With inspiration in socialist realism and nostalgia towards his local environment, visual artist Gašper Kunšič creates new geometricized shapes that echo the collective identity of the past while encompassing the collective image of the present, uncertain rather than full of hope.
He turns the symbols and shapes, charged with meaning, into decorative patterns and transforms them into a contemporary context. Along the lines of socialist realism, this exhibition erects a “monument” to contemporary man, gazing doubtfully towards his own and the community’s future, unlike his monumental predecessors.
By combining conflicting symbols, Kunšič presents the uncertainty of the individual, who feels forced, “eyes peeled”, to grab any opportunity for personal advancement. Despite his personal troubles, the individual puts on a mask of enthusiasm, which has practically become a value in our society.
Gašper Kunšič (1992) works in the fields of painting, sculpture, installation art and digital graphics. He graduated in Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design (ALUO) in Ljubljana, and is currently studying Media Art at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. He has held exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova in Ljubljana, the UGM Studio in Maribor, and at Kunstraum Niederösterreich and Krinzinger Projekte in Vienna. In the past year, he has participated in the Independent Biennial, the Vedno bom tu. Vedno. exhibition at the Gallery of Contemporary Art in Celje, and the Jože exhibition at Plečnik House. He has held a solo exhibition at the DobraVaga gallery. He was nominated for the ESSL Art Award and is the recipient of the ALUO thesis award (2016), as well as the recipient of the Ministry of Culture scholarship for studying abroad. He works in Ljubljana and Vienna.
The Solo Exhibition Cycle is a series of exhibition projects in the upper lobby of Kino Šiška, prepared each year by a curator of the younger generation.
Curated by: Tia Čiček.
Organisation: Kino Šiška.
