Written by: Iva Körbler Photos: Pero Dragičević
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The illustrious Croatian artist Matko Trebotić (Milna, Brač, 1935) – a painter, graphic designer, scenographer, and sculptor – is one of the most vital artists on the Croatian contemporary art scene, boasting a timeless international reputation. He is the creator of the massive exhibition project “Sign Reduction”, which was on display from January to March this year at two venues in Split: -21- and the Old Town Hall.
Matko Trebotić graduated from the Classical Secondary School in Split, and in 1961 he earned a degree in architecture from the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Belgrade. But right after his first solo exhibition in 1968, he realised that his true calling was not architecture, but fine arts.
He has inspired numerous extensive monographs in Croatian, German, and English, as well as several TV documentaries, and he is also a laureate of all the existing prestigious awards for artistic activity and contribution to Croatian culture.
In 2008, Matica hrvatska published the book titled Trebotić – u zrcalu kritike 1968.-2008., featuring sixty hand-picked reviews and essays on Trebotić’s oeuvre written by prominent domestic and international art historians and critics. Not many Croatian artists can say they have received this much attention and accolades. In recognition of his overall contribution to Croatian art, the University of Split awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2000, approved with unanimity by the Senate.
In his fifty years of artistic activity, Trebotić has drawn inspiration from heterogeneous stylistic sources, thriving in surrealism, informalism, and various forms of abstract painting. He created a cream-of-the-crop daisy chain of works that will never wither away, and the fruits of these labours point to his architectural roots.
He was also not immune to the infectious charm of sculptures, installations, assemblages, and ambient art, which helped establish him as a visionary and connoisseur of quality and modus vivendi of different media and materials decade after decade. We must not forget to mention his eight stained glass windows made between 2017 and 2018 for the Church and Monastery of St. Francis in Split.
Equal representation of graphics and colour, i.e. coloristic gestures in his paintings, is a unique phenomenon in recent Croatian painting. He has no epigones or followers of the style, but predecessors are a different matter: it is evident that he relied on the rich tradition of our painters from the South and the Mediterranean.
His signature style has long been characterised by motifs such as old Croatian churches, archaeological assemblages, layouts, animal bones, and cypress trees, but after many years of scaling down the material world and the narrative layer of paintings – which had long been his trademark – he did a 180 and turned to colour abstractions and capturing light in paintings, full of nuances derived from the Mediterranean, the blue of the sea, and the reflection of sunlight on the scenery and nature’s stone sculptures.
You entered the new year with two exhibitions that are actually a complementary whole, one at Split’s Studio -21- on Sućidar, and the other at the Old Town Hall on Pjaca. Would you care to shed light on this exhibition concept of connecting the outskirts with the elite part of the city, as you yourself have called it?
Indeed, it is a complementary whole, but I prefer to call it a single exhibition split between two spaces which simultaneously put physical distance between them and bring them closer in substance, so they can form one cohesive whole.
Allow me to quote the curator of the exhibition, Željko Marciuš: “Trebotić uses the sublimated metaphor of painting to connect, and the ethereal beacon to illuminate the contrasts between the exemplary visage of the city and the boondocks behind the guise: the outskirts and the suburbs. He does so through the medium of white light – the beginning and the end of everything.”
You painted the walls of Studio -21- with the so-called International Klein Blue. How big of an influence did Klein have on you while you lived and honed your skills in Düsseldorf? Can you single out some other international artists whom you hold in high regard and who have influenced your artistic formation and worldview?
Yves Klein didn’t directly influence me because when I came to Düsseldorf, he had already been dead. However, before his death he often came to the city, worked there and left a huge imprint with his works, so he lived on through his oeuvre. That was the first time that I laid my eyes on an “absolute painting”, a stroke of genius that I myself have wanted to achieve for the past fifteen years. I have no doubt that the area of Düsseldorf and its art scene at the time was more stimulating for him than Paris, as was the case with myself.
