Kauzlarić Atač Zlatko – In the Pool I

He was born in 1945 in Koprivnica. After finishing high school, he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. During his studies, he became involved in the work of the Student Experimental Theatre. He graduated in the class of Prof. Miljenko Stančić and immediately became an associate of the master workshop of Prof. K. Hegedušić. In 1973, he became an assistant at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, where he currently works as a full professor and also served as dean for a period. Besides painting and graphics, he has intensively engaged in scenography and costume design, collaborating on about a hundred theatre projects both in Croatia and abroad, as well as several film and television projects. He is also the author of several visual interventions in public spaces. In 1996, a monograph was published about him, written by Tonko Maroević. He has received numerous awards for painting and scenography and the Medal of Danica for merits in culture. His existence in the fields of painting has been marked by works—those initially created during his involvement with the group “Biafra” (from 1970), expressive portraits of famous individuals, nudes, and numerous self-nudes. From the very beginning, the author inherits a sense for the expression of the moment, rhythm, movement, and a characteristic artistic engagement. His current painting preoccupation is with nudes submerged in water, where drawing is replaced by the dominance of pure painterly treatment of the surface with color, revealing the virtuosity of a master who does not suppress expression with figurative expression.