Exhibition The best of the world’s naive

The exhibition The best of the world’s naïve will be opened during the Kaleidoscope of Culture visual arts week, on September 29 from 7 p.m. in the Svilara Cultural Station. The comparative exhibition presents the works of artists Jan Husarik, Rozalija Markov, Zuzana Halupova and Martin Jonas, who during their lifetime left a deep mark in the field of domestic and world naive. Along with them, at the exhibition will be presented Chinese artists Qiao Nuo, Qin Hongbo, Ding Wanli, Song Quanguo, Li Mingxue, Xu Maosong, Fu Chengfen, Yuan Shifen, Tao Kui, Ding Shuhu, Zhao Jie, Zheng Ronghu, Zhong Chongfe, Lv Xianglin, Bie Zhigang, Fu Chengfeng, Song Zhenli, Qiao Yanmei and Qiu Yang. The exhibition will be open until October 10, every day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Jan Husarik (1942 – 2017) was a world-renowned artist, among the most prominent contemporary painters of the Kovačica naive art. He is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the Oscar for Art and Technology in Milan, honorary membership in the International Association for Culture in Naples, the Order of the Republic of France for Cultural Cooperation… For half a century of his creativity, Jan Husarik has held numerous exhibitions in the country and abroad, and his art was marked by an unusual theme – thirst. Lack of water and thirst became the central motifs of Jan Husarik’s painting, who created from them a universal symbol of thirst, both physical and spiritual thirst, thirst for love and a happy life.

Rozalija Markov (1956 – 2020) is one of the best naïve painters in the world, and in her painting career of more than 30 years, she exhibited at over 100 exhibitions in the country and abroad, 47 of which were independent. Her creativity is characterized by originality, richness of colors, genre motif, interior, precision and purity, which was a feature of her inner sensibility. Her paintings can be found on all continents and in encyclopedias of naive art, and she has been awarded both in the country and abroad.

Zuzana Halupova (1925 – 2001) is one of the most famous naive artists in our region. Although she completed only five grades of elementary school, Zuzana was a woman of distinct artistic talent, which she showed at an early age. She had her first solo exhibition in 1968 in Dubrovnik, and she also exhibited in numerous world capitals. She donated her famous masterpiece Winter to UNICEF, and she also took home a high award for the life work of Cyril and Methodius as the highest recognition that Matica Slovakia from Bratislava gives to successful Slovaks in the diaspora. Although she had no children of her own, the representation of children’s faces was a basic theme in her work.

Martin Jonas (1924-1996) is one of the most significant and well-known representatives of naive Slovak painting in Vojvodina. He exhibited at individual and group exhibitions in the country and abroad, as well as at international naive exhibitions. He has been awarded several times for his work. On his canvases are local colors and problems, as well as characteristic characters. The paintings of Martin Jonas are recognizable by the fact that in them you will mostly see hard-working Banat peasants with oversized arms and legs and small heads. The blue colors of Slovak houses and interiors, the yellow and orange colors of sunflowers, corn cobs and pumpkins, the green of the plain and the blush of the sun soaked his landscapes and surrounded the characters presented. The end result of summarizing his themes, playful moves, sound color and poetic atmosphere is a humane thought about man with all his virtues and flaws. The fact that he covers his universal thought with a concrete world that he knows well and interprets even better with authority only adds to the value of his works.

Partner of the Kaleidoscope of culture is Erste Bank.