Mladen Lučić
Zlatko Kopljar abstained from painting for about thirty years, expressing himself through performance, photography, video, and film. The last paintings of his that I remember were from the Sacrifice cycle (1992, mixed media on canvas, 190 x 250 cm), presented at the major exhibition New Croatian Art by Igor Zidić at the Art Pavilion in Zagreb in 1993. These paintings represented a certain experiment, both in the materials they were made from and thematically, because the motif was an abstract, most often Art Informelian stain that lived in harmony with a geometric raster or a monochrome dark surface. Given his ease in handling large formats, originality in compositional solutions, and refined execution, it was clear that Kopljar had a strong painterly vocation. However, he soon abandoned painting and dedicated himself to other visual expressions, later explaining: “…At one point, I realized that performance was the best form for what I wanted to communicate. I found it very interesting to engage directly with the audience. I continued doing performances until, during one particular piece, I felt discomfort. Later, I moved into photography, video, and film, still with a performative foundation, even creating objects and sculptures. It’s possible that my choice was also influenced by the fact that I didn’t have suitable working conditions for painting.” During his thirty-year period away from painting, Kopljar successfully built his art using contemporary media, primarily focusing on social discourse. His main interests were the position of the individual in relation to centers of power, drawing attention to the social status of the artist and his relationship with museums, galleries, and market institutions, as well as broader issues related to a dehumanized global society. In various cycles, he created numerous anthological works, not using activist, but rather intellectually and aesthetically rounded artistic languages. Although he abandoned painting, he never fully renounced it, and it occasionally manifests in his performances and photography. I also believe that two of his video works evoke painting in a certain way. In the video K21 Random Empty (2016), red, green, and blue colors emerge alternately from dominant black. Besides being complementary, these are also the primary colors for creating the color spectrum in television and video images (RGB). While this work analyzes the medium itself, in my view, the artist also comments on monochrome painting, as this video complements (or is part of) an installation consisting of two hollow concrete objects. This work, in turn, metaphorically connects to the previous piece, K20, which presents models of two of the world’s most prestigious contemporary art museums and symbols of institutional power: New York’s MoMA and London’s Tate Modern. The artist cast these museums in concrete, sealing all entrances and enclosing them with walls, illustrating his perspective on leading museum institutions as closed and exclusive systems.This theme is also evident in his earlier work, K4, created for the 2002 exhibition Here Tomorrow. For that project, he blocked the main entrance of the exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art (then still located in Kulmer Palace on Katarina Square) with a twelve-ton concrete block. The hollow concrete block in K21 Random Empty speaks to the emptiness that results from museum institutions prioritizing power and money over art itself. This is why I believe that K21 Random Empty foreshadows a future where painting, if Kopljar’s predictions come true (and we are increasingly heading in that direction), will only be accessible virtually, mediated through electronic media. Another video work that could be associated with painting is K9 (2003), part of a photographic series showing the artist in a black suit, kneeling with his head bowed on a white handkerchief amid heavy traffic in front of emblematic buildings and landmarks in New York.
This act of adoration in front of imperialist symbols is a metaphor for the unnecessary humility of the individual in front of artificially created values that he admires, but at the same time fears, which is immanent to all religions.The video presents an electronic image encoded with the artist’s blood, incorporating a digitized forensic analysis of his DNA formula, which causes static disruptions in the electronic image. In its process, structure, and texture, this work reminds me of painting rooted in primary and analytical traditions, which is self-reflective in its orientation, that questions its own nature as a medium, and theoretically and methodologically redefines the concept of art itself, which I also find in Kopljar’s new paintings. The audio in the video is taken from Andrei Tarkovsky’s film Nostalgia and refers to the manic sermon of a mentally ill man, delivered on Rome’s Capitoline Hill, in which he condemns the corruption of modern civilization. After his speech, he douses the ancient equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius in gasoline and sets both the statue and himself on fire. In that film, Piero della Francesca’s painting Madonna del Parto appears, and the madman’s cry: “There are no great masters anymore. That is the true evil of our time.” could refer not only to the statue of Marcus Aurelius but also to this painting. Kopljar carefully selected this audio sequence, primarily because Tarkovsky holds a significant place in his spiritual and aesthetic worldview, but also because it serves as a powerful sonic metaphor for his K9 series, which, beyond what has already been noted, is also a plea for the salvation of humanity. The line about the old masters is both a homage to the legacy of past artists and a critique of contemporary art. It is less known that, aside from being a great painter, Piero della Francesca was deeply involved in mathematics, studying perspective and foreshortening. He approached painting as a problem to be solved, striving to represent reality as accurately as possible. In contrast, 20th-century artists treated painting as a self-sufficient object, no longer requiring realistic or narrative representation. “You see what you see,” Frank Stella succinctly described his own work and expression of minimalism, and this sentence encapsulates all art of the 20th century that explored a painting as a concept, and argued that it no longer had to be narrative and fictional, but that it should be approached problematically, primarily as a fact, using analytical and self-reflexive means.
