MARKO CRNOBRNJA

When something is done after the precept of parenthood legitimate justification is most frequently in agreement with social standards of the grown-ups – but not those that suit the children. Nevertheless, when educational propositions are renamed into a collective play, when each participant has his/her visible and equal place, and word messages are replaced by associative messages in meaningful pictures, it seems the process of growing-up could be a part of an unobtrusive and almost always entertaining social game where no one wins and no one loses.

AVGUST / AUGUST

ISTORIJA / HISTORY

MATEMATIKA / MATHEMATICS

GEOGRAFIJA / GEOGRAPHY

TEHNIČKO OBRAZOVANJE / TECHNICAL EDUCATION

Since 2003 Marko Crnobrnja has been making educational sculptures primarily for his own children, so that he, as an (in)experienced young parent and also a young sculptor, could master and reconcile within his own personality two serious roles he has been attributed. From his position of an artist and from the position of a father he has realised sculptures, which, as fragmentary scenic images become essential means of pedagogical rhetoric, authentic interactive instruments of caution and education, and also of a specifically utilitarian aesthetic communication. Verbal communication has been replaced by illustration; the artwork is introduced as the basic vehicle that participates in the real world outside exclusively artistic space. Crnobrnja established a dialogue with his children instinctively, easily and directly, pedagogically acceptable and plausible from the very beginning – each narrative whole is functionally reduced to utmost simplicity, while the elements of the content of intended messages or advice, i.e. structural elements of the sculpted entity are in an adequate, simplified relationship, without superfluous details that might redirect attention – everything is in the context of direct perception and clear understanding.

POŠALJI MI PORUKU / TEXT ME

MOGU / I CAN

ZNAM / I KNOW

URADI SAM / DO IT YOURSELF

SUPER / SUPER

Crnobrnja carefully detects and extracts from immediate reality each possible serendipity that could cause unwanted effects or consequences in the growing-up process of his children, so that in time, with their natural inclusion into the events of the outer world he could broaden the concrete spectre of manipulation outside the micro environment of the family to ever more present global phenomena and everything else that is externally reflected during the process of inevitable socialising of the child through different obstacles and dangers toward other receivers,  to every child and his/her parents. And then, when children outgrow the stage of direct interested consumers of their parents’ messages and advice, the instructive scenes, most of all wittily and lucidly documented, become socially committed narratives with a consistently controlled line of criticism.

It seems that Marko performed his role of father/educator and at the same time a conscientious member of the society, spontaneously and primarily according to the propositions of all children (of the world), because at the very beginning he remembered that it would be much more practical if he consciously separated himself from the world of grown-ups. The space for playing with childhood seems to be boundless just like the artist’s imagination, and even to remain the last dedicated player may not be so bad because then the rules become less binding and it also means that no one can take away from you memories of your own childhood.

AMBICIJE / AMBITIONS

MLADI GLUMAC / YOUNG ACTOR

PIJANISTA / PIANO PLAYER

The new series of sculptures by Marko Crnobrnja refer to different situations of universal content through rephrased moments from his personal experience. The child is still a charming promoter of artist’s discourse, resourceful initiator and protagonist of innocent and even less innocent pranks, an adroit manipulator of parental love and worries, but also at the same time a naïve victim of pedagogical punishment and bans, of petty and important duties that disrupt the simulacrum of carefree manoeuvring. Two autonomous wholes, genuinely different situations, two opposing entities that Marko (un)intentionally introduces into the dialogue system – on the one hand, 14 wall objects from the cycle August with framed scenes of a child isolated in the trap of his/her own troubles before the repeated exam (in mathematics, Serbian language, visual art education, conduct…) fulfils the form of apparent parental presence, and on the other hand, of parental real absence in the series of sculptures Unwelcome Outcome, where the child, relieved of all those obligations, surrenders to his/her temptations and adventures following the principle “I can and will do everything”. August has generally been a good fairy to some and a gorgon to others.

