Ivan Kožarić
Globe III
Artist
Ivan Kožarić
(1921, Petrinja - 2020, Zagreb), Croatian
Original Title
Globe III
Date1961
Mediumbronze
Dimensions56 × 37 × 17 cm
Classificationssculpture
Credit LineKunsthalle Praha
DescriptionIvan Kožárić was one of the most prominent figures of the Croatian post-war neo-avantgarde art scene. In his works, Kožarić intentionally experimented with the boundaries of traditional art forms—for instance, through pieces focusing on the same theme but using various mediums such as sculpture, drawing, and photography, or by applying the same title to an individual artwork as well as a series of works. He disrupted established hierarchies of content, recycling and rearranging existing sculptures and whole series of works, placing them into loose networks of relations which rejected a strict chronology and systematic organization, thus perpetually revising himself. His pieces are often left without a signature and a date, one form organically developing from another. The works are composed into certain series and later rearranged into different ones, sometimes the same piece is repeated several times. Essential features of his work are an emphasis on processuality, freedom, and rejection of any forms of systematization. Kožárić’s artistic practice is defined by constant variation, transformation, and redefinition of already existing artworks, thus inhibiting their definitive interpretation or chronological ordering. The Serbian historian and art critic Ješa Denegri described him as someone who is simultaneously “a sculptor, an anti-sculptor, and a non-sculptor”, demonstrating his ambivalent and anarchist understanding of sculpture as a medium, based on an incessant crossing of boundaries and an intentional rejection of art historical systemization and hierarchization. Kožárić’s subversive approach to his work is encapsulated by a decision he made in 1971, when applied a gold coating to almost all his sculptures and objects from various periods as well as to everyday objects in his studio; those artworks which were not coated were subsequently wrapped in cloth. This radical act of simultaneous negation and affirmation of his own work demonstrates his opinion that the artistic process includes the option to transform garbage into art, but also art into garbage.
Globe III (1961) is based on a simple morphology and a void center of the bronze form, which can be understood as a materialization of negative space. The ordinal number III intentionally references numbered artistic series which allow for variation and seriality while simultaneously countering originality in a lightly subversive manner. The sculpture was made during his time in the Gorgona group and although it can be seen as purely abstract, it is rather a creative exploration of representational form (e.g., a globe, a head). It also demonstrates Kožárić’s intentional negation of the abstract/figurative dichotomy, born as a reaction to the polarization of opinions in socialist Yugoslavia at the time.
Ivan Kožarić (1921, Petrinja – 2020, Zagreb) studied sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb during the 1940s. He began exhibiting in 1953 and had his first solo exhibition in 1955. In 1960, he became a member of Gorgona, and the anarchist sentiments of the group undoubtedly contributed to the radicalization of his work, with Kožarić referring to his time in Gorgona as his “second youth”. In 1961, he authored the 5th edition of the Gorgona magazine. Kožarić’s work gained substantial recognition abroad and he exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1976, recycling some of his older works and thus demonstrating the possibilities of continuous revitalization, incompletion, and generation of new content and interrelations. He also exhibited, for instance, at the 1977 São Paulo Biennial and at Documenta 11 in Kassel in 2002. His work was also shown at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris in 2002, and in 2013 he had a solo exhibition, curated by Okwui Enwezor, at the Haus der Kunst in Munich. In Zagreb, he created numerous sculptural projects in public space. In 2006, Kožarić’s studio and the artworks in it became part of the permanent exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb. Throughout its installation, Kožárić could be seen changing objects, wrapping them in paper and subsequently unwrapping them, thus intentionally inhibiting their musealization. Kožarić had already previously exhibited his studio in 1993 during a solo exhibition at the Zvonimir Gallery in Zagreb, and later at Documenta in 2002. He received several awards including the Vladimir Nazor Award for life achievement (1977) and became a member of the Croatian Academy of Science and Art.
Globe III (1961) is based on a simple morphology and a void center of the bronze form, which can be understood as a materialization of negative space. The ordinal number III intentionally references numbered artistic series which allow for variation and seriality while simultaneously countering originality in a lightly subversive manner. The sculpture was made during his time in the Gorgona group and although it can be seen as purely abstract, it is rather a creative exploration of representational form (e.g., a globe, a head). It also demonstrates Kožárić’s intentional negation of the abstract/figurative dichotomy, born as a reaction to the polarization of opinions in socialist Yugoslavia at the time.
Ivan Kožarić (1921, Petrinja – 2020, Zagreb) studied sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb during the 1940s. He began exhibiting in 1953 and had his first solo exhibition in 1955. In 1960, he became a member of Gorgona, and the anarchist sentiments of the group undoubtedly contributed to the radicalization of his work, with Kožarić referring to his time in Gorgona as his “second youth”. In 1961, he authored the 5th edition of the Gorgona magazine. Kožarić’s work gained substantial recognition abroad and he exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1976, recycling some of his older works and thus demonstrating the possibilities of continuous revitalization, incompletion, and generation of new content and interrelations. He also exhibited, for instance, at the 1977 São Paulo Biennial and at Documenta 11 in Kassel in 2002. His work was also shown at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris in 2002, and in 2013 he had a solo exhibition, curated by Okwui Enwezor, at the Haus der Kunst in Munich. In Zagreb, he created numerous sculptural projects in public space. In 2006, Kožarić’s studio and the artworks in it became part of the permanent exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb. Throughout its installation, Kožárić could be seen changing objects, wrapping them in paper and subsequently unwrapping them, thus intentionally inhibiting their musealization. Kožarić had already previously exhibited his studio in 1993 during a solo exhibition at the Zvonimir Gallery in Zagreb, and later at Documenta in 2002. He received several awards including the Vladimir Nazor Award for life achievement (1977) and became a member of the Croatian Academy of Science and Art.