Zlatko Kopljar, by his very nature, also belongs to this kind of art, but what exactly does he paint today? A contemporary interpretation of Francesca’s perspective foreshortenings; Malevich’s Suprematism; color field painting; hard edge painting; minimalism, primary and analytical works…? Are his influences Barnett Newman, Kenneth Noland or David Simpson, who primarily explored color through a series of paintings with vertical or horizontal stripes? Or perhaps hard-edge artists and minimalists like Ad Reinhardt, Sol LeWitt, Frank Stella, and Robert Ryman? Likely, but primarily because he shares their worldview and absorbs aspects of their experience. However, Kopljar’s paintings represent exclusively himself. His entire body of work is interwoven with ritualistic, ethical, social, and identity-based themes, along with self-referential approaches characteristic of artists who seek their path solely through an understanding of the essence of art. Therefore, existentialist thought and analytical artistic procedures are also present in his new paintings, which is manifested by the absence of iconicity in favor of the supremacy of the idea, because now his primary interest is the examination of the nature of painting itself. I would say that a reverence for high modernism lingers within Kopljar, a presence that has consistently pervaded his work and from which he does not shy away, but he adapts it to contemporary themes and artistic methods, making his work unmistakably contemporary. Despite this, he has never engaged with postmodernism or its contemporary variations. Painting in large formats (200 x 170 cm; 190 x 170 cm) with oil paints, chalks and oil sticks, the artist establishes his unique style through a long and contemplative working process, which is manifested in the careful application of color, its removal or repainting, addition and subtraction, which creates a permanent movement that simultaneously negates and affirms the painted surface, thereby significantly contributing to the dynamics of the composition. In his essay In Praise of Hands, Henri Focillon celebrated the human hand as the perfect tool for creatively conveying thoughts and emotions. Kopljar affirms this idea in his new works, ensuring that technical precision never overshadows his artistic character, which primarily reflects his emotional personality.
Kopljar has returned to painting because he has chosen to express himself through his fundamental artistic medium while continuing to communicate the same ideas and messages he has explored over the past thirty years, when his strong artistic voice, refined through a sophisticated artistic approach, has served as a genuine ethical and moral counterpoint to contemporary social realities. The artist had consciously concluded his performative and actionist mission after realizing that he no longer had anything to say through that language. Regarding this, he stated: “Let’s be realistic: in today’s world, how can we rationally convince, for example, Putin, that the aggression is absurd and no way to behave? What can art do and what does it even represent in all of this? We can say what we have to say, and that’s it. Whether someone will listen and truly hear us is a completely different story. The question is, what does art need as well? What have I achieved with my work?” And he has achieved much, above all, the impeccable completeness of his artistic acts, the perfectionist execution of coherent and meaningful ideas, energetic and original invention, and an aesthetic presentation of the highest order. The messages he has conveyed through his work have been heard, seen, and recognized. Many have come to understand that not all ethical standards have collapsed and that empathy, along with the strength of the individual spirit, still endures. With his new paintings, Kopljar remains committed to his high ethical code. Their non-representational nature makes them sublime and transcendental, inspiring meditative contemplation and a reexamination of one’s spiritual integrity. Through patient layering of vertical lines and the confrontation of monochrome surfaces with bold yet carefully selected vibrant colors resulting from a deeply studious approach to the painted surface, Kopljar does not seek to convey beauty to the viewer. Instead, he offers a sense of spiritual calm and transcendence, akin to the feeling evoked when looking at della Francesca’s Madonna del Parto, Reinhardt’s Ultimate Painting, or Malevich’s Black Square.
