This year, the twentieth layout of Bogdan Borchi's graphic Cabinet will be on display, which will mark 100 at the same time. the anniversary of the birth of Bogdan Borchi Aluto (1926-2014). On this occasion, borci Aktivev's graphic works will be placed in dialogue with the prints of Karl Zelenko (B. 1925), one of the key representatives of Slovenian graphics of the second half of the 20th century. century, which celebrated a hundred years in 2025.
Bogdan Borchi / and Karel Zelenko are time companions with many biographical parallels. They both attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana in the Forties and were part of the first post-war generations who trained under the tutelage of big names, including Bozidar Jakac and Gabrijel Stupica, who had a decisive influence on both artists.
Their paths became more closely intertwined at the end of the Fifties, when Borcij Modul returned from Paris and used a printing press in Zelenkov's studio in Kamnik, where he served at the ceramics factory. In the Sixties, however, they appear as companions of the Ljubljana School of graphic arts, but they themselves did not perceive themselves as its representatives. Zelenko never identified with the technical perfection attributed to its frame, and advocated the simplicity of the drawing; the ease of drawing lines into the Matrix. This look at the graphics alone reveals his rebellious spirit, which is clearly reflected in the independent artistic language of black and white filigree refined etchings. Borčić, however, is in stark contrast with the Zelenkovo homogeneity of the decade, the decade of change, and he established a new aesthetic to the field.
While borci / is primarily interested in the technical, artistic side of graphics, Zelenko is more clearly shown his content accounting with the social theme, which he extremely narrated into his prints. Borchi modul talks about graphics as a plan, Zelenko compares it to poetry.
Despite the differences in the processual and conceptual approach to graphics, we still find points of contact in their works, especially in the presence of a figure. He appears in early woodcuts, in village and fishing scenes, and in reminiscences of an internment in Dachau at Bogdan Borcha. At the end of the sixties, he briefly returns to the refined popartist compositions, after which the role of the "figure" in the prints could be attributed to the Shell, which he studiously played until it left behind a perforation in the plot. Karel Zelenko, however, remains a committed figurehead. Realism reigns in his prints, imbued with pictorial satire and already almost morbid irony – a woman in a wheelchair sells lottery tickets, a "nature lover" admires her hunting trophies, Icarus got caught in a chaotic electrical wiring. His worlds are oversaturated with objects, they are ruled by acrobats and circus ones, and everything is covered with a haze of melancholy.
The clown, as a motive link between the two authors, is present in the early works of Borchiak, while in Zelenko it remains a constant to the present day. As an archetype, it opens up many interpretive levels: from the image of the entertainer and the marginal to the symbol of duality and the complex personification of the absurdity of Inter - and post-war existence, echoing through the second half of the 20th century. for centuries, and even now tragicomically retains its relevance.
Objectivity returns to the two thousandth after a long abstract period in Bogdan Borchi's opus, when an isolated object appears surrounded by whiteness. First as a chair and table, later as a gadget or tool. The artist tells that he was once attracted to Zelenkov's graphics by long pincers, which he then depicted in a series of simple things, in which he began to explore the relationship between the vastness of a blank sheet and a small color print. Thus, even in the context of this dialogue, his objects act as if they were exempt from Zelenkov's walls, tables, waste or carnival confusion. They serve as a contrast to Zelenka's horror vacua , which reflects in the material and nonsense the drowning world.
Curator: Deja Vienna
Photo:
Bogdan Borchi/, Circus I, 1957, GBJ archive
Karel Zelenko, acrobatic clown, 1973, photo: Nina Zelenko
Bogdan Borchi's graphic cabinet houses 1072 graphic works and 371 drawings and sketches by the artist. Each year it presents a selected segment of his extensive oeuvre, and from 2022 onwards, exhibitions are held in dialogue with works by Related artists. The exhibition Bogdan Borciij / Karel Zelenko: on the occasion of Borcij / her centenary of birth, the dialogue will be accompanied by an extended discursive programme with lectures and a round table dedicated to an in-depth reflection on graphic art and Borcij / Borcij / borcij / oeuvre.
Letos bo na ogled dvajseta postavitev Grafičnega kabineta Bogdana Borčića, ki bo hkrati zaznamovala 100. obletnico rojstva Bogdana Borčića (1926–2014). Ob tej priložnosti bodo Borčićeva grafična dela postavljena v dialog z grafikami Karla Zelenka (r. 1925), enega ključnih predstavnikov slovenske grafike druge polovice 20. stoletja, ki je leta 2025 praznoval sto let.
