Visiting Croatian Association of Fine Artists exhibit

Tuesday May 21 was a cloudy day and we had some rain and a bit of thunder in the afternoon.  High of 23C.  

Breakfast inside- lots of apricots, nectaries and strawberries- all in season

Strawberry vendors on a number of street corners

We wanted to pick up some more fruit and get fish for our last two dinners in Zagreb.  The fruits/veg people were packing up when we got there, but there was still a lot to choose from.  There is a separate indoor fish market and a separate indoor meat and cheese market.

Fruit/veg stands-- high quality produce

We're loving the cherries

We went for a late brunch at Broom 44, which was on the market square.  We had read about this place on discoverkava. com   We shared avocado and eggs on delicious sourdough.  They also had very good coffee and Allan had a "Broom Special" smoothie.

Outside of Broom- facing the red umbrellas

Inside

Awaiting our brunch

They also served food on beautiful ceramic dishes, that one could purchase.  Allan has just paid the bill and I couldn't resist a pic of the girl in the camouflage hoodie and matching cup.

We dropped the food off at the apartment and then headed out again.  We stopped at a bakery around the corner that we hadn't seen before.  

Bread &Deli-- just gorgeous breads and pastries

Our afternoon destination was an exhibit at the Meštrović Pavilion, the home of the Croatian Society of Fine Artists.  The building is located on the Square of the Victims of Fascism only about a 10 minute walk from our apartment.  It was designed by Ivan Meštrović and completed in 1938, and has served several functions in its lifetime.  It was an art gallery before WWII.  Its opening exhibit in 1938 was entitled: A Half Century of Croatian Art, a major retrospective exhibition. 

In 1943, the building was converted into a mosque under the fascist "Independent State of Croatia" (the Nazi puppet government) as a gesture towards Bosnian and Croatian Muslims.  It was altered internally and three minarets were added outside the building.  The mosque was inaugurated in July 1944 and functioned until 1945.  In 1949, the minarets were demolished and the interior Mosque decor was removed to make way for the new Museum of the Revolution.  It opened in April, 1955. 

In 1990, the building was given back to the Croatian Association of Fine Artists, a union of professional artists established in 1868.  After extensive renovation, it has served as a space for art exhibitions and events since 2006.  It is still known colloquially as "the old mosque."

The Meštrović Pavilion - very imposing but beautiful circular building

Entrance and ticket booth and stairway to the exhibits on the upper floors

The exhibit was the 37th Youth Salon, a biennial and largest national exhibition of visual artists under 35 years old.  This year's exhibit, curated by Lovro Japundžić was entitled: The Clock Fell Into the Well.  The focus is "on exploring new beginnings, unfinished endings, and imperfect futures".  Many works deal with the increasing impossibility of separating online and offline life.  The exhibit showcases the works of 30 young artists.  The Youth Salon has been very successful over the years in introducing new artists to the public.

Main hall with a number of installations and video pieces

There were detailed artists' descriptions beside each work.

Astrid Jakšić, Inside Down, 2024--"layers of deep blue shimmer in the combined technique of acrylic, oil, spray and charcoal" (from the artist's statement)

Alex Brajković, Contem.plant, 2023 (multimedia installation with a soundscape, examines the relationship between a scientific experiment and artistic creation, exploring how the creative process is distributed between man, machine and nature).

Paula Tončić, She's Playing with Knife, 2024, "a work about girlhood, about movements of bodies moving in spaces where they feel observed, trapped, controlled."

Branimir Štivić, GO4: Dwell, 2004, video installation-focuses on bark beetles and the uncontrolled spread of insect populations due to pollution, climate change, and the transport of wood,
threatening the health of trees.  A gorgeous series of images.

There were many more pieces on the third floor.  A number were in a large circular outer gallery, with the rest in an interior structure.

Allan climbing the stairs-- pieces from one of the exhibits on the third floor

Ivana Stečuk, I am Missing 2, Don't Follow Me, 2023-34, Spatial installation.  Features an oversized milk carton, surrounded by pillows and posters.  The artist "attempts to depict feeling of depersonalization, isolation and feelings of stagnation as a result of chronic stress, portrayed metaphorically through the abandoned breakfast."  The artist alludes to the hectic morning routines that lead to burnout.

Bruna Jakupović, Corrosion, 2024.  Models of internal cavities built from a mix of saliva and Cheetos.

Mihaela Rašica, Check-Mate, 2023. Showing deteriorating frescos, using the motif of a game of chess between a man and Death, with reference to a fresco in a Church in Sweden in the 16th century, also referenced by Ingmar Bergman in his 1957 film The Seventh Seal.

Ana Ratković, The Lakes, 2021-2022, a series of landscapes interpreting found photographs of Plitvice Lakes from the early 20th century using the batik method, evoking the past when humans lived in harmony with nature. The artist portrays the landscape as it once existed to highlight the ecological catastrophe threatening the Plitvice Lakes.

There was a separate space in the outer circular gallery with a painting on one wall and two walls with stop-motion animation based on the photographic documentation of the wall being painted-- the blurred figure of the artist is also shown in the video part.

Law Paripović, Op lines +/-, 2023-2024, The wall painting- paint dripping from the bottom

One frame of the video on one of the other walls with shadow of artist

The last group of pictures were in an interior gallery.

Interior gallery with wonderful ceiling

Katarina Juričić, A Maze to Amaze, 2024, Glass mosaic-- a visual exploration of maze structures and the form they can take- "a journey of self-discovery in which one is faced with the challenges of making a decision and choosing the right path".

John Miličić, Hvar-Jelsa, 2024.  Hvar and Jelsa live 24 km apart and it takes half an hour to drive by car from one place to another.  The artist paints a series of visual sequences depicting the details of the journey. "Amidst the prolonged repetition of the same action, learning occurs."

We both really enjoyed the exhibit and the creativity of the artists using different media to deal with 

real world issues- including climate change, war, time, and relationships.

A few minutes away was Monocycle Café where we had our late afternoon coffee.  We had coffee indoors as it had been raining while we were in the Pavilion and the outdoor seats were wet.

Rush hour in Zagreb- walking down from the Pavilion

View of the Cathedral looking north

Outside Monocycle Specialty Coffee Shop

Outside patio- a bit wet from the rain

Inside the café

Our coffee- very relaxing

We headed back to the apartment and had a late dinner, curtesy of Chef Allan-- salmon, zucchini and tomatoes, potatoes, green salad, glass of red wine and then tea and some cookies we had purchased yesterday at Vincek Slastičarnica (sweetshop), an ice cream and cake shop near the funicular that opened in 1977.