HRVATSKI
Zlatko Kopljar tridesetak je godina apstinirao od slikarstva, izražavajući se performansom, fotografijom, videom i filmom. Posljednje njegove slike koje pamtim bile su iz ciklusa Žrtvovanje (1992., kombinirana tehnika na platnu, 190 x 250 cm), prikazane na velikoj izložbi Nova hrvatska umjetnost autora Igora Zidića u zagrebačkom Umjetničkom paviljonu 1993. godine. Te slike predstavljale su izvjestan eksperiment, i u materijalima kojima su izvedene i tematski, jer je motiv bio apstraktna, najčešće informelovska mrlja koja je živjela u suzvučju geometrijskog rastera ili monokromne tamne površine. Prema lakoći ovladavanja velikim formatom, originalnosti kompozicijskih rješenja i rafinmanu izvedbe, bilo je jasno da je slikarska vokacija u Kopljara naglašena. Ipak, uskoro je napustio slikarstvo i posvetio se drugim vizualnim izražajima, o čemu je poslije rekao: „U jednom trenutku sam shvatio da je performance najbolja forma za ono što sam htio komunicirati. Bilo mi je vrlo zanimljivo direktno komunicirati s publikom. Performanse sam radio sve do trenutka kad sam tijekom jedne izvedbe osjetio nelagodu. (…) Kasnije, krenuo sam u medij fotografije, videa, filma, s performativnom bazom, čak u objekte i skulpture. Moguće je da je takvom mojem izboru pridonijelo i to što nisam imao adekvatnih radnih uvjeta.” U tridesetogodišnjem razdoblju neslikanja Kopljar je, služeći se suvremenim medijima, svoju umjetnost vrlo uspješno gradio posvećujući je uglavnom socijalnom diskursu. Prioritetni interesi bili su mu položaj pojedinca prema centrima moći, upozoravanje na društveni položaj umjetnika te njegova pozicija u odnosu na muzejske, galerijske i tržišne institucije, kao i druge teme vezane uz dehumanizirano globalno društvo. U različitim ciklusima izveo je brojne antologijske radove, ne služeći se aktivističkim, nego misaono i estetski zaokruženim umjetničkim jezikom.
U radu K16 iz 2012. godine Kopljar usred mračne šume u svjetlećem odjelu iskapa rupu u kojoj polako nestaje, a ona postupno poprima oblik pravilnog kvadrata. Rupa je iskopana, čovjek i svjetlo su nestali, sve je zamrlo, rupa je prazna, nema nikoga… Ostao je samo crni kvadrat. Maljevič. Suprematizam. Sublimnost. Bit umjetnosti. Premda je napustio slikarstvo, nije ga se nikad odrekao te se ono povremeno osjeća u njegovim performansima i fotografiji, a smatram da i u njegovu videoopusu postoje dva rada koja ga na izvjestan način evociraju. U videu K21 Random empty iz 2016. godine naizmjenično iz dominantne crne izranjaju crvena, zelena i plava boja, koje osim što su komplementarne, čine i osnovne boje kreiranja kolorističkog spektra televizijske, odnosno videoslike (RGB). Premda u tom radu analizira medij kojim se bavi, autor, prema mojem mišljenju, progovara i o monokromnom slikarstvu, s obzirom na to da je navedeni video dopuna (dio) rada koji se sastoji od dva šuplja položena objekta izlivena u betonu. Taj se rad opet metaforički veže na prethodni K20, koji predstavlja makete dvaju najuglednijih svjetskih muzeja suvremene umjetnosti i simbola muzejske moći: njujoršku MoMA-u i londonski Tate Modern. Umjetnik ih je izlio u betonu zatvorivši im sve ulaze i ograđujući ih zidom, što ilustrira njegova razmišljanja o vodećim muzejskim institucijama koje doživljava kao zatvorene i ekskluzivne sustave. O tome svjedoči i raniji rad K4, koji je izveo za izložbu Here Tomorrow 2002. godine. Tada je betonskim blokom teškim dvanaest tona zatvorio glavni ulaz na tu izložbu, postavljenu u Muzeju suvremene umjetnosti, koji je onda još bio smješten u Kulmerovoj palači na Katarininu trgu. Šuplji betonski blok (K21 Random empty) govori o praznini koja će nastati kao rezultat rada muzejskih institucija u kojima više nije bitna umjetnost, nego pozicije moći i vladavina novca. Zato smatram da videorad K21 Random empty priziva i slikarstvo koje ćemo uskoro, ako se Kopljarove slutnje ispune (a sve smo tome bliže), moći vidjeti samo virtualno, posredovanjem elektroničkih medija.
