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Slovenské pohľady 9/2010

     Interview with Uljana Zmetáková.
     In the steps of a famous father.
She is the daughter of a prominent Slovak artist - a painter, a graphic artist and an illustrator Ernest Zmetak and she has set out in his steps. She graduated from the graphics at VSVU, Bratislava and is a successful artist who exhibits her works at home and abroad and as a member of SVU she assists in organizing art events in Slovakia.
She used to help her father in many ways and she has been living in the close vicinity of his house beneath the Bratislava's Slavin. From the marriage to an artist Marcel Hascic, she has got a daughter Terezka, who also inherited the family genes and studies art education and social studies at Comenius University. Uljana Zmetakova is also an illustrator and her illustrations decorate the releases of several books. We asked her to talk about her memories of her father.

01 - WAS YOUR FATHER A STRONG MODEL FOR YOU IN YOUR CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH?
     * There was no idyllic childhood with devoted parents. They could give me just what was in them. Father began to be a great model when I was preparing for my studies at VSVU. He taught me to draw, to open the eyes ill the country, was guiding me at galleries not only in Italy. He discovered a daughter and I discovered a father.

02 - WHAT WERE THE MOMENTS YOU SPENT WITH HIM LIKE?
     * Recollection can also be painful. We have to evaluate people and situations by searching through our past. At the same time we try to present ourselves as good as it gets. Since I have had my parents in my mind forever, depending on a type of the question, I open various kinds of "drawers" with my memories. I can see my father's house daily, I can see the balcony in front of the studio, from which he used to greet me, or his snoring was heard from there during the sunny afternoon siesta in summer. I can also see the kitchen window, through which I used to see his hands while he was cutting cheese or sipping wine.

03 - YOU INHERITED HIS ART GENES. DID THIS LEAD YOU TO STUDY THE ARTS AND PAINTING AT UNIVERSITY?
     * Ironically, my way to art was made by tanks in 1968. The dream of becoming a journalist vanished in the consolidation, in accepting the absence of counter-revolution by the whole nation, which previously went crazy about Dubcek. Chameleons and adventurers came into power land what about today? In my view those days were an escape from the dirty politics to the noble world of beauty.

04 - WEREN'T YOU PERCEIVED AS A NEPOTISTIC CHILD? DIDN'T YOU HAVE TO DEMONSTRATE YOUR TALENT DAY BY DAY?
     * My father was, according to his nature, rather anti-favourtisist. For example, he questioned the then-bursar of VSVU about morality and STB agents ... in 1970! The first two years at school, in so-called preparation class, we were together in the studio with another year-class. Every day, from eight to twelve, we were drawing the still-life, later portraits, half-figures in colour. It was not interesting anymore who and how was admitted to school, but how he or she was drawing and how he or she was striving. It's the same as learning foreign languages. Open your mouth and it's clear how much and what you know. You submit a drawing, a painting, a sculpture and those who understand the language of art can read it. Pretending and camouflages are for laymen.

05 - WHAT WERE YOUR ART BEGINNINGS LIKE?
     * After graduating from University, I have remained freelance, and it has lasted till today. My father, in his good will, continued in correcting me, what of course caused a rupture after some time. For a long time he wouldn't come to my studio after I had asked him to tell me his opinion only to a finished work. Due to existential reasons too, I devoted myself a lot to weaving tapestries, using classical technique, whether using my father's designs or mine. It is a laborious technique, it will teach you to bow to the material. Every centimeter must be woven, nothing appears by pulling a brush or broom, or by flowing the colour. The largest tapestry of mine, done according to father's cardboard, with a panorama of Bratislava, is 2x5 meters large. It is placed in the National Oncological Institute in Bratislava, Kramare. I was weaving it continuously throughout a year.

06 - WHAT DOES A PAINTING AND ILLUSTRATION WORK MEAN TO YOU?
     * Painting and illustration are two distinct lines. Now I focus mainly on painting, although not exclusively with a brush in a hand. To picture real space /reality/ is the biggest challenge for me. Doing something else would be a hypocrisy on my part. Illustration is also a creative process, but in my opinion it should be, in a good way, a "housekeeper" of the text. It may also be painted illustration, but I don't appreciate illustrationism in current painting.

07 - YOU PARTICIPATE IN ORGANIZING CREATIVE ART EVENTS AS A MEMBER OF SVU. WHAT DO YOU DEDICATE TO?
     * Slovak Union of Visual Arts, as a successor of the former Union, is a civic organization and covers the largest number of artists in Slovakia. I felt the need to act at the time when it was in an unfair bankruptcy order. After warding off the crisis it was necessary to recover the ruined organization again, to create regulations appropriate to a new age, to work out the organization of exhibitions, problems of the artists ... I was working in the management, in the board and for a long time I was a chairperson of one of its biggest associations. It was all done pro bono and as they say "gratis". It cost me a lot of time and energy at the expense of my work. It is necessary to move on just in time and to leave room for other opinions. Now I deal "only" with the agenda of the scholarships awarded by the Fund.

