Visual arts
A Learned Drawsmith
Text from the catalogue Zlako Bourek, Bećarska rapsodija: skulpture, slike, teatar i animirani film. Ivan Meštrović Museum, 2010
The figurative repertoire and imagery of Zlatko Bourek is one of the most unique and coherent oeuvres in Croatian fine, applied and theatre arts. His creative language is sardonic, hedonistic and grotesque, complemented by a specific ability to narrate fantastical stories.
In order to understand his language, one must bear in mind – as the author himself likes to point out – that he is not a wordsmith, but a drawsmith. Bourek’s extensive art literacy stems from his familiarity with the tradition of plastic arts, the foundations of the Japanese puppet theatre, German expressionist art, as well as the poetics of Neue Sachlichkeit, metaphysical painting and surrealism.
Zlatko Bourek is a complete artist, focused on figuration and embodiment of the story, and regardless of the artistic, literary, traditional and other sources from which he draws inspiration, he is primarily submerged in his own streams of consciousness.
Tonko Maroević