the miroslav nemeth project

<p>This book consists of five linocut narratives by the Croatian artist Miroslav Nemeth originally published in Gobshite Quarterly.</p><p> </p><p>In The Roman Key light lighthearted fanciful spare and surreal two-part drawings tell the tale of Nemeth's search for the key to Roma the city or a girl. Roma's ambiguity is playful and charming as are his rhymes.</p><p> </p><p>With complex expressionist linocuts I Had a Dog illustrates the tale of Nemeth's pet Afghan hound who behaved like a king. The neighborhood is enchanted with the dog's gentleness. Then the dog becomes inexplicably aggressive first biting Nemeth then biting anyone who provokes him by walking along the fence.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The Hood is a complex visual description of parts of Nemeth's childhood. The view from his shared bedroom window happy and welcoming optimistic; his older brother becoming a Tito Pioneer Nemeth given a small flag; Nemeth going to school the school starkly darkly pyramidal untrustworthy as he walks to it with the other children; an eerily welcoming church as he discovers God; the walk home from school the cross on the traffic island reminding him that the church is still there.</p><p> </p><p>A Smell from a Nose expands the description of Nemeth's childhood. Holidays and soccer and the sea add to his joy though the cross on the traffic island remains. As he becomes a teenager the family moves to a house near the city graveyard; he sees a chicken killed and the fragility of life returns home and becomes almost housebound.</p><p> </p><p>Metaphysics in the Yard is also set in the world of childhood. Jagged panes/perspectives irrupt into each other collide on the page while the tale considers clashing viewpoints about fear and self-recognition.</p><p> </p><p>Nemeth and his father are in the garden; Nemeth sees an ugly bug and wants it killed. His father picks the bug up. It begs for its life grows huge and leaves him unrecognizable.</p>