In the present exhibition Banka Slovenije’s Little Gallery will turn its gaze back. We present the exhibition of still lifes from the collection at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design (ALUO) as a fragment of a different kind of student production – the student works of now established names in Slovenian art. Here the ALUO collection is a priceless resource, since it comprises the works of some of the greatest names in Slovenian art of the last 50 years, created while they were still students, and it offers a unique insight into the continuity or otherwise of the development of fine art and other artistic practices in Slovenia. In this we can also reflect on our own work – the students whose works we are exhibiting today will indeed play a key part in building the artistic milieu of the future. The still lifes showcased in the present exhibition represent the beginning of artistic stories that have significantly marked this country.
Vladimir Vidmar, MGBS Curator
The exhibited still lifes are the concluding assignments from the postgraduate study of painting in the 1960s. For the most part they were created under the mentorship of Prof. Gabrijel Stupica. Soon after the founding of the Academy, selected professors began accepting outstanding students for postgraduate studies (known then as a ‘specialisation’, nowadays recognised as a master’s course). In the past these courses progressed in a less formalised way, and more as an individual dialogue with the mentor, and concluded with an exhibition at which students defended their works and explained their approach to painting. A still life is a static motif where, through the selection and deployment of objects of specific forms and well-chosen colours, we can closely observe the painting as a field for the study of forms, colours, light and composition. Just as Stupica constantly returned to this motif in his own work, he guided students towards this assignment, for he believed that this kind of precision task would perfect them technically, while the confident mastery of the medium would facilitate their individual development as painters.
Prof. Dr Nadja Zgonik, curator
Artists: Bogdan Kiar Meško, Edvard Zajec, Bogdan Boni Čeh, Metka Krašovec, Vida Slivniker Belantič, Milena Usenik, Vladimir Potočnik, Marija Miša Pengov, Anton Gojmir Kos
Head of conservation and restoration works: Assoc. Prof. Mag. Lucija Močnik Ramovš, ALUO, University of Ljubljana
Conservation and restoration works provided by: Ana Sterle, master’s degree student of Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art, ALUO, University of Ljubljana
Curator: Prof. Dr Nadja Zgonik
Curator MGBS: Vladimir Vidmar
Production: Academy of Fine Arts and Design, University of Ljubljana
