The exhibition of six large-format canvas paintings (150 x 150 cm) from the series “Comrade Tito Loved Art” was first presented in an imaginary gallery created in VR. The paintings were created between 2019 and 2023. The images feature consistently the same, albeit slightly modified, black and white portraits of the cheerful Tito with a cigar in front of recognizable historical art artifacts (Courbet, Monet, Modigliani, Picasso, and Warhol). This is a playful and somewhat symbolic and sarcastic commentary on the fact that Comrade Tito actually loved art… An integral part of this exhibition is the text/story related to the exhibition’s context.

Comrade Tito loved art

On one occasion, I don’t remember where I read it anymore, Comrade Tito stated that he loves art. For me as an artist at the beginning of my conceptualist career, it was big, but also a pleasant, surprise. I tried to imagine, what kind of art does Comrade Tito like? Would he support what I’m trying to do? My structural sketches, concepts, ideas… Would he like them? Would he like to have some of my work? Well, I would gladly give it to him, if he were to choose something. He would certainly understand that, considering that he was shrewd and intelligent, and above all a courageous man! Would he like Art Language? Or would he prefer Beuys’s actions? Would Comrade Tito support the Group E/kod? Would he save Miroslav (Mandic) and Slavko (Bogdanovic) from incarceration? I believe he would if only they had informed him about it. Would he engage in a mail-art conversation with Balint (Szombathy)? Maybe he would take part in one of his projects? Hmm, I doubt that since he was too busy being a statesman… Although, who knows (?), maybe he even sent some mail-art? Perhaps, anonymously? What would his art be like? What would it look like? How could I recognize it? Uhhh, I went too far into abstraction, fantasizing…

I asked myself a lot of questions… But the fact is that Comrade Tito loved art! That is indisputable, and it has been proven. We remember when, not without grumbling (under the pressure of his comrades), he supported the transition from the already shabby and exploited socialist realist painting to abstraction and Informel, and later to New Tendencies… When in the then SFRY, he supported (also tentatively) the maintenance of The Zagreb Music Biennale, which brought together atonal musicians and composers from all over the world… Wasn’t that pure love for art, for all kinds of art in general? It was a gift! He loved art, even this new dissonant one… And at any cost! Uncompromising! If only he had lived on … He would have sat in front of Marina (Abramović) in MOMA for hours, demonstrating to the whole world his perseverance, dedication, and support for our GREATEST ARTIST of all time. Well, she is also the daughter of his comrades-in-arms. Isn’t that a big deal? Oh, how he would have enjoyed it… I can only imagine…

I also wondered once, when I read in “Duga” that Comrade Tito had 16 (sixteen) legitimate wives, a multitude of marriages… (I know, Duga’s journalists exaggerated in everything, so I guess they did so concerning this issue as well. But it didn’t matter to me, for me the important fact was that he loved and had them. The exact number is less important!) I admired him. What an emperor, sorry, president! For life! The best we’ve ever had… And then, reading the continuation to the feuilletons in “Duga”, I wondered at one point, would Comrade Tito be happy if he was at Katika’s (Ladik) performances, which she performed naked, clad only in a lambskin fur coat?   What kind of context and interaction would they establish? Would the love of art prevail or that primordial love of women? I never figured out that short-lived dilemma, and unfortunately, he didn’t either. Although…

P. Š.

COMRADE TITO LOVED ART

COMRADE TITO LOVED ART / virtual art gallery / oil on canvas, dimension: 150/150 cm, 2019 – 2023

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