Slavko Kopac

http://www.renaud-bray.com

http://www.renaud-bray.com

Like my own work, Kopac's turns its back on institutional art. He rejects any compromise with cultural intellectualism. He has wholly chosen the path of a burning, untamed spirituality. He seeks nothing but innocence, pure invention. And yet his art is marked by the utmost control and refinement. It is that most precious barbaric refinement which, starting from the simplest and humblest of evocations and employing only the most rudimentary means, attains an expressive intensity no longer known to academic production. Kopac and I met when he arrived in Paris more than thirty years ago. His art was already constituted as it has remained ; his positions, strongly taken then, have not changed since. . At the time, he knew nothing of my paintings, which proceeded from similar ambitions, and I knew nothing of his. Our shared aspirations brought us together and were the basis for our solid friendship. I like his works a great deal ; I feel strong emotion and admiration for them. . Slavko Kopac (1913-1995) - painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and visual poet - pursued throughout his life a path of freedom and experimentation. His work resonates with Surrealism, Art Brut, and informal Art yet is never reducible to any of these domains. Jean Dubuffet praised his 'burning, untamed spirituality' and 'barbaric refinement', while André Breton recognised his exceptional talent and visionary impulse, collaborating with him on emblematic works. Presented by Cristina Acidini, president of the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno (Florence), and with a preface by Bernard Blistène. honorary director of the Centre Pompidou (Paris), this volume brings together contributions from international scholars and a rich iconographic repertoire of never-before-seen works and documents, shedding new light on the trajectory of one of modernity's most singular voices.