The ballpoint pen is an item with which the majority of us, despite being largely replaced by a keyboard, still spend at least an hour or so a day. The ballpoint pen is still our frequent ally in halting the hectic tempo of the day, in an attempt to prevent some fragment of it escaping our memory. It is simply always close by, at school, at uni, in the office, the post office, the bank, in the top pocket of your overalls or in your briefcase. The ballpoint pen translates our conscious – and also unconscious – experience of the day, we record things with it and also doodle. It is an almost universal drawing tool, which without any reservations or pomp all of us use for drawing, if nowhere else than at least on the margins of our notebooks during some unproductive meeting...
The ballpoint pen therefore takes centre stage in the exhibition of the same name, in which we present drawings by students of fine art education from the UL Faculty of Education. In terms of theme, style and motif this is an exceptionally diverse selection, as indicated by the condensed, less formal way of the exhibition set up. Yet the exhibited works are bound together by a specific logic and methodology of ballpoint drawing, and its unusual universality, which covers tasks from nonchalant croquis sketches to works of filigree precision. At the same time this apparent freedom and momentary nature comes with a lot of conditions, since in contrast to a pencil, one cannot just erase a ballpoint pen mark, and this demands either greater discipline in execution or greater inventiveness in the actual drawing process. This is the thing that is brought to the fore in the present exhibition – the duality of the ballpoint pen, which offers an extreme range of expression and an always unexpected expressiveness.
The distinctive indigo shine of ballpoint drawing imbues the walls of Mala galerija Banke Slovenije with a suggestive power reminiscent of Klein’s blue, and brings together a variety of works into a singular palimpsest through which various hands, layers and scripts are speaking. At the same time the exhibition, just like the ballpoint pen itself, is a dynamic, momentary and continuously developing story, composed in part of performative interventions that underline ballpoint drawing as work in a constant state of becoming.
Participating students: Matija Jošt Čušin, Ana Graj, Meta Jesenko, Katja Kadivec, Kristina Kalin, Neža Korbar, Lea Marks, Ana Muhar, Mojca Berkopec, Santana Bojić, Petra Drev, Špela Gabrovec, Nataša Gavrilović, Nika Golavšek, Heidi Janež, Andreja Koder, Liu Kontrec, Maša Križ, Pia Križnar, Nina Križmanc, Katarina Markič, Laura Milar, Vanja Nedimović, Zarja Pompe, Ana Svetičič, Neža Šega, Eva Trampuš, Nika Vadnjal, Tamara Babnik, Urša Barič, Nina Borg, Maja Breznikar, Venia Divjanović, Hana Erman, Marja Grešak, Klara Grgetić, Ema Ilar, Nika Jerič, Ana Povše, Manca Semprimožnik, Jerca Šuštar, Katja Troha, Maja Bobnar, Vita Čepič, Tanita Fabjan Demšar, Kristina Filipčić, Nina Gasar, Andraž Guzaj, Vanesa Hochkraut, Neža Jakofčič, Valentina Kaluža, Ana Kolšek Orlač, Jerca Rogelj, Tanja Stražar, Pavlina Stropnik, Izabela Klementina Tominšek, Luka Turk, Anamarija Založnik, Klementina Zavšek, Klavdija Zupančič, Tanja Železnik
Second-cycle graduand: Katja Lampret
First-cycle graduands: Lana Janežič, Vitjan Črešnar Štaus
Mentors: Asst. Prof. Mag. Anja Jerčič Jakob, Asst. Prof. Mag. Andrej Brumen Čop, Asst. Prof. Mag. Mojca Zlokarnik, Assoc. Prof. Dr Bea Tomšič Amon and Asst. Prof. Dr Robert Potočnik
MGBS Curator: Vladimir Vidmar
Production: Faculty of Education of the University of Ljubljana
