Slikar je i crtač veduta, pejsaža, mrtve prirode, sakralnih motiva, portreta, i to u različitim tehnikama – ulju, akvarelu, ugljenu, olovci, kombiniranim tehnikama, i osobito u pastelu. Objavljeno mu je 14 grafičkih mapa (između ostalih i Zaprešićke šetnice), sudjelovao je na četrdesetak samostalnih i skupnih izložaba u zemlji i inozemstvu u različitim eminentnim izložbenim prostorima, a radovi mu se nalaze i kao stalan postav u muzejima, galerijama, crkvama, bolnicama i privatnim zbirkama. Pokrenuo je i vodi likovnu koloniju More u Ninu, suosnivačem je umjetničke kolonije u Neumu, sudjelovao je u desecima likovnih radionica itd.
Rođen je u Čapljini 1959., gdje je i maturirao. Od 1978. živi u Zagrebu, a od 1984. u Zaprešiću, tako da mu Klub Zaprešićana Zaprešćan, kao sugrađaninu, s punim pravom objavljuje ovu impozantnu mapu – Hrvatski suvenir, koja na svoj način objedinjuje i sintetizira sve prethodne.
Tu se nalaze vizure Zagreba kojemu je posvetio cijeli ciklus, od katedrale iz različitih kutova i njezina uklapanja u tkivo grada, preko Griča i Kaptola koji odišu bogatom poviješću, do slikovitih šetnji zagrebačkim ulicama u različitim godišnjim dobima. Zatim, tu su trgovi , ulice i zvonici baroknoga Varaždina, Požege, bogatstvo Vinkovačkih jeseni i Hrvatskoga Zagorja, povijesne znamenitosti Nina, vedute kraljevskoga srednjoeuropskoga grada Samobora i ostalih prelijepih hrvatskih gradova: Dubrovnika, Metkovića, Splita, Šibenika, Zadra, Rijeke, Pule, Gospića, Siska, Bjelovara, Osijeka, Slavonskoga Broda. Tu su, dakako, i Zaprešićke šetnice u kojima je s ljubavlju pokazao kontraste ostataka staroga Zaprešića koji neminovno nestaje i suvremenoga grada koji nezaustavljivo raste.
Osim toga, ovdje su i drugi autorovi slikarski ciklusi: Spomenici, Vode, Krajolici, Minijature, Grozdovi, Mrtva priroda, Put Isusov, itd
U sve ove drage i poznate motive, Stjepan Katić, dakako, uz vjernost predlošcima, unosi i ono nešto svoje, vlastiti kut gledanja i doživljaj, vlastitu likovnu imaginaciju i invenciju, ostavljajući pritom i nama, poštovateljima njegova slikarstva, mogućnost našega doživljaja i interpretiranja njegova djela, u čemu se i sastoji bit «estetske univerzalnosti» (I.Kant), prilaza i doživljaja umjetničkoga djela. Kada je , naime, riječ o umjetničkom djelu, ne radi se o mehaničkom oponašanju iskustvene stvarnosti, nego je na djelu i umjetnikova «vlastitost» (M. Heidegger), izvornost, dar i inspiracija, vlastito doživljavanje i shvaćanje zbilje, te njezina stvaralačka transpozicija u umjetničko djelo. Umjetnik kao poietičko (stvaralačko) biće proizvodi svijet umjetnosti, koji je jedan nov, osebujan svijet, a ne samo sredstvo, osjetilni izraz neke druge svrhe.
Umjetnički doživljaj nije samo psihološka kategorija, ne može se poistovjetiti samo s trenutnom emocijom u psihologijskom smislu riječi, budući da su u njega uključeni i elementi intuitivnoga razumijevanja, uzbuđenja i potresenosti, što zahvaća cijelu čovjekovu duhovnost i osobnost (Ingarden). Po tome umjetnost i jest «najdemokratskiji» oblik ljudskoga duha. Naime da bi se doživjelo umjetničko djelo, njegova poruka, ljepota, tragika i sl., u slikarstvu kao i u glazbi, ne moramo o njima mnogo znati (kao primjerice, u znanosti i u filozofiji, koje su kao u osnovi racionalni oblici duha, kumulativni).
Tome treba dodati da su slikarova djela popraćena dobro odabranim stihovima poznatih hrvatskih i zaprešićkih pjesnika te napisima kompetentnih likovnih kritičara, što nam upotpunjuje doživljaj ovoga izvanrednog izdanja.
