One of the possible answers to the question why Vlado Kristl is exhibiting in the Gallery Rigo in Novigrad can be found in the following claim: following the exhibition of Ivan Picelj in Rigo (1998), Vlado Kristl expressed his wish (or let us say "send a signal") to have his works exhibited in this, as he put it once, Alviana, the "smallest gallery in the world". I will openly say that I was surprised to see that the works I saw at Mrs Jelica Kristl's place and in the catalogues sent to us by the artist, were not the works I had learned about at the Department of History of Art in Zagreb. To be honest, I realised how little I knew about Vlado Kristl. Hence, notwithstanding the myth about his "impossible" character, the artistic curiosity prevailed. So, with the assistance of Picelj, we started discussing the exhibition. First of all, we wanted to transport some works from the collection of Jelica Kristl to Novigrad but we did not manage to decide what work(s) we wanted to put on display.
Two years ago, we finally arranged a meeting at Kristl's apartment in Munich. He showed us his paintings and every painting was accompanied by at least one story. It was owing to these stories that I came to understand, realise, evaluate Vlado Kristl of the post-1950s period. We finally made an agreement. He showed us his ideas for the exhibition in Novigrad: what works, what pieces of poetry and even what frames he wanted. It is true that he muttered against a small format of the catalogue, but he was also prepared to make a concession if we granted him one wish: enable him to come and stay in Novigrad. He did not have in mind a long stay – just some ten days before the exhibition to enable him to find materials on the seashore that he would use for the frames. As Krist said, "Then we could take a walk on the beach, and look for the things the sea has washed ashore and make frames from that". Moreover, he added, "If I notice anything, some nice piece, I will exhibit it at the gallery as well". We agreed that Ješa Denegri would write the preface and that he would notify Picelj when he was coming. Unfortunately, Kristl's exhibition never took place. Vlado Krist died on July 7, 2004. What was realised from our arrangement was Ješa's text and a small format of the catalogue.
Jerica Ziherl
I would like to thank most warmly to Ivan Picelj, Zoran Senti, the Krist family and Carola Regnier for making this exhibition possible. I would further like to offer my gratitude to the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia for having supported financially the exhibition and the catalogue "Der Ende der Ordung" of Vlado Kristl.