Zlobek can to that) wrote an excellent foreword. In short, this series is concerned with me and my surroundings.

HOW THE DAMNED FROM HELL SAVED GANGSTER, RONALD REAGAN

This animated film was created in 2000. Ivan Roca helped me immensely with his knowledge of video technique and computers. This is definitely the most successful work I’ve done so far. It has been shown in many countries around the world (Los Angeles, Berlin, Cairo, Tel Aviv, Budapest, Belgrade,...). The same year, I also won the Youth Salon Grand Prix in Zagreb. It was a money award I had to wait for six months, and if I hadn’t gone directly to the Zagreb City Department of Cultural Affairs, I would have waited probably even longer. This short film consists of two drawings and the only thing in motion is our hero’s mouth. Ronald (by the way, a real person) retells his life story and his experience of clinical death. Previously, he had been a criminal, drunkard, thief and junkie, but after this hellish nightmare, he experienced an epiphany and became a priest. The duration of the film is 10 minutes and I will soon put it on the web as well as the other 15 videos, some of which are: Kupa Danube Adriatic, Woman Photo Robot, Stabat Mater, Circle, Exotics, etc.

SELF-PORTRAIT WITH AN ANGEL AND A DEVIL

This is my first serious, well-thought work (in alabaster) which I made on my sophomore year. Well, isn’t it true that good and evil constantly whisper into your ear? It requires considerable skill to recognize which voice is good, especially when you’re 18. I remember how my professors chose this work for the Academy holdings without my knowledge, and they decided to take only my head, saying that they don’t need the angel and the devil. Embarrassing! How is it possible for the people who perceive my work in such a way to teach anyone anything? I never gave them my head!

GOOD NIGHT

My father


Bird in barcode

Conversation with Prehistoric Man

In 1997, Zlatan Vrkljan offered me to hold a one-man exhibition in the Arterija Gallery. I named it Good Night and it consisted of some ten works which, actually, didn’t have that much in common (why should they, after all). At that point, the arrogant and conceited Vrkljan pissed me off because ten days before the exhibition he kept complaining how I hadn’t done what he asked me to do, which is extremely stupid of a person who once represented Croatia at the Venice Biennale. I see no reason why I should listen to a mediocre painter telling me what to do, and on the top of everything, all that without the money. The central object was Wooden Bed accompanied by other works in various media. Here, you can see three works – a photo of my father on a meadow in his birthplace, a wood relief Conversation with Prehistoric Man and engraved granite Bird in Barcode, which describes consumerism, also bought by my friend Ivan Roca.

DOOR

This long drawing (some 2 meters) in coal and Indian ink is placed in laminate, a technique I and my cousin Pavel Majerle were the first to use for the artistic drawing. This technique involves putting a drawing on formica, which is then covered with foil, subsequently pressed by the weigh of ten tons and heated to the temperature of 100 degrees, which makes the drawing entirely protected. This work symbolizes the fact that there is only one right door in life. However, most people like to open all the other doors. In other words, there is only one truth!

POMEGRANATE

This stonework was created in a small fishing town Sućuraj on the island of Hvar and it remained there. Wine maker Ivica Vujnović, who in fact didn’t pay me anything for it, financed it. Instead, Together with my friend Danko Friščić, I enjoyed his hospitality for three weeks. The work was finished in the first couple of days because I wanted to enjoy my stay on Hvar without having to do anything. Dalmatians looked at me as if I was crazy since I worked even around noon when the sun is at its peak. Since then, on my way to the south, I always stop for a day or two at Vujović’s so here’s the link to this beautiful little town: http://www.sucuraj.com/

WINNING LAZINESS

Winning Laziness





Madonna di Campiglio



This Is How Green My Valley Was


If There Is No River You Can Take the Road



Crocodile

Winning Laziness (the title is ambiguous) was an exhibition held in the Karas Gallery in 1998. This is also the name of the installation that consisted of a stretched hammock, a photomontage of a row of palms (which I gave to Smiljan Tolj as his wedding gift) and a blue column. This is the expression of my yearning for a relaxed and carefree life. This installation was also exhibited in the Traffo Gallery in Budapest on the occasion of the presentation of Croatian art. The reliefs were presented in a series and are actually allegorical, minimalist landscapes. Toni Barbić, a worker in the Klovićevi dvori Gallery, owns the work If There Is No River You Can Take the Road. I exchanged it for a bunch of their publications and he keeps nagging me to give him Elephant Foot, so I guess I’ll have to give in. Vatroslav Kuliš bought Madonna di Campiglio, while This Is How Green My Valley Was and Crocodile are still in my possession.

SUN IS SHINING

This small work (only 35 cm high) is one of my greatest works. I even won the second prize at the sculpture competition in 1993 in Lipik, where the Germans built a new neighborhood after the town had been destroyed in the war. I got a large sum of money, some 1500 German marks, which was around ten monthly wages then. Ivan Kožarić was a member of the jury and the first prize went to my professor Marija Ujević, while the other professors didn’t win anything. After the award ceremony in Lipik, Igor Zlobec and I went to Prekopakra, a village where we threw a terrific party for the entire village. This is a well-known village between Lipik and Pakrac that didn’t fall into the hands of Četniks, and I remember meeting a man whose head was half-blown by a grenade, but he was nevertheless very vivacious. On our way back, we partied some more with the soldiers from Jordan on the border of the then UNPA zone, who thought I was a king because I told them how one of my relatives was the midwife to Muammar al-Gaddafi’s children. Later, we barely managed to get back home alive in our old Yugo and the next day we were already on our way to Venice to visit my friends Robert Sošić, Damir Tripar, and Ljiljana Vlačić.