08 - WHEN DO YOU DEDICATE YOURSELF TO FINE ARTS AND WHEN AND WITH WHAT DO YOU RELAX?
     * After morning rituals, every day I go to work - to the studio. Even a brief phone call can sometimes distract me a lot. If! have to go "to the town ", whether after lunch or in the early evening, the day is lost. "Nulla dies sine linea" - not a day without a line drawn, said the Greek painter Apelles. Daylight in the studio and music, that's it! Relaxation in the nature /the garden/.

09 - YOUR DAUGHTER TEREZKA CONTINUES IN THE FAMILY TRADITION AND SHE WALKS IN THE STEPS OF THE GRANDFATHER AND HER PARENTS.
     * Yes, she is a student of the Faculty of Education of Comenius University, subject - art and civics.

10 - ARE YOU DELIGHTED BY HER FOCUS?
     * I am very happy. What one grew up it should be the closest to him. I hope she will also deal with art in the future, in whatever form, and will protect and develop the inherited values.

11 - WHEN HER ARTISTIC GENIUS MANIFESTED, WAS IT INFLUENCED BY YOUR FATHER AND YOU PERSONALLY?
     * Also in her case as well as with other children a part of the play was drawing scrawling drawings and many of them I have put aside. Small children should not be directed in my opinion, just supported. If we influenced her in her childhood, most probably just giving an example.

12 - HOW IS IT GOING WITH HER AT UNIVERSITY?
     * She has to finish the diploma work, pass the state exam in the art history and that is.

13 - YOU HAVE BEEN LIVING IN A CLOSE VICINITY TO THE HOUSE OF YOUR FATHER UNDER THE BRATISLAVA'S SLAVIN. AS WE KNOW - YOU WERE HELPING HIM A LOT...
     * My father was a very complicated personality. As the saying goes: "to live with and to listen to Beethoven is a difference". Not only the proximity of our houses influenced the daily communication. Common themes and interests resulted from common professions. I do not want to show my merits here, I was taking care of him until his last day. lllness can mortify anyone.

14 - HE WAS WORKING IN THE STUDIO FROM DAWN TILL DUSK AND ENJOYED THE COMPANY OF CATS AND DOGS WHICH WERE HIS FAITHFUL FRIENDS. DID HE LIKE THE WORLD OF ANIMALS?
     * The world of animals represented birds, dogs and cats to him. He was used to it from his childhood in Nove Zamky, where he lived his rural life. He had used to overfeed them, and then be angry when they didn't want to eat more. This was typical for him.

15 - HE EXHIBITED AT MANY EXHIBITIONS AT HOME AND ABROAD. HE LOVED ITALY, WHERE HE USED TO GO FOR ART STAYS, ALWAYS WITH AN EASEL AND AN INSEPARABLE PALETTE. WHAT WAS HE SAYING ABOUT HIS JOURNEYS?
     * He called the journeys study tours, what accurately reflected their purpose. They were work stays. Many times I travelled with him, at the beginning as a schoolgirl, in the last years as an organizer and a nurse. It is known that he preferred Italy and was looking for it in other countries as well.

16 - HE HAD HIS FAVOURITE PLACE - AN ITALIAN TOWN, CEFALU, WHERE HE LIVED AND WORKED. A MEMORIAL TABLET WAS UNVEILED THERE. YOU'VE PARTICIPATED IN THE CEREMONY ....
     * The tablet in Cefalu in Sicily is the result oflong-time activities ofItalians, who acquainted my father in Slovakia and of the Slovak side. It was attached on a house on the seafront almost exactly a year after his departure to eternity, in May 2005. With my classmate Jana Trnkova and my daughter Terezka, then for the first time in Cefalu without my father, I organized two exhibitions of my father's Italian works in Gallery Biotos in Palermo and in Museum Mandralisca in Cefalu at the same time. It was a difficult and responsible work. I was aware that my father hadn't imagined anything like that before at all. Therefore, I have to admit that the unveiling of the tablet bearing my father's name and a nice inscription, in the presence of Mayor of the city, our then-ambassador Mr. Miklosko and the director of Slovak Cultural Institute in Rome, Mr. Musil, touched me a lot.

