POPULAR CULTURE, CARICATURE – FELIX

Srećko Puntarić Srećko Puntarić was born in 1952 in Zagreb. After graduating from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture in Zagreb, he worked as a designer for several years. He dedicated himself to caricatures in 1975 when he began publishing in the renewed humor magazine Kerempuh. Although Puntarić entered the Croatian scene when the doyens of Croatian caricature, Oto Reisinger and Ico Voljevica, were exceptionally popular and active, alongside caricaturists like Joško Marušić and Mladen Bašić in the magazine Kerempuh at that time, he did not rely on anyone from his environment in his artistic expression. Puntarić’s artistic form was mostly influenced by the French caricaturist Jean-Marc Reiser, whose drawing style and approach to humor he transformed in line with his character and personal sense of visualizing humorous ideas. Throughout nearly half a century of public activity, Puntarić’s drawing style has not changed significantly. His Felix character consistently maintains the same primitivism stylization, resulting in highly recognizable characters with extremely big noses that are endearing and amusing in their ugliness, while the setting is reduced to basic characteristics. Most often, everything is contained within a single drawing, but occasionally the idea is divided into two, three or four drawings, which he almost invariably places in a square format. He gained significant recognition through the daily publication of Felix in Večernji list (from 1995 to the present day), and since 2002, he has been a regular contributor to the Glas Koncila with caricatures titled “How to Awaken a Christian”. Since 2016, he regularly publishes in the professional magazine Zavarivanje, and since 2017, he also contributes to the magazine Lovački vjesnik. Throughout his prolific career, he published caricatures in Vjesnik (1987–1995) as well as in numerous domestic magazines (SN Revija, Sprint, Žalac, Radost). He was also a contributor to European humor magazines (Nebelspalter and Eulenspiegel). He curated a series of exhibitions in Croatia and abroad, published 33 books of caricatures, participated in numerous international collective exhibitions, and won several awards at these events. For his special merits in culture, he was awarded in 1995 with the Order of Danica hrvatska with the image of Marko Marulić. He founded his own gallery for humor and caricature called Felix Fun Factory, which operated from 1994 to 2012. Puntarić’s caricatures amuse us every day by exposing human foolishness and naivety, pointing out misconceptions and greed, highlighting the small weaknesses of individuals and the significant errors in social systems and politics. His works create the impression that with a little goodwill, the world could be a better place tomorrow than it is today. Frano Dulibić, art historian