|
|
Whether we want it or not, these future adults are the ones who will be facing new challenges, unfamiliar to our own generation – because we leave them this world in an unseemly and worrisome state. They will have to confront the untamed, frightened, aggressive and greedy side of the human nature – the side that lacks solidarity and basic awareness of the shared fate of human (and all other) beings on the only planet we have. Therefore, my illustrations, which are tightly intertwined with the text, are not gentle whisperings to calm the child before bedtime. Even when they are gentle, warm, witty and filled with compassion, their purpose is to wake the reader up to the not-so-simple reality so that he or she can confront it with a clear head. The protagonists in nearly all of my books are monsters, or more precisely, “monsters”, that reflect our flaws and, less frequently, our strengths back at us, while almost never averting their gaze from our own. (…) So, this is the terrain and the range in which my illustrations are created. Even when they sing with free, imaginative play, even when they contain seemingly unimportant details to make them more amusing, even when they make us laugh, they have been painstakingly designed and honed to hit their target – the heart of that future adult growing inside the child.” (Quoted text translated by Dubravka Petrović)
|
|
|
Željeli mi ili ne, baš taj budući odrastao čovjek srest će se s novim iskušenjima kakva naš naraštaj ne poznaje – svijet mu ostavljamo u nepriličnom i zabrinjavajućem stanju. Sučelit će se s nepripitomljenim, prestrašenim, nasilnim i pohlepnim dijelom ljudske prirode – one kojoj nedostaje temeljnog osjećaja o zajedničkoj sudbini ljudskih (i svih drugih) bića na našem jedinom i zajedničkom planetu. Stoga moje ilustracije, čvrsto isprepletene s tekstovima, nisu nježna šaputanja koja služe za laka uspavljivanja. I kad su nježne, tople, duhovite i pune suosjećajnosti, one služe za buđenja, otrežnjenja i sučeljavanja s ne baš jednostavnom stvarnošću. Likovi gotovo svih mojih knjiga su čudovišta, točnije „čudovišta“, koja nam zrcale više naše mane nego vrline, gledajući nas najčešće ravno u oči. (…) Eto, u tim prostorima i u tom rasponu nastaju moje ilustracije. I kada su raspjevane kao slobodna maštovita igra, i kada su uveseljene naoko nebitnim detaljima, i kada nas nasmijavaju, one su brižno osmišljene i odnjegovane kako bi pogodile svoj cilj – srce budućeg odraslog čovjeka koji raste u djetetu.“
|