Drugi videorad koji bi mogao asocirati na slikarstvo je K9 iz 2003., a dio je istoimene serije fotografija koje prikazuju autora kako u crnom odijelu, okružen prometnom gužvom, pognute glave kleči na bijeloj maramici ispred amblematskih zgrada i lokaliteta New Yorka. Taj čin adoracije ispred imperijalističkih simbola metafora je nepotrebne poniznosti pojedinca pred umjetno stvorenim vrijednostima kojima se divi, ali istovremeno od njih i strahuje, što je imanentno i svim religijama. Videorad predstavlja elektroničku sliku koja kodirana umjetnikovom krvlju, odnosno unosom digitaliziranog forenzičkog nalaza autorove DNK formule, uzrokuje statičke poremećaje elektroničke slike. Taj me rad po postupku, strukturi i teksturi podsjeća na slikarstvo primarne i analitičke provenijencije koje je autorefleksivnog usmjerenja te preispituje vlastitu medijsku prirodu, odnosno teorijski i metodološki redefinira sam pojam umjetnosti, što pronalazim i u novim Kopljarovim slikama. Zvučni zapis u videu preuzet je iz filma Nostalgija Andreja Tarkovskog, a odnosi se na manijakalnu propovijed duševnog bolesnika koju izgovara na rimskom Kapitolu i kojom osuđuje iskvarenost moderne civilizacije, nakon čega benzinom polije i zapali antičku konjaničku skulpturu Marka Aurelija, a potom i sebe. U tom filmu pojavljuje se slika Piera della Francesce Madonna del Parto te bi se i na nju, osim na kip Marka Aurelija, mogao odnositi bolesnikov vapaj: „Nema više velikih majstora. To je pravo zlo našeg vremena.” Kopljar je pažljivo izabrao tu zvučnu sekvencu, prije svega zato što je Tarkovski snažno prisutan u njegovu duhovno-estetskom svjetonazoru, ali i kao izvrsnu zvučnu metaforu njegove serije K9, u kojoj, uz navedeno, moli i za spas čovječanstva, dok je rečenica o starim majstorima njegov hommage ostavštini umjetnika prošlih vremena, ali istodobno i kritika suvremene umjetnosti. Manje je poznato da se della Francesca, osim što je bio veliki majstor slikarstva, intenzivno bavio i matematikom pa je istraživao perspektivu i njezina kraćenja. Slici je pristupao kao zadatku čije će rješenje što realnije prikazati stvarnost, dok su umjetnici 20. stoljeća problematizirali sliku kao predmet dostatan sam sebi, kojemu nikakav realan i narativan prikaz nije potreban. „Vidiš to što vidiš“, jezgrovito je svoje slikarstvo i izričaj minimalizma opisao Frank Stella, a ta rečenica sažeto definira svu umjetnost 20. stoljeća kojom se istraživala slika kao koncept te se tvrdilo da ona više ne mora biti narativna i fabulativna, nego da joj analitičkim i autorefleksivnim sredstvima treba problemski pristupiti prije svega kao činjenici.
