Kauzlarić Atač Zlatko – Late Summer

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 with the work of the Student Experimental Theatre. He graduated in the class of Prof. Miljenko Stančić and immediately became a collaborator in the master workshop of Prof. K. Hegedušić, and in 1973 he became an assistant at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, where he currently works as a full professor and served as dean for a time. In addition to painting and graphics, he has been intensively engaged in scenography and costume design, contributing to around one hundred theatre projects both domestically and internationally, as well as several film and television projects. He is also the author of several visual interventions in public spaces. In 1996, a monograph about him was published, authored by Tonko Maroević. He is a recipient of many awards for painting and scenography, as well as the Order of Danica for his cultural merits. Atačevo’s existence in the field of painting has been marked by works—from the early ones created during his time with the group “Biafra” (since 1970), portraits of famous personalities in expressive movement, nudes, and numerous self-nudes. From the very beginning, the artist has inherited a sense of momentary expression, rhythm, movement, and characteristic artistic engagement. His current painting preoccupations are nudes immersed 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 articulation.