Sašo Vrabič, Arjan Pregl, Viktor Bernik, Janez Janša, 2007
one of the installation view
more info at Gallery Ganes Pratt

Catalogue available

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Excerpts from catalogue Painting Project
Text by Petja Grafenauer Krnc

"Out of the four artists, Sašo Vrabič is the only one who has at least partially preserved the idea of a joint work on a single surface. One can only speculate whether the motivation for such a decision was