BIOGRAPHIE 

Von Vlado Buzancic

lvo Cenkovcan is an interesting  human and artistic figure. His special way of expressing himself, his peculiarity, and relaxedness I first experienced in the fall of 1994 in HLEBINE, where I in great Inspiration opened this exposition at the „Gallery Hlebine“. Oil on glass, „armed with his relief frames, specially created for each painting, become objects of art. Since then I have acquainted myself with his other paintings, partly through the originals, partly through first class slides, which had been created by an excellent photographer - lvo Cenkovcan himself.

His artist name is just „Ivo“, and that his how he signs all his artworks. Cenkovcan stands for documents, biographies, Molve, Hlebine, and the rest of Croatia.

At this year´s trade fair in  Zagreb, in the so called „Arist‘s Pavilion“, he exhibited fifteen paintings with different visual metaphorics, his astrological series with all zodiac signs as well as his „Four Seasons“. The 

porcelain series - 12 Zodiac signs and the Four Seasons in larger format - are manufactured by „Kaiser Porzellan“ in Germany.

His works are excellent artistic creations. The simultaneous affinity and diversity in Ivo‘s paintings on glass and on porcelain is determined by the analogy of poetry, the ductus of the planning, subject to the format, which is an interpretation of a detail, not the whole painting unless the picture is a model for itself in it‘s entirety or detail. For Ivo the whole painting depicts a unique unity, in which principally several single 

realities, individual rooms and free rooms in different variations harmonize together in surreality. This means, that here several meanings, stories, tales flow together, are integrated into one single work.

All paintings are biographic chronicles, pages in a life‘s novel, the artist‘s nostalgia and his unrast. Important components are illumination, large letters, initials, compressed initials - from which quite meaningful the tomorrow, and tomorrow continues.

For quite some time Ivo has been working by the motto „l´art pour l´art“. Art has taught him to use his innovative spirit in an extensive and energetic way. It supports him in his rebellion against restricting rules. lt has revealed to him his own artistic love for playing and shown him al possibilities. It has definitely helped him to face the logic of the irreal, the unconscious, direct his attention to the fateful logic of his own reality. All this is contained in his paintings, simply through the aristic conveyance, composition and completely balanced powers.  Therefore there is nothing in his paintings that is not  representing himself, his youthful past, his old and new, present triviality, disguised in dreams. Skilful and artistic he defends these essentiel dreams with careful activity and business efficiency.

His ‚Piglets“ in three unbelievable colors, two realities (the painting „My Grandfather“) his  violins, celli, pianos - also in many varying colors - his electric guitars, his beautiful flying or floating ladies, his „Krovat“, his Zagreb, his „Croatia“, his black and other magicians his notes with fatal red shoe and high deadly heel, his fish, parrots, owls.....none of these can be separated from his biography.

Synopsis:

The surrealism of Ivo Cenkovcan is a result of a tight combination of his attention to hyperrealism and his own over-realism, one of at least ten current neo-surrealisms. This „Over-reality art created by Ivo Cenkovcan is totally his own! lt is immediately discernible that it brilliantly and exclusively arises out of personal obsession of a very talented self made man.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

1975 I – Torino, Galeri Viotti
1976 D – Düsseldorf, Kunstauktion Schenk
1977 D – Frankfurt/M, Forum Stadtsparkasse
1978 D – München, Galerie Hell
1982 D – Hof, Galeriehaus Weinelt
1984 D – Mainz, Kurfürstliches Schloß
1986 CH – Zürich, Lord Galerie
1988 S – Stockholm, Casper Galerie
1988 D – Frankfurt/M, Steigenberger Airport-Galerie
1994 CRO-Zagreb, Galerie INA
1995 CRO – Zagreb, Art Fair
1995 D – Frankfurt/M, Coral Galerie
1995 CRO – Galerie Hlebine
1999 D – Frankfurt/M, Buchmesse
2002 USA – Sausalito, Art Festival
2004 D – Loreley, Besucherzentrum
2005 D – Treidler Galerie Sankt Goar
2009 D – Galerie Rathaus Mainz
2013 CRO -Disicon Expo 2013
2014 D – Art-Festival „Kunst am Spreeknie“ Berlin

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