Crnobrnja works in various materials and their combinations, and lately most frequently in terracotta, steel and polyester, but wood has remained his priority – in it he recognises the archetypal vitality, always challenging and adaptable to the idea of a sculpture as an imperfect old-time toy. Wood has become the medium for a free expression and the artist intervenes on it with other materials and paint that should either hide or underline the structural quality, or else level the conceptual and visual effectiveness. In his further experiments with wood Marko has made a series of new drawings in mixed technique on board – Send me a message, deftly steering it so that he stays without completely abandoning the third dimension – the flat surface of the board is a materialised spatial foundation, ideal for the doubling of linear/graphic and plastic elements, for a different study of forms and their interrelations. Witty and entertaining from the very beginning, instructive and direct, precise naming of the works has been transposed into a linguistically broadened and physically defined area (with implemented text messages from the children), and this, integrated with the directly associative illustrative content, confirms the functional quality of Marko’s dialogue discourse.

Reconstruction of childhood in the sculptures of Marko Crnobrnja evolves from individual to the general, from an intimate micro plan to the universal, emotional but also the rational, attractive in its amusing innocence even when it is undoubtedly critically committed. His sculpture is no more a vehicle that compensates insecurity or fears of an inexperienced father, it is itself a concept in function, formally and semantically part of a system of confirmed values.

Gordana Stanišić

RĐAVA POSLA / UNWELCOME OUTCOME

MOGU SVE / I CAN DO ANYTHING

TOBOGAN / TOBOGAN

BICIKLISTA / CYCLIST

PUNA KESA / FULL MEASURE

Kada se nešto radi po pedagoškom diktatu roditeljstva to najčešće ima legitimno opravdanje po svim društvenim standardima odraslih, ali ne i po onima koja odgovaraju samoj deci, neposrednim recipijentima istih tih vaspitnih standarda. Međutim, kada se propozicije edukovanja preimenuju u zajedničku igru u kojoj svaki akter ima svoje vidljivo i ravnopravno mesto, a poruke rečima zamene asocijativnim porukama u slikama koje nešto znače, čini se kao da bi svaki proces odrastanja mogao da bude deo jedne neopterećujuće i gotovo uvek zabavne društvene igre u kojoj ni pobednika ni poraženih nema. Jedini je problem u tome što su roditelji uglavnom suviše odrasli kako bi se toga i dosetili.

AVGUST / AUGUST

Marko Crnobrnja od 2003. godine pravi edukativne skulpture namenjene prevashodno svojoj deci kako bi inicijalno i sam, sa (ne)iskustvom mladog roditelja i isto tako mladog vajara, savladao i istovremeno u sebi pomirio dve ozbiljne uloge u kojima se našao. Iz pozicije umetnika i iz pozicije oca realizuje skulpture koje u formi fragmentiranih (prizornih) slika postaju primarno sredstvo pedagoške retorike, autentični interaktivni instrument upozoravanja i edukovanja, i jedne specifično utilitarne estetike komunikacije. Verbalna komunikacija zamenjena je ilustrovanom, umetnički predmet je uveden kao osnovno sredstvo koje participira u realnom svetu izvan isključivo umetničkog prostora. Dijalog sa svojom decom Crnobrnja je uspostavio po instinktu, lako i neposredno, sve je od početka postavljeno pedagoški prihvatljivo i uverljivo – svaka narativna celina funkcionalno je svedena do krajnje jednostavnosti, sadržajni elementi namenjene poruke/saveta, tj. konstruktivni elementi skulptoralne celine jesu u adekvatnom, simplifikovanom odnosu, bez suvišnih detalja koji bi eventualno preusmerili pažnju – sve je u kontekstu direktnog uočavanja i jasnog razumevanja.

POŠALJI MI PORUKU / TEXT ME

Svaku eventualnu slučajnost koja može da prouzrokuje neželjene efekte ili posledice u procesu odrastanja njegove dece Crnobrnja pažljivo detektuje i izvlači iz neposredne realnosti, da bi vremenom, njihovim prirodnim uključenjem u sadržaje spoljašnjeg sveta, i konkretan spektar manipulativnosti proširio i izvan mikro porodičnog okruženja ka sveprisutnijim globalnim fenomenima, i svemu onome što se u procesu neminovne socijalizacije deteta kroz različite prepreke i opasnosti spolja reflektuje i ka drugim primaocima, ka svakom detetu i njegovim roditeljima. I onda kada deca prerastu fazu neposredno zainteresovanih konzumenata roditeljskih poruka i saveta, instruktivne scene, iznad svega duhovito i lucidno dokumentovane, postaju i socijalno angažovani narativi, sa uvek dosledno kontrolisanom linijom kritike.

