Aleksandar Srnec

Born 1924 in Zagreb, Croatia. Died 2010 in Zagreb. Studied at the Akademiji likovnih umjetnosti u Zagrebu, Zagreb (1943–1949). 1950–1956 member of Exat 51.

Aleksandar Srnec (Zagreb, 1924–2010) is one of the irst Croatian multimedia artists. His work includes top results in painting, sculpture, kinetic and luminous art, animated movies and graphic design. In the period from 1948 to 1951 he collaborated with Vjenceslav Richter and Ivan Picelj on celebrated solutions of Yugoslav exhibitions and pavilions at fairs in the country and abroad (Book Exhibition of National Republic of Croatia, exhibition Industry of NR Croatia in Zagreb, exhibition Highway of Brotherhood and Unity in Zagreb and Belgrade, Projects for Yugoslav pavilions at fairs in Stockholm, Vienna and Hannover). Together with Ivan Picelj and Božidar Rašica he founded the group of artists and architects EXAT 51 (an abbreviation for Eksperimentalni atelje - Experimental Studio) in 1951. In the dominant climate of socialist realism the group advocated the legitimacy of abstract art, equal value of “pure” and “applied” art i.e. the synthesis of all of ine arts, and so announced a new era of Croatian contemporary art. With his works in 1953 he participated at the irst exhibition of abstract art in public venues in the former Yugoslavia and the rest of the socialist world, held in the Croatian Association of Architects in Zagreb. He transferred his mostly linear compositions during the realization of the object Prostorni modulator (Spatial modulator) in 1953 from images to the third dimen- sion, and in 1956 his research in the ield of sculpture included movement. he experience of working on animated ilms in Zagreb School of Animation (1959–1960) motivated him to examine the efects of light in motion. Starting from 1962, and most productively in the period from 1965 to 1971, he implemented it in a series of luminokinetic objects that represented the most radical innovative strides in visual arts. he ambience Luminoplastika (Lumino- plastic) presented in 1967 in the Student Center Gallery in Zagreb is the irst representative of its genre in Croatian art, and luminoplastics were also presented at the exhibitions Nove tendencije (New tendencies) in 1963 and 1973. Srnec boldly stepped beyond the traditionally comprehended area of visual art in the direction of visual research that knows no limits, which can best be seen in his production of ilm Luminoplastics created between 1963 and 1968. he connection of Srnec’s commitment to abstraction based on the heritage of constructivism and his knowledge of ilm medium resulted in a globally rare systematic commitment to abstract ilm. It is the ilm medium that enabled Srnec to free the dynamic light visions of luminoplastics from physical defaults of visual-spatial presentation and fully realize the atmosphere of dematerialized spirituality. His ilm proposal for an open competition for a monu- ment to Lenin in the beginning of the 1970’s was rezalized in the similar fashion. Despite Srnec’s reputation as well as that of many of his collaborators in the project, and despite the reference to the legacy of constructivism in the suggested realization of the kinetic–dynamic composition of monumental proportions, which El Lissitzky, Tatljin, Rodčenko, and other artists that derived from the environment of the October Revolution dreamed of, due to the unorthodox approach to the subject and the competition, the commission rejected the proposal.

Exhibitions

• 1967, srnec aleksandr, Galerija Studentskog centra, Zagreb.
• 1973, De consequenties van de machine, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam.

http://www.avantgarde-museum.com/kolekcija/ht/autor.php?lang=en&autor=103
http://www.avantgarde-museum.com/en/standstill/authors/1960-1969/id-185/#id-185