I WAS LOOKING FOR SALVATION IN A GLASS (BUT I COULDN’T FIND IT)

This miniature work, made in 1997, was exhibited in the Architects’ Club on the occasion of Earth Day. Actually, the exhibition, which was conceived by Tihomir Milovac, the custodian of the Contemporary Gallery, was dedicated to the miniatures and the entire exhibition could fit in a little suitcase. The idea of this work was to describe the horror of alcohol, with which I have had more or less problems since high school. I made a realistic copy of my hand and put it, as a cry for help, into a small glass filled with brandy. John Barleycorn (as Jack London calls it in his masterpiece King Alcohol) gets you high, but it also creates some serious problems. Alcohol, oh alcohol, I love you in my brains. Alcohol, oh alcohol, I never want you again, as British punk band G.B.H puts it.

GRADUATION THESIS

Well, this is my graduation thesis, which means that it was created in 1994, and it represents a depiction of heaven with a musician, a dancer, bumblebees, doubting Thomas and Jesus. I remember that after it had been exhibited at the Academy, none of my professors deigned to come to me and voice their opinion. Only my professor Stanko Jančić told me that I wouldn’t win the Rector’s Award, but rather my colleague Krešimir Rod because, supposedly, he was poor, but I remember that people used to tell how his family owned 16 cows and a big land in Zagorje! I also remember how 9 of us lived in 60 square meters because it was wartime, so we took care of our relatives who escaped from Osijek. I sold the Angels-Bumblebees to Marin Marinić and Ljubo Gamulin. It should be pointed out how the tank watch that was a part of the installation was stolen from a tank in front of the building of the Assembly of SFRY in 1991 during the demonstrations against Milošević by my friend Boris Pikelja. The music I recorded on the church organ also played an important part of the ambience. It consisted of two tones that reminded of ship sirens. While recording it, the nuns got so sick of me that they chased me away from the organ!

FOUR SEASONS

This work, created in 1993, was exhibited at the Zagreb Salon. It consists of four objects with the names of the seasons inscribed on them, symbolizing life. It represents my youth vision of the four phases of life. The Fall also contained a rhythm machine ELKA (the first Croatian rhythm machine from 1972 which I still own). This was the first time I have been noticed as an author. The work was also exhibited at the Sculpture Triennial the same year and there were talks that I should get the Grand Prix, but it went to Danijel Kovač, who was also the one to beat me ten years later when he became teaching assistant at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. Gračan and Vuco lobbied for him because he was their protégé.

GOD IS GREAT AND THE MIDDLE EAST

God is great

Middle East

God Is Great or Allah-u Ekber is a painting from the cycle Hills Needles and I that was created as a sign of my respect towards Islam and a critique of the Western system, which is so inconsiderate towards Islam, and the values of Islamic peoples. George Bush and his vassals attacked Iraq, relentlessly trying to dominate the entire Middle East because they consider this faith less important and primitive! I gave the painting God Is Great as a gift to photographer Marko Ercegović. These acrylic on canvas paintings are 2 meters wide.

SALAMANDER

This is yet another painting from the Elephant Cycle created in 2001. The painting is 3 meters wide and it portrays Karolina Pernar, my unfortunate love, patting salamander and herself, while I am standing there as an elephant. Pero Smiljanić, a merchant, art collector, and dandy from Bjelovar, owns the painting (which I found out accidentally). Even though I have no idea how the painting ended with him, I am glad that it is as far away from me as possible because it reminds me of one really unpleasant period. I came to realize that one doesn’t need war, sickness or natural disaster to be miserable; the woman who you love and who betrays you is more than enough!

CALVARY

Jesus Falls Under the Cross

Veronica’s Veil
Jesus Is Stripped

Altar (Jesus’ grave), my friend Danko Friščić helped me paint it

Via Crucis or Calvary (Križeva pot in Slovenian) was created in 2000 and is now in Stari trg (ob Kolpi), a village near Predgrad, Slovenia, where my late Old Dad used to live, i.e. in my father’s birthplace. It was mostly created with a CNC machine according to my original drawings that I made after the photographs of my students whom I dressed as Jesus and the Romans. I was also partly inspired by P. P. Pasolini and his film The Gospel According to St. Matthew! It is entirely my authorial work, and local parish priest Jože Pavlaković accepted all of my ideas. He is a really nice man, a vegetarian and a yachtsman who, every year, gets away for a couple of months to the Adriatic sea, where he has his wooden sailboat which he made by himself. It meant a great deal to me that my dearest Old Dad had a chance to see this work just before he passed away and he was so exhilarated to be sitting next to the bishops at the same table (he was a modest peasant!)! It should also be mentioned that during the Second World War the Italians destroyed all the chapels with the Calvary under the excuse that they could be used as bunkers! You should go and visit this area because the nature is magnificent!

PHOTO COMIC: OYSTRICHES TO AFRICA

These are huge prints on 5-meter-long tarpaulin created for the exhibition Much to Much, held in 2003 in the Art Pavilion in Zagreb. They are currently being exhibited in my school as part of teachers’ exhibition. Last year, they were exhibited in Lazareti in Dubrovnik. Mr. Željko Sarić helped me take the photos in Crna Mlaka near Zagreb. The shooting was very pleasant, even though the weather was bad (it was raining), so we decided to sit and wait in a small bar. It was funny that no one even bothered when they saw the girls in costumes. It was obviously something totally normal for the inhabitants of this village.

SAN REMO

These big ties were created for the exhibition the Challenge of Cravat, which is currently being exhibited somewhere around the globe. The work was commissioned by Mr. Marijan Bušić, the manager of the company Kravata Croata, who also made a big cravat around the Arena in Pula. He is also the one to blame for the action Cravat around Croatia that reminds me of the communist Youth Relay. Red thread around Croatia, oh, my God, how stupid.

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