Tomislav Buntak - Potovanje junaštva

Tomislav Buntak (1971, Zagreb, Hrvaška), akademski slikar in docent na Katedri za slikanje in risanje Akademije likovnih umetnosti v Zagrebu, je svoj status enega najnenavadnejših umetnikov in predstavnikov skoraj pozabljenih žanrov fantastičnega realizma in simbolizma pridobil zahvaljujoč popolni posvečenosti tradicionalnim likovnim disciplinam, figuraciji in eksotičnim temam. Cikel monumentalnih risb Potovanje junaštva, v katerem je v fluorescenčnih barvah neortodoksno interpretiral biblične teme v barokizirani romanski arhitekturi desakralizirane nekdanjecerkve, je veličasten primer njegove transgeneracijske, transkulturološke in transreligijske ustvarjalnosti.

Buntkove zidne risbe in slike zagotovo predstavljajo najbolj znani segment njegovega širokega opusa. Prvi je bil prav tako v fluorescenčni barvi izveden leta 2002 na razstavi Zidovi in prostor na 15. mednarodni razstavi risb v reškem Muzeju moderne in sodobne umetnosti. Sledile so mnogo bolj znane zlato-srebrne različice, od katerih je ena, tista s prikazom angelske vojske, leta 2005 prekrila zidove in strop newyorškega P.S.1.

Razstava Potovanje junaštva temelji na razstavi Romarji – Vizije mističnih potovanj, ki je bila leta 2008 postavljena v Umetniškem paviljonu v Zagrebu in istega leta prejelanagrado Vladimir Nazor za najboljšo razstavo na Hrvaškem. Za razstavo v Galeriji Božidar Jakac je bil izvirni cikel razširjen z več kompozicijami. Razstava že s svojim naslovom potencira umetnikovo zavest o napredovanju krize in potencialu iskanja psihološkega prostora vere ter razumevanja njenega namena in prispevka k celoviti osebnostni rasti in splošnemu civilizacijskemu napredku. Sama tema potovanja je tudi sicer ena vodilnih vsebin Buntkovega opusa. Že na zgodnjih risbah na papirju, ki so nastale pod močnim vplivom estetike in strukture stripa, je potovanja svojih priljubljenih trojic ali celotnih narodov skozi puste pokrajine razvil v tisočih epizod. Ta pripoved brez začetka in konca, brez otipljivih toposov in deklarirane namembnosti, za človeka Buntkovega duhovnega izvora ne more biti nič drugega kot doseganje nebeškega kraljestva oziroma modrosti. Doživetja njihovih akterjev so zahtevna, izzivalna in včasih tudi boleča, a vendar kličejo po žrtvovanju in namigujejo na odrešitev. Osrednja podoba dečka Jezusa je izvedba sintagme o malem Jezusu, ki ob božiču prinaša darila, prispodoba za novo upanje, nov začetek, nov življenjski in civilizacijski ciklus, vero v preobrazbo. To ni niti Jezus trpljenja niti Jezus čudežev. On je čudež, upanje in spodbuda sam po sebi, utelešenje nedolžnosti novega začetka, ki je tu nekje pred nami.

Tomislav Buntak (1971, Zagreb, Croatia) — academically trained painter and lecturer at the Painting and Drawing Department of the School of Arts in Zagreb. He is considered to be an idiosyncratic artist and a representative of the almost forgotten genres of fantastic realism and symbolism, due to his complete dedication to traditional artistic disciplines, representation and exotic themes His cycle of monumental drawings, A Journey of Encouragement,unorthodoxly interpreting biblical themes in fluorescent colours within the baroquified romantic architecture of the desecrated former church, is a glorious example of his trans-generational, trans-culturological and trans-religious creation.

Buntak’s murals are undoubtedly the most recognized segment of his complex opus. The first mural, also fluorescent, was done in 2002 at the Walls and Space exhibition within the 15th International Drawing Exhibition at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rijeka. Later, he created the more famous golden and silver variants. One of them, representing an angelic army, covers the walls and the ceiling of the P.S.1 in New York in 2005.

The exhibition, called A Journey of Encouragement,originates from another exhibition Pilgrims – The Visions of the Mystical Journeys organized at the Art Pavilion in Zagreb in 2008, which received the Vladimir Nazor award for the best exhibition in Croatia in the same year. Additional compositions were added to the original cycle for the exhibition at the Božidar Jakac Gallery. With its title, A Journey of Encouragement emphasizes the author’s consciousness of the progression of the crisis and the potential to find psychological religious space in order to understand its purposefulness and its contribution to the totality of the personal growth and the general prosperity of our civilization. The theme of the journey itself is a leading one of Buntak’s opus. In his early paper drawings, formed under the strong influence of the aesthetics and structure of comics, he developed thousands of episodes of journeys of his favourite “threes” or whole nations through desolate landscapes. To a person with Buntak’s spiritual provenance, this narrative with no beginning or ending, with neither perceivable 'topos' nor declared mission, can mean only the reach of the heavenly kingdom, in other words, wisdom. The subject’s experiences are demanding, challenging, sometimes even painful, calling for a sacrifice and harbingering redemption. The main character of the young Jesus is the realisation of the syntagm of the baby Jesus who brings Christmas presents, the metaphor of the new hope, new beginning, new life and civilization cycle, and the belief in the transformation. This is neither the Jesus of the torment, nor the Jesus of the miracle. He is a miracle, a hope and an encouragement by himself, the embodiment of the innocence of the new beginning, which is somewhere here, in front of us.