Dear visitors, friends and associates of the Stari Grad Museum,
we are pleased to invite you to the opening of the exhibition Retrospective – 20 Years by Tatjana Politeo on Friday, 17 July 2020 at 9pm in the Juraj Plančić Gallery of Stari Grad Museum.
The exhibition presents a total of 35 works of various formats and shapes created in a combined technique and different media (painting, glass and wooden objects). Academic artist Tatjana Politeo will present a selection of works created in the last 20 years, from the first solo exhibition held in 2000 at the Cekao Gallery in Zagreb to recent works created this year.
From the introduction to the exhibition catalogue (Sonja Švec Španjol):
In her twenty years in art, Tatjana Politeo interpreted life in all of its forms – from the real to the imaginary or possible. From distinctly private spaces, such as one’s home, to limitless perspectives of outer space, she creates an individual universe of symbols, images, lines, blotches, words and signs shaped into captivating stories, atmospheres and situations. Each of her cycles stems naturally from the former one, but with notable visual innovations and fresh thematic units. Tatjana Politeo’s style absorbed traits of gestural painting, Informalism and Art Brut, complemented by certain features of Pop Art and street art, and transformed through the prism of her biting humour, mild irony and ever-present childlike playfulness. Tatjana translates life into art by exploring a wide range of topics, from highly intimate works that form the cycle titled Connections, in which she combined elements of her personal life in captivating collages dedicated to her beloved grandmother, to the cycles Hello, Space Traveller, Monkey-Zebra-Lion, I Dreamed of Faraway Spaces and several cycles based on the motif of amebae, where she combined elements of popular culture, animated film, comic and picture books to explore everyday dilemmas and form visually attractive and delightful images that, beneath the playful surface, carry deep and powerful wisdom.
This retrospective exhibition, which is the fruit of Tatjana Politeo’s twenty years in art, confirms that she is an artist with a natural sense for the logic of the composition of the whole and interpretation of the fullness of meaning of her chosen motif. Her works are multi-layered life-stories based on the intertwining of symbols, signs, motifs, texts, details and colours. Through the use of collage, mortar, acrylic paint, spray, pencils and pastels, she builds the world of pictorial atmosphere, almost tangible surfaces and rich, dynamic composition. High, but never superficial aesthetics of her works is brought about through the use of an abundance of interesting details in dynamic rhythm within the composition. The intense gesture of her strokes, expressiveness and unusual interconnections between the elements result in the impression of a childlike wonder at the world. Spontaneous and truthful artwork of Tatjana Politeo leads an intrigued observer to an adventurous expedition of releasing the breaks, opening borders and giving in to the pure visual realization of a playful and ludic imagination.
Tatjana Politeo was born in Zagreb in 1976. She graduated from the School of Applied Arts and Design and the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. She graduated from the Academy in 2003. She has exhibited her works at over forty independent exhibitions in Croatia and abroad and numerous group exhibitions. She has been participating in art symposia and workshops. She is a member of the Croatian Artists Association and Croatian Freelance Artists Association. She is living and working in Zagreb.
The curator of the exhibition is Sonja Švec Španjol, while the exhibition design is the work of Tatjana Politeo and Aldo Čavić.
The exhibition is organised with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia and Stari Grad Municipality, and will be open until August 10, 2020.
We invite you all to the Museum and look forward to your visit!