Vanja Mervič TOPOGRAPHY OF THE DAILY
Vanja Mervič is a painter by training, but he uses different artistic techniques, since each idea has its own specific way of expression. In his works he addresses themes that concern the world beyond the visible layers of materiality, both the microstructure of matter and the world of the immaterial, of ideas, thoughts and energy. His artistic practice is thus connected to the modern scientific and material vision of the world but at the same time tends towards the primordial, the eternal, the inexplicable, which goes beyond the material.
In this exhibition he presents several works in which he critically examines the material hyperproduction of modern consumer society. Over the last two centuries, humanity has made an incredible technological leap, at the same time rapidly losing the values that make the world a pleasant place to live. It is increasingly clear that the so-called progress has gotten us nowhere and that we are going around in circles, covered up to our necks in disposable products of one kind or another. Many objects are thrown away very quickly, and their remains roll under our feet with every step.
The artist tries to find meaning in this absurd situation, treating scraps of different materials, which particularly attract him with their shape, structure or consistency, as artistic artefacts. He has thus created several series of frottage on paper, on computer-printed sheets from the last century, or in book form. The artist transferred the most interesting ones into a series of engravings and three-dimensional casts. Choosing two approaches fundamentally determined by reproducibility, in his research he passes from the sphere of form to that of production and thus returns to the problematic genesis of his own research: at this point naturally arises the question of the (in)significance of artistic (hyper)production in contemporary society – but this is already the topic for a new exhibition.
Location: Kromberk Castle
From:
29 Nov 2023
Till:
14 Apr 2024
curators: Mojca Grmek in Katarina Brešan