I also still fondly remember my neighbour from Düsseldorf, Joseph Beuys, with whom I did a drawing… I would like to round off the cycle with him because the art scene back there was so wholesome; I soaked up everything, even though I was an outsider from the shores of the Adriatic. After all, these shores are my entire world and source of inspiration.
You are quicker on the drawing than ever; for the last few years, you have had exceptional zeal and energy when it comes to painting. Critics agree that your last few cycles – you call them the Mediterranean – might just make up your best painting era yet. What fulfils you, besides the sea, the scenery, and your home soil?
I have to agree with you and your colleagues on this one. However, this search for the absolute has, as I said before, had a good fifteen-year run! Even though each work has an appropriate name, all these artefacts should bear the common title: “Spiritual Portrait of Dalmatia”.
All my horizons meet in the channel between Brač and Split, between the island where I was born and the city where I spend my youth, and where my sun will also set!
When talking about your latest exhibition, you mention the importance of music as a form of art that is superior to all other artistic disciplines. How much does music define your approach to painting and why do you place music so high up above all other art? You are not the first one to think that way; this idea stretches all the way back to the schools of philosophy from Classical antiquity, with a lot of supporters throughout the Middle Ages, not losing momentum even in modern musicology…
Consider this: maybe there’s a dash of “envy” towards music, especially symphonic music, as the form of art that needs not tell a story! Now consider this as well: here I’m talking about my generation, the division between the Split theatre and Hajduk, between bel canto and the club that represents so much more than football for the natives of Split – it’s a sort of religion and hope for a better tomorrow!
By all means, there has always been a need for music to resonate with fine arts, art without a narrative, abstract art, the absolute of a white image. Well, I’m here to fulfil that need! I am the author of art without a narrative. Who knows, maybe those fabled paintings of mine were the cornerstone of what I’m doing now, and God knows you can’t gain ground and expand your creative borders without a solid bedrock!
After all, these works of mine are symphonies of sorts, regardless of the opinions of various schools of philosophy from Classical antiquity to contemporary musicology.
What are your plans for the current year; what else do you have in store?
The pandemic put a halt to my exhibition plans… I was supposed to have a big exhibition in Seoul, but alas, nothing! I don’t know if I’ll be able to arrange it again for the time being. On the other hand, the invitation for my exhibition in Metković still stands…
One thing I’m certain I’ll always have is my daily work at the studio, digging deep into my roots on the quest for inspiration. In addition to that, the Trebotić Foundation should commence work, with the purpose of systematically dealing with my artistic legacy, the construction of the Trebotić Gallery in my native Milna, based on the conceptual design by my son Frane.
Which type of painting do you feel drawn to the most now, in your mature prime? Plain drawing, pigment, combined technique, ink, watercolour… or are you more interested in a “blend” of all these techniques, so you can paint the picture of your artistic credo as effectively as possible?
I’m no stranger to any artistic technique which helps me put my artistic thought on paper – or canvas, as it were. You see, what I do cannot be learned at any art school: the great Renaissance masters, as well as Van Gogh, Gauguin, and the like did not boast a degree in art. And neither does yours truly!
Since the termination of work and dissolution of the A.A.A. architectural bureau in Essen in the 70s of the last century, where I was junior partner, I enrolled in the iconic Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen-Werden as a master’s student under the tutelage of the dean and painter Prof. Hermann Schardt. I stayed there at the Graphic Arts department for 2-3 semesters, but the call of galleries was so strong that I had to take it and answer with exhibitions all over Europe and beyond. Art is not taught, it’s intrinsic – you’re either born with it or you’re not.
Will we also live to see your design for the ceremonial curtain of the Croatian National Theatre in
Zagreb?
For my part, the design is finished, and I can’t imagine anything more delightful than unveiling the curtain at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb inspired by Marulić’s Judita or by his grave in Split’s Church and Monastery of St. Francis, so as to bring Marulić’s brilliant works into the limelight on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of his passing. However, we still lack the funds to make it come true.
I sincerely hope that we will find an economic operator to support our efforts. You see, we have already obtained permits from the Theatre, the Ministry of Culture and Media, and the City of Zagreb…
