Criticism

The predominant characteristic of Martinović’s opus is a need for constant search. These efforts have spontaneously led him to annihilate form in favour of colour, to destroy structure for the sake of vibrant luminosity, to obscure the material vision and open the gates for the complexities of the psyche. Drawn more strongly by the centrifugal force of colour profusion than by programmatic direction, the painter has in the most recent phase of his artistic development found himself in the bosom of abstract lyricism, to which he was summoned by the magnetic force of playfulness and a freedom of spontaneity previously undreamed-of.

The largest part of Martinović’s opus consists of landscapes thematically related to his immediate surroundings, particularly to plant and floral motifs; the technique is for the most part oil on canvas. The artist successfully intertwines colour and light, creating striking ambiences and moods. Some compositions pose the question whether what we see illuminated colour or coloured light. The relationship between colour and light adds to the capturing of transient moods, and reveals the spiritual exaltation of the artist.

The motifs of his architectonic urban compositions are found primarily in the baroque city centre of Varaždin. From the mass of picturesque roofs and towers the artist selects those views which reveal not only the physical appearance but also the atmosphere of the portrayed city, suggested by seasonal characteristics or by situations created by daily oscillations of light.

He has most often been connected with impressionism, pointillism or postimpressionism; he has been termed an ‘ecological painter’, yet he could also be linked to the anachronistic movement. His most recent works, however, are imbued with lyrical abstraction. All these categorisations may well hold true, but only when the symbiosis of his ideas, emotions, experiences and judgements is understood completely are we able to see a clear picture of Martinović as a person, painter and physician. By vocation he is a humanist, by inclination an aesthete, by creed an optimist. Each of these components is present in his paintings.

He paints with a rapturous impulse to mould the world around him. He is in love with nature, delighted by cities, and friendly to people. He stops to remember the beauty of forms and the magnificence of colour, both of which he transposes onto his canvases in inspired brushstrokes. His perception, the colours of his palette and the brushwork are an enchanted triad in which the reality of the material is transformed into a nobly optimistic vision.

Juraj Baldani