O tom zajedništvu i jedinstvu slikarstva i pjesništva najbolje govori poznata sentenca: «Slikarstvo je nijemo pjesništvo, a pjesništvo rječita slika» (Simonides).
Stoga i ovo iznimno izdanje svesrdno preporučujemo svim ljepodusima kao nedvojbeno vrelo autentičnoga umjetničkog doživljaja i užitka. (Prof. dr. sc. Nikola Skledar)
PUBLISHER’S INTRODUCTORY NOTE
Stjepan Katić is an exceptional and a distinctive phenomenon in our visual-arts scene. An engineer and an M.Sc. of biochemistry by education, and by employment, he has managed to create a great and impressive painting opus of various topics and techniques. He is a painter and a sketcher of panoramas, landscapes, still lives, sacral motives, portraits, in various techniques- oil, water-colours, charcoal, pencil, combined techniques, and especially pastel. He has published 14 graphic portfolios (Zaprešićke šetnice (The Promenades of Zaprešić) among others), he has participated in forty independent and joint exhibitions in Croatia and abroad, in various eminent exhibition areas, and his work can be found as a part of regular displays in museums, galleries, churches, hospitals and private collections. He has stared and is still running the artistic colony More Nin, he is a co-founder of the artistic colony in Neum, he has participated in dozens of artistic workshops etc.
He was born in Čapljina in 1959, where he graduated from high school. Since 1978 he has been living in Zagreb, and since 1984 in Zaprešić. This is why the club of citizens of Zaprešić Zapreščan, to a fellow citizen, rightfully publishes this imposing portfolio – Hrvatski suvenir (Croatian Souvenir), which in its way unites and synthesizes all of the previous ones.
It contains vistas of Zagreb, to which he dedicates an entire cycle, from the cathedral seen from different angles and the way it fits into the cities tissue, through Grič and Kaptol and their rich history, to picturesque walks through the streets of Zagreb in different seasons. Then, there are the squares, the streets and the church-towers of the baroque town of Varaždin, Požega, the wealth of Vinkovačke jeseni (The Vinkovci Autumn Festival) and Hrvatsko Zagorje, the historical sights of Nin, the panoramas of the royal Middle European town of Samobor and other beautiful towns of Croatia: Dubrovnik, Metković, Split, Šibenik, Zadar, Rijeka, Pula, Gospić, Sisak, Bjelovar, Osijek, Slavonski Brod. There are, of course, Zaprešićke šetnice (The Promenades of Zaprešić), in which he lovingly shows the contrasts of the remnants of the old Zaprešić which is inevitably disappearing and the contemporary town that is growing unstoppably.
Beside that, there are other cycles: Monuments, Waters, Landscapes, Miniatures, Grape Clusters, Still Life, The Path of Jesus, etc.
Besides these dear and familiar motives, Stjepan Katić, while staying true to his models, gives something of his own, his unique point of view and impression, his artistic imagination and invention, but still leaving to us, the admirers of his art, the possibility of our own impression and interpretation of his work, what is the essence of the «aesthetical universality» (I.Kant), the approach and the experience of a work of art. A work of art is no mere mechanical imitation of the experiential reality, but also a result of the artist’s «singularity» (M. Heidegger), originality, gift and inspiration, his or her own experience and understanding of the reality and its creative transposition into a work of art. An artist as a poietic (creative) being creates a world of art, a new, distinctive world, and not just a means, a sensorial expression of another purpose.
The artistic experience is not just a psychological category, it cannot be equated only with the momentary emotion in the psychological sense, since it also involves elements of intuitive understanding, excitement and agitation, what affects man’s entire spirituality and personality (Ingarden). This is what makes art the «most democratic» form of human spirit. Namely, to experience a work of art, its message, beauty, tragedy etc., in painting as in music, we need not know much about them (as, for instance, in science and philosophy, which, as basically rational forms of spirit, are cumulative)
It should also be added that the artist’s work here is accompanied by the well chosen lines by known Croatian poets, as well as by those by poets from Zaprešić, and by articles by competent art critics, what makes the experience of this exceptional publication complete.
This unity of painting and poetry is best commented by the famous sentence: «Painting is mute poetry, and poetry an eloquent paining» (Simonides).
This is why this exceptional publication is highly recommended to all Schöngeists as an indubitable well of authentic artistic experience and pleasure. (Prof. dr. sc. Nikola Skledar)
akademija-art.hr
