Two graphic maps – in the map „Ring of a Snake“ perpetuately
prevails preoccupation with human deformities. The „Carrousel“ represents soulful
compassion as an expression of a deeper, philosophical attitude to life.
(paraphrasing foreword of the map „Carrousel“ by Zarko Domljan)
Ring of a Snake
Physical caricature indicates moral distortions in a human being. The prevailing grotesque in which the world is distorted with nonhuman animals, masks and scarecrows, witches and diabolos. (Vladimir Malekovic, foreword to this graphic map)
Devil's Bride (1984) by Josip GeneralicKoprivnica Town Museum - Gallery of Naive Art, Hlebine
At the end of the seventies a new phase at the Generalic creativity has started. If at first he was obsessed with beauty, after 1978 he is beginning to emphasize the deformity.
Dance of the Cruel (1984) by Josip GeneralicKoprivnica Town Museum - Gallery of Naive Art, Hlebine
Based on his own drama (mother's death, disagreements with his father)he began to witness the tragic sense of life. Everything becomes full of dire message, shows the reverse side of the world, animality of human nature, we see a number of bizarre erotic allusions.
Greedy Woman (1984) by Josip GeneralicKoprivnica Town Museum - Gallery of Naive Art, Hlebine
Mocking greed and corruption, the dark human passions, emphasizes the moral outrage of the image of the tragic scenes of modern life. These are no longer symbols of dread, but depictions of horror himself, intolerable existential view.
The Carrousel
Josip Generalic's graphics joined with Dragutin Feletar's poems.
For real (1987) by Josip GeneralicKoprivnica Town Museum - Gallery of Naive Art, Hlebine
At this stage the black is full of monstrous creatures, mutants, both human and animal features. In addition to the iconography of horror, diabolic sarcasm and irony are dominant features.
Poems: Dragutin Feletar
Curator of the exhibition: Helena Kusenic, curator, Koprivnica Town Museum - Gallery of Naive Art, Hlebine
Photographs: Tina Antolic