What is the role of technique in your practice? In particular are there any constraints or rules that you follow when creating?
I have never thought about that. The materials and the methods are imposed by themselves. For example, in the series "Tribute to Cargo Cults" I used wood and rope to form various electrical devices. The work itself is rough to emphasise the connection with primitive societies. When I say primitive, I don't mean backward, but original which is actually one of the meanings of the word primitive.
There is also immaterial forming, forming of the concept. We can call it the mental skill of forming, highlighted in contemporary art. The rules that I've followed can be perfectly seen there.
How do you see the relationship between emotional and intellectual perception of your work? In particular, how much do you consider the immersive nature of the viewing experience?
Art is a type of communication and it has its own intuitive language. That language is not verbal, it is emotional. That's how I treat my work. I always try to leave something incomplete, unsaid. Even when I talk about my work, I always feel like there's something more to it. I think that is very important when communicating with the audience, because it leaves room for the creative perception of the work. It repulses me when artists dissect their work to the smallest detail, explaining everything they wanted to say with it. Not even literature does that and it has words as its tool. I see no point in expressing visually, if you later have the need to explain it all with words. I prefer the text to be "in service" of the visual, so it leaves room for the artistic work to get some new meanings, to go in a direction unknown to the artist himself. These days it is very popular (if not even obligatory!) in exhibitions that a text – artist′s statement accompanies his work of art. My wife, also an artist, has well noticed on the last Triennial of Croatian sculptures where be both exhibited, that older artists tend to only put the title of the work, sometimes not even that. I would say that we are the artists of the "middle" generation that writes a few sentences, while the younger artists write one or more pages, a whole little essay. The desire to explain your work seems to me like a fear of being misinterpreted. I consider the perception of the observer equally worthy and interesting as my own concept, even if it is completely different from my own idea. So, the emotional and the intuitive is very important to me both when I am doing my works and when I'm perceiving someone else's work. Visual experience comes from observing. Of course, not all contemporary art is visual, it can be acustic as well, but I find the visual experience closer to me.
Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Ivan. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving?
At the moment, I have one independent exhibition in Croatia scheduled for autumn and I wouldn’t like to talk about my other plans, because I’m a little bit superstitious. I surely hope that I will be exhibiting more because I really want to share what I’m doing right now. However, I don’t want it to be too much, because I feel comfortable in my routine, family responsibilities, jewelry designing, working in my studio. Also, I do not like to travel. As far as my work is concerned, I will be working with the same subject, but also with other ideas and visual means of expression. Thank you for the time you have devoted to me.