oil on canvas, 131 x 163 cm, Signed and dated at the bottom right, in blue, "Prica (19)82."

Research information

The work was exhibited at the "Zlatko Prica: Tarski Cycle" exhibition, Art Pavilion in Zagreb, 1982, recorded in the exhibition catalogue under cat. no. 55, under the title "In the Lagoon", p. 39.

"Lagoon" by Zlatko Prica (1916. -2003.) is an interesting piece of his Tar cycle (named after the small village of Tar in Istria and created from 1971 to 1991), where we see an exploration of the figure in a fundamentally flat and coloristically open expression, typical for his creation. The basic division of the picture is into three horizontal zones (the upper and narrowest, blue; the middle in ochre; and the bottom and widest, red) where we recognize three human figures – a male and two women of which one carries a bouquet – several white birds and an odd boat, as well as some undefined, abstract shapes and lines that enlivens the monolithic surface. The meaning of the characters, their relationship with the birds, or the bouquet one of them carries, is unspecified. Whether it exists at all, is a question that is difficult to answer, however, considering all we know about Prica's oeuvre, it seems that he used characters as almost abstract ornaments, as formal points of enlivening the composition. The entire body of work by Zlatko Prica can be viewed as a dialogue between static and dynamic, which takes place through the relationship between the surface and line. This dialogue was conducted in different registers (abstract and figurative), but it was always used by the artist to demonstrate a virtuoso maintenance of balance, the equilibrium of the composition which is constantly at risk of overturning. And that risk Prica consistently emphasized, testing the limits of his ability to maintain this fragile compositional balance. Perhaps that is why he added figures and objects to his pictures. Without the desire for narrative or for iconographic interpretation, he intertwined the world and its phenomena in his compositions, thus creating fascinating pictorial sensations. Just such is this strange picture. FG

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