* 17 - HE ESTABLISHED A GALLERY IN NOVE ZAMKY, WHERE HE DONATED MANY OF HIS WORKS AS WELL AS WORKS FROM HIS VAST ART COLLECTION. THERE WERE SOME PROBLEMS AROUND WHICH DIDN'T DELIGHT HIM. ALSO IN THE LAST FULL INTERVIEW, WHICH I DID WITH HIM FOR A LITERARY MAGAZINE JUST BEFORE HE LEFT TO THE ART HEAVEN, HE DIDN'T WANT TO FOCUS ON HIMSELF AND HIS WORK, BUT THIS GALLERY. WHAT IS THE CURRENT SITUATION REGARDING THE GALLERY?
     * The gallery was founded in 1979 out of the father's large collection of old paintings and art industry. There hasn't been any similar act in the modem history of Slovakia, not only in the donated value. It was not a single act, for many years he was supplying more and more pictures, drawings and other. His concern was to establish a cultural center in his hometown covering the whole region. It was a summary of his passion for art collecting and an effort to preserve the objects together, especially here in Slovakia. It's quite difficult to understand and he hasn't found appreciation among his children in relation to the inheritance proceedings. Collectors are special subspecies. They would do anything for their obsession. Time, money, energy at the expense of anything and anyone. My father's demands on managing "his" collection corresponded with it. My father's idea was an unconditional exhibition of the whole collection when donated, which was about three thousand artifacts /hasn't been realized!, and mainly work with donated materials. Therefore, in the last years he was trying to make this gallery a detached part of the National Gallery in Bratislava, with its specialized equipment and facilities. Unfortunately, there was no interest from any side. One of his last wishes was that I continued negotiations with the National Gallery, also concerning those paintings which were still located at his home. The concepts of donor and of the management hasn't agreed, plus the gallery has already had its own building. What had been fulfilling my father with joy and enthusiasm for the whole life changed at the end of his life into a source of depression and disgust. All the things of enormous value piled up during his life came down on his soul.

18 - YOU ARE A SCREENWRITER AND A CO-CREATOR OF A DOCUMENTAL FILM BROADCASTED AFTER HIS DEATH. HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO SQUEEZE HIS PROLIFIC LIFE AND WORK INTO THIS GENRE?
     * After my father's demise, his memories and visits to Milan Laluha, Ignatius Bizmajera in Nove Zamky remained filmed at the producer Augustine Mrazik. It was a raw material which should have been put together. With the assistance of the director Milan Milo I tried to show almost a renaissance character of my father's work in several disciplines - drawing, painting, graphics, mosaics. As well as some bits of his personal life, seen through my eyes, of course. As ifhe after a few months came back to life, only in film and photos, though. I am grateful for it.

19 - YOUR FATHER HAD A LARGE CIRCLE OF FRIENDS. ARE YOU IN CONTACT WITH ANY OF THEM?
     * On various occasions I have had the opportunity to know many who interacted with my father as well as their intentions and reasons. It was a truly diverse crowd, from gypsies, who were interested in the old bass to the top-level elite. Now, when my father isn't alive, everything is different, of course. However, it happens that I learn something from people whom I have known but we haven't met personally. I recently received a letter from Attila Szoke from Budapest, the son of my father's fellow countryman. We exchanged information about our parents and he sent me copies of my father's early drawings and a copy of the newspapers from Nove Zamky, Slovensky Juh, from 1946. There was an article about my father's exhibition at the Business Bureau in Nove Zamky and to me a totally unknown poem by Ctibor Stitnicky that he dedicated to father.

Stáť vo víchreCtibor Štítnický Stáť vo víchre

Stáť vo víchre, stáť, skalopevne stáť,
Nechať si trhať vetrom voľné vlasy,
Byť dobrým poddaným a milovať ten štát

Bez hraníc. Štát nadpozemskej krásy,
V ktorom je vášeň sestra a nepokoj je brat
Žičlivý, čo poodtína klasy.

Stáť vo víchre a vidieť pukať hať,
Však nepriložiť dlane k bokom vázy,
Nech zavalí nás slnko. Načo premáhať

Zážitok? Nech len víno kvasí.
Keď začnú v mušliach čisté perly rásť,
Horúci plameň aj tak prerazí.

Nie, netreba sa divých búrok báť.


20 - BUT LET'S GET BACK TO YOU AND YOUR WORK. LAST TIME YOU WERE PRESENTING YOUR PAINTINGS IN THE EXHIBITION HALL AT BRATISLAVA CASTLE AND AS WE KNOW YOU DID WELL AMONG THE LOVERS OF ART AND NOT JUST THEM. DO YOU ENJOY SUCH A RESPONSE?
     * Even a small applause delights the soul, it would be a false modesty to say the opposite. However, the most appreciated is a constructive criticism by experts, but ... /I do not want to discourage my friends and acquaintances from their expressions of favour in any way/. The exhibition at the castle was prepared well in advance. I wanted to exhibit the paintings of Slovak countryside in a place that is popular in summer, especially by foreign tourists. During my trips, for example to Italy, I saw an effort to present domestic art everywhere. Regarding this, my intention was fulfilled.

