Stilinovic, Mladen: Hammer (1982)

Stilinović’s artistic activity goes back to the early 1960s when he dropped out of school, choosing to follow a self-taught path. His literary interest – next to cinema, history and visual arts – drove him towards poetry quite early; his relation to language figured prominently in his approach throughout his career. His works became more political with time through a broadened spectrum of media (collages, artist’s books, actions, performances). As a member of the Group of Six Authors, he brought “exhibition-actions” out into public / urban spaces. His main interest soon became power relations intertwined with the complex mechanism of everyday life (B. Stipančić): he conveyed the cynicism of power with humor and irony, exploring everyday speech and its subversion by manipulating the language of politics and symbols of communism. Photography occupied a special place in his work; Stilinović analyzed its role and structure through the medium itself, especially in works examining the living and working conditions of the artist. In Hammer, the self-portrait may be understood as deforming the myth of the worker and reflecting on the “Praise of Laziness” he only formulated in 1993 but which is already present in series like Artist at Work. B.K.