Uroš Acman, Maja Alibegović, Matija Brumen, Jasna Jernejšek, Mirta Kokalj, Boštjan Pucelj, Jernej Skrt, Špela Škulj, Tanja Verlak, Špela Volčič The exhibition Fotomorgana 3 includes works by ten younger generation artists whose principal means of expression is photography. Each will present a small series of photographs that form an individual conceptual project. The exhibition provides
Uroš Acman, Maja Alibegović, Matija Brumen, Jasna Jernejšek, Mirta Kokalj, Boštjan Pucelj, Jernej Skrt, Špela Škulj, Tanja Verlak, Špela Volčič
The exhibition Fotomorgana 3 includes works by ten younger generation artists whose principal means of expression is photography. Each will present a small series of photographs that form an individual conceptual project.
The exhibition provides a selective insight into the photographic work of younger Slovenian artists who share some of the same generational characteristics. Their creative approach is always rational, thoughtful and planned which allows them to present reality in a different way. Whilst some of them take pictures of spontaneously captured motifs, others prefer to stage and direct the subject. However, in their work they all record reality whilst simultaneously making personal comment and offering their own viewpoint.
The artists use rationalisation and intellectualisation to keep their distance in their depictions of reality and without expressing their direct personal involvement. Rationalisation and intellectualisation in psychology are considered to be defence mechanisms and are used here as methodologies for creating conceptual art. Due to their controlled involvement and deliberate distance, the artists attain considerable objectivity, whilst at the same time merely indicate their message, yet strive to be provocative. The themes they address are always universal and socially engaged.
In the series Nachtobjekte, Matija Brumen draws attention to the existence of virtually invisible, and yet vital, architectural and public utility services in our environment. In the Walking on the Edge – Coasts of the Adriatic Sea Jernej Skrt simultaneously sharpens and blurs, highlights and hides forgotten and unpopulated coastlines and tries to catch an intuitive image of an apparently idyllic world. In the series Vanishing Landscapes, Špela Škulj records blurred images of an industrial port, giving an impression of a devastated desert in an indefinable future. Farewell by Boštjan Pucelj, sees the artist using snapshots of completely ordinary parts of an idyllic landscape to reveal the places where suicides were committed. Tanja Verlak’s Midnight in Mumbai captures the uncatchable, the mysterious and the esoteric and in so doing, records otherwise invisible and unnoticed phenomena. In a parodic series, Barbie World is Beautiful, Jasna Jernejšek discusses her feelings about alienated human relations; the Barbie doll with her constant smile that persists, even in the most tragic of situations, as though everything is alright. Maja Alibegović in her series Milk offers a shocking, tragic and humorous situation with a sexual connotation that provokes the viewer and encourages emotional responses. Saints by Mirta Kokalj draws inspiration from Christian religious imagery, portraying herself in the distinctive, provocative and exaggerated identities of a ‘Saintly’ woman in contemporary society with all her ‘attributes’. Fuscum subnigrum by Špela Volčič reconstructs the paintings of luxurious and even precious Baroque flower bouquets once commissioned by wealthy Dutch clients, but now using mass-produced artificial flowers. In his series Fei, Uroš Acman deals with mankind’s impossible dreams, by illustrating them with a mythological motif, that of Icarus and his desire to fly.
Denis Volk
Organized by Photon Gallery in cooperation with Kino Šiška.
/Photography: Jasna Jernejšek, Barbie World is Beautiful, 2013/