21- YOU GAVE ME A BEAUTIFUL BOOK OF POETRY BY DILONG, ILLUSTRATED BY YOU. LIKE YOUR FATHER, YOU ARE NOT ONLY A PAINTER, ALSO AN ILLUSTRATOR. WHICH BOOK WILL BEAR YOUR ARTISTIC SIGNATURE?
     * I have not had any new offers. To illustrate Dilong was an honor for me.

22 - WHAT ARE YOU PREPARING AT YOUR WORK?
     * I don't like talking about my plans. Everyone has big resolutions, there is everything easy and quick in my head, but in real, it's slow and difficult. I have finished three paintings inspired by the country at the confluence of the Morava and the Danube rivers under the Devin castle. They are almost of the same view but with different lighting, completely different ambience. I always try to make each new painting different from the previous one. It's easy to do "series", to invent some scheme, a template and then just to vary. It makes me tired. Neither to work nor to watch.

23 - HOW DO YOU PERCEIVE THE CONTEMPORARY ART? WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT IT AND WHAT MAKES YOU SAD?
     * Well, this is a theme for several discussions, because to perceive means to evaluate and that means to compare. In fact, even a colour has its value depending on the surroundings. We perceive the state of society in terms of our own competency in it. Some people do it just from this angle /me, me, me/. How is the art life conditioned? For example, by the importance - the price of the artist, as a creator of cultural values of society and by his social status, what results from it, by the level of culture and by solvency of the potential buyers, by the strategy of the art merchants, by the organization and by mutual generosity between artists, by the relationships between artists and art theoreticians and more. !For each listed circuit of relations, there could be written in brackets - strong misery.! They live either in professional, amateur, official, unofficial, virtual or just commercial spheres ... The official art determines the picture of representative exhibitions, purchasing for state collections, occupation of governmental educational positions and by means of this - the educational direction for the upcoming generations. Here I am worried about the linear concept of art development, which has classified "the others" accordingly to the pre-89 model/we and the others!. I also keep on asking myself - can avant-garde be an official art? I don't quite understand the current landless art criteria, which are protected by self-messianic term "context". I know, it's a worldwide trend, and I am curious what will be the next "progress". However, what I am most sorry about is that what prevails is aggressiveness, evil and negative energy, deformations /the worse, the better/, irony, sarcasm, joy and beauty disappeared. In the defense against informational overload, many artist are trying to muddle through by any means, for example by morbidity, pornography .... Everything is "normal" and allowed. I enjoy the benefits of open borders, although I think that for a long time the world will still be divided as the united Germans into Ossis and Wessis /the eastern and the western/.

24 - HOW DOES A CURRENT SLOVAK ARTIST LIVE, IS IT DIFFICULT FOR HIM/HER?
     * A creative person's life is generally very difficult /sometimes I feel it/. He or she has a constant urge to deal with his/her subject matter. A relief mixes with dissatisfaction, but he carries the experience acquired in himself/herself, which needs to be quickly applied in future work. Bright sunny days alternate with deep terrifying nights. Some light them up with pride, or with others' praise, others heat up themselves at the campfire of awards, prizes in competitions, or career. Another problem is the application of the 'product' in life. Contemporary fine art is not so requested today. It is usually accepted at most as a gift. We know what the role of the artist was in the previous regime, but now he/she is clutched by the most sacred handcuffs of the market and by the dictatorship of standards for what is right, modem, current, intermedial, unconventional, new, interactive, non-conforming ... art. If he/she cannot fit into a limited space, he/she does not exist. His/her visibility and marketability is also derived from this.

25 - WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO CHANGE IN THIS WORLD?
     * Well, hypothetically, the distribution of material goods between individuals and the continents, a man's attitude to the earth - nature, to other man, the possibility of a small handful of people to affect negatively the lives of millions, sophisticated manipulation, etc., etc. I always bear in mind the brilliant idea of Stur: "to create a lot, to consume a little".

26 - WHAT IS YOUR MAIN AND CONSTANT AIM IN LIFE AND AT WORK?
     * Aims in life change probably. As a young one, man behaves more instinctively, unconsciously following various models and his own defiance. I have had completely normal personal goals: to become independent, to create my own world, my family, room to work, and of course financial security. While struggling through the obstacles of life, the importance of a pure conscience, good relationships and tactfulness have become more important. At work, I am of course trying, as far as possible in a given period, to reach the highest quality, not the quantity. Internally, I have always felt free, following my programme without seeking any career success. 

Interviewed By Eva Vrbická