The mural on the inner wall of Kino Šiška by Gašper Kunšič presents two monumental figures in the central part, mutually supporting each other while simultaneously merging with a dreamy nightscape rendered in the artist’s signature shades of red, pink and purple.
Their stylised torsos, reminiscent of statues of ancient Greek heroes, reflect stellar constellations and are surrounded by various circular structures and star-like elements that multiply, overlap or softly blend into one another. One can recognise iconographic elements from some of the artist’s earlier works such as the swallow, the pudding, the marble, the votive metal heart, the velvet roses, the zigzag pattern of abstracted mountains, the front of the artist’s childhood country house with its balcony that has tears carved into the railing, etc. Kunšič appropriates visual references from Slovenian folklore and Catholic iconography, connoting migration, childhood memories, domesticity, displacement and constant change. With them, he represents his own expressive universe and glimpses of dreams in which one can sense the manifestation of a wish and a silent plea.
Gašper Kunšič (1992) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, University of Ljubljana, Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien, Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien and Hochschule für Bildende Künste – Städelschule in Frankfurt. He received a scholarship from the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia to study abroad.
In his work, he appropriates visual references from the Slovenian countryside of his childhood, as well as folk motifs and pop culture from the former Yugoslavia. Through interventions and works, he transforms exhibition spaces into emotionally charged environments that subvert the traditional, creating a new (folklore) world for those who do not belong. He lives and works in Vienna and Frankfurt.