Takvoj umjetnosti po svojem habitusu pripada i Zlatko Kopljar, ali što on zapravo danas slika? Suvremenu interpretaciju Francescinih perspektivnih kraćenja; Maljevičev suprematizam; slikarstvo obojenog polja (color field painting); slikarstvo tvrdih rubova (hard edge painting); minimalizam, primarne i analitičke radove? Jesu li mu uzori Barnett Newman, Kenneth Noland ili David Simpson koji su, primarno istražujući boju, radili serije slika s nizom okomitih ili vodoravnih pruga, ili hard edgeovci i minimalisti Ad Reinhardt, Sol LeWitt, Frank Stella i Robert Ryman? Vjerojatno, ali prije svega zato što je identičnog svjetonazora kao i spomenuti velikani slikarske misli te upija neka njihova iskustva. Ipak, Kopljarove slike predstavljaju isključivo njega samog. Umjetnikov cjelokupni dosadašnji opus isprepleten je ritualnim, etičkim, socijalnim i identitetskim temama te autoreferencijalnim postupcima karakterističnim za autore koji svoj put traže isključivo u spoznaji umjetničkog bitka. Stoga su i u njegovim novim slikama prisutni egzistencijalistička misao i analitički umjetnički postupci, što se manifestira izostankom ikoničnosti u korist supremacije ideje, jer je sada njegov primarni interes ispitivanje prirode slikarstva. Rekao bih da u Kopljaru tinja zaziv visokog modernizma, što se u njegovu radu permanentno osjeća i od kojega ne bježi, ali ga zaodijeva ruhom današnjih temata i umjetničkih postupaka te je itekako suvremen, premda se u dosadašnjem stvaranju nije dotaknuo postmoderne i njezinih današnjih inačica. Slikajući velike formate (200 x 170 cm; 190 x 170 cm) uljanim bojama, kredama i uljnim pastelama, autor dugotrajnim radnim, ali i kontemplativnim procesom etablira svoj rukopis koji se očituje u pažljivom nanošenju boje, njezinu brisanju ili preslikavanju, dodavanju i oduzimanju, što tvori permanentno kretanje koje istovremeno negira i afirmira slikanu površinu, čime bitno pridonosi dinamici kompozicije. Henri Focillon u svojem eseju Pohvala ruci opjevao je ljudsku ruku kao savršen alat koji kreativno prenosi naše misli i osjećaje, što Kopljar ovim radovima i potvrđuje, ne dopuštajući da tehnicizam nadjača njegov umjetnički karakter koji prije svega odražava autorovu emotivnu osobnost.
Kopljar se vratio slikarstvu jer je odlučio progovoriti svojim osnovnim umjetničkim sredstvom, ali i nadalje emanirati identične misli i poruke kojima se bavio proteklih trideset godina, kad je njegov snažni autorski izraz, zaodjeven u rafinirano umjetničko ruho, bio istinskim etičkim i moralnim korektivom današnje društvene zbilje. Umjetnik je svjesno završio svoju performativnu i akcionističku misiju jer je spoznao da tim jezikom više nema što reći. O tome je izjavio: „Budimo realni: kako racionalno uvjeriti, u današnjem trenutku, recimo, Putina, da je ta agresija suluda i da nije način ponašanja. Što tu umjetnost može i što je ona u svemu? Mi možemo reći ono što imamo reći i to je to. Hoće li nas netko slušati i čuti, potpuno je druga priča. Pitanje je što umjetnost isto treba. Što sam postigao svojim radovima?” A postigao je mnogo, što se ponajprije odnosi na besprijekornu zaokruženost umjetničkog čina, perfekcionističku izvedbu cjelovite i smislene ideje, energičnu i originalnu invenciju te na estetsku prezentaciju. Poruke koje je svojim radovima odaslao mnogi su čuli, vidjeli i prepoznali te spoznali da još nisu urušeni svi etički standardi i da empatija, kao i individualna snaga duha, još uvijek postoji. Novim slikama Kopljar ostaje pri svojem visokom etičkom kodeksu jer su one nereprezentativnog karaktera i stoga su sublimne i transcendentalne te potiču u gledatelju meditativna raspoloženja i potrebu za preispitivanjem osobne duhovne higijene. Strpljivim nizanjem okomitih linija, konfrontiranjem monokroma smionim, ali pažljivo biranim živim bojama kao rezultatu duboko studioznog pristupa slikanoj površini, Kopljar gledatelju ne želi prenijeti osjećaj ljepote, nego pružiti duhovni smiraj i osjećaj uzvišenosti, sličan onom koji nas prožima kad gledamo Francescinu Madonnu del Parto, Reinhardtovu Ultimate painting ili Maljevičev Crni kvadrat.