Čini se da je Marko funkciju oca edukatora i savesnog društvenog činioca istovremeno, obavio spontano i pre svega po propozicijama sve dece (ovoga sveta), upravo zato što se na početku dosetio da je praktičnije ako se i sam svesno distancira od sveta odraslih. Prostor za igru sa detinjstvom nepregledan je kao i mašta samog umetnika, a ostati poslednji posvećeni igrač i nije tako loše jer su posle svega pravila manje obavezujuća, što znači da vam i dragocene resurse sećanja na sopstveno detinjstvo niko ne može da oduzme.

AMBICIJE / AMBITIONS

Nove serije skulptura Marka Crnobrnje referiraju upravo na različite situacije univerzalnog sadržaja kroz parafrazirane momente iz njegovog ličnog iskustva. Dete je i dalje šarmantni promoter umetnikovog diskursa, neiscrpni inicijator i protagonista svih nevinih i onih manje nevinih nestašluka, snalažljivi manipulator roditeljske ljubavi i briga, ali isto tako naivna žrtva pedagoških kazni i zabrana, malih i velikih obaveza koje narušavaju simulakrum bezbrižnog manevrisanja. Dve autonomne celine, dijametralno različite situacije, dva suprotstavljujuća entiteta Marko (ne)tendenciozno uvodi u sistem dijaloga – s jedne strane 14 zidnih objekata iz ciklusa Avgust sa frejmovanim scenama deteta izolovanog u klopku sopstvenih nevolja pred popravni ispit (iz matematike, srpskog, likovnog, vladanja…) ispunjava formu privida roditeljskog prisustva, a s druge strane realnog roditeljskog odsustva u seriji skulptura Rđava posla, gde se dete, rasterećeno istih tih obaveza prepušta sopstvenim izazovima i avantrurama po principu „mogu i hoću sve“. Avgust je generalno uvek bio nekome majka, nekome maćeha!

Crnobrnja radi sa različitim materijalima i njihovim kombinacijama, u poslednje vreme sve češće sa terakotom, čelikom i poliesterom, ali je drvo ostalo prioritet – u njemu prepoznaje arhetipsku vitalnost uvek izazovnu i adaptibilnu ideji o skulpturi kao nesavršenoj starinskoj igrački. Drvo je medijum za sve slobodnije izražavanje, na njemu interveniše drugim materijalima i bojom kojom ili maskira ili potencira strukturalnost, niveliše idejnu i vizuelnu efektnost. U pravcu daljih eksperimentisanja sa drvetom nastala je serija novih crteža u kombinovanoj tehnici na dasci Pošalji mi poruku, kojima spretno manevriše sa neudaljavanjem od treće dimenzije – plošna površina daske je materijalizovana prostorna baza, idealna za udvajanje linearnih/grafičkih i plastičkih elemenata, za drugačije istraživanje formi i njihovih suodnošavanja. Od samog početka duhovito i zabavno, instruktivno i direktno precizno imenovanje radova ovde je transponovano u lingvistički prošireno i fizički određeno polje (sa implementiranim sms porukama dece) koje, integrisano sa direktno asocijativnim ilustrativnim sadržajem, potvrđuje funkcionalnost Markovog dijaloškog diskursa.

Rekonstrukcija detinjstva u skulpturama Marka Crnobrnje odvija se od pojedinačnog ka opštem,  iz jednog intimnog mikro plana ka univerzalnom, emotivno ali i racionalno, dopadljivo u svojoj duhovitoj naivnosti čak i onda kada je ona bez sumnje kritički angažovana. Njegova skulptura odavno već nije sredstvo za kompenzaciju nesigurnosti i strahova neiskusnog oca, ona je sama koncept u funkciji, i formalno i značenjski deo je sistema potvrđenih vrednosti.

                                                                                                                              Gordana Stanišić