Bogdan Borčić in Karel Zelenko sta časovna sopotnika z mnogimi biografskimi paralelami. Oba sta obiskovala Akademijo likovnih umetnosti v Ljubljani v štiridesetih letih in bila del prvih povojnih generacij, ki so se urile pod taktirko velikih imen, med drugim Božidarja Jakca in Gabrijela Stupice, ki sta odločilno vplivala na oba umetnika.
Njuni poti sta se tesneje prepletli konec petdesetih let, ko se je Borčić vrnil iz Pariza in uporabljal tiskarsko prešo v Zelenkovem ateljeju v Kamniku, kjer je ta služboval v tovarni Keramika. V šestdesetih pa se pojavljata kot sopotnika Ljubljanske grafične šole, a se sama nista dojemala kot njena predstavnika. Zelenko se ni nikoli poistovetil s tehnično popolnostjo, pripisano njenemu okvirju, in zagovarjal preprostost risbe; enostavnost zarisa črte v matrico. Že ta pogled na grafiko razkriva njegovega uporniškega duha, ki se jasno odslikava v neodvisni likovni govorici črno-bele filigransko izpopolnjene jedkanice. Borčić pa je, v popolnem nasprotju z Zelenkovo homogenostjo, iz desetletja v desetletje spreminjal in odpiral nova likovna polja.
Med tem ko Borčića zanima predvsem tehnična, likovna plat grafike, se pri Zelenku jasneje kaže njegovo vsebinsko obračunavanje s socialno tematiko, ki jo izredno narativno prenaša v svoje odtise. Borčić govori o grafiki kot načrtu, Zelenko jo primerja s poezijo.
Kljub razlikam v procesualnem in konceptualnem pristopu h grafiki pa vseeno najdemo stične točke v njunih delih, predvsem v prisotnosti figure. Pri Bogdanu Borčiću se pojavi v zgodnjih lesorezih, v vaških in ribiških prizorih ter v reminiscencah na internacijo v Dachau. Konec šestdesetih se za kratek čas vrne med izčiščene popartistične kompozicije, nakar bi lahko vlogo »figure« na grafikah pripisali školjki, ki jo je studiozno preigraval, vse dokler ni za sabo pustila perforacije v ploskvi. Karel Zelenko pa ostaja zavezan figuralik. V njegovih grafikah vlada realizem, prežet s pikro satiro in že skoraj morbidno ironijo – ženska na invalidskem vozičku prodaja srečke, »ljubitelj narave« občuduje svoje lovske trofeje, Ikar se je ujel v kaotično električno napeljavo. Njegovi svetovi so prenasičeni s predmeti, vladajo jim akrobati in cirkusantni, vse pa prekriva meglica melanholije.
Klovn, kot motivna vez med avtorjema, je pri Borčiću prisoten v zgodnjih delih, pri Zelenku pa ostaja konstanta do današnjih dni. Kot arhetip odpira številne interpretativne ravni: od podobe zabavljača in marginalca do simbola dualnosti in kompleksne poosebitve absurda med- in povojne eksistence, ki odmeva skozi drugo polovico 20. stoletja in še zdaj tragikomično ohranja svojo aktualnost.
Predmetnost se po daljšem abstraktnem obdobju v opus Bogdana Borčića vrne v dvatisočih, ko se pojavi z belino obdan osameli predmet. Najprej kot stol in miza, kasneje kot pripomoček ali orodje. Umetnik pripoveduje, da so ga nekoč na Zelenkovi grafiki pritegnile dolge klešče, ki jih je potem upodobil v seriji Preproste reči , v kateri je začel raziskovati razmerje med prostranostjo praznega lista in majhnim barvnim odtisom. Tako tudi v kontekstu tokratnega dialoga njegovi objekti delujejo, kot da bi bili izvzeti iz Zelenkovih sten, miz, odpadov ali karnevalske zmede. Služijo kot kontrast Zelenkovemu horror vacui , ki odraža v materialu in nesmislu utapljajoči se svet.
Kustosinja: Deja Bečaj
Foto:
Bogdan Borčić, Cirkus I , 1957, arhiv GBJ
Karel Zelenko, Akrobatski klovn , 1973, foto: Nina Zelenko
Grafični kabinet Bogdana Borčića hrani 1072 grafičnih del ter 371 risb in skic umetnika. Vsako leto predstavlja izbran segment njegovega obsežnega opusa, od leta 2022 dalje pa razstave potekajo v dialogu z deli sorodnih umetnikov. Razstavo Bogdan Borčić & Karel Zelenko: V dialogu bo ob Borčićevi stoletnici rojstva spremljal tudi razširjen diskurzivni program s predavanji in okroglo mizo, namenjen poglobljenemu razmisleku o grafični umetnosti in Borčićevem opusu.