A curious travel across contemporary art history throughout 16 stories which Svjetlan Junakovic, author of the texts and charming illustrations enriching the volume, employs to disclose his singular collection of objects, photographs, documents, which are supposed to belong to great 20th century artists. A book for both adults and children that, as a time machine, brings us back in time when Picasso used to go to school, Grosz used to scribble his dictionary, Matisse used to write to Father Christmas, Modigliani used to play with sand, Chagall used to look up at flying kites, Magritte used to write on a dream book, Giacometti used to bite his colored pencils. By dreaming up these famous characters’ childhood, the author is trying to trace the germ of their artistic genius at the outset of this misunderstood art as contemporary art actually is. Completely made up stories help adults to stay a little younger with fantasy and irony, but especially they intrigue and draw a younger public’s attention closer to the concepts at the base of last century artistic movements: a Russian Doll as the cause of Malevič’s Suprematism, a theft as the cause of Picasso’s Cubism, a chessboard as the cause of Mondrian’s Neo-plasticism, a malfunctioning polaroid camera as the cause of Warhol’s Pop Art. With the employment of a bizarre, simple and effective language younger people as well can familiarize with contemporary art and, when looking at a black square over a white background, they won’t shout out “I can do this!”.
Info
• Title: Ti racconto l’arte del ‘900
• Author: Svjetlan Junakovic
• Editor: Artebambini
• Publication Year: 2011
• Price: 18,50 €
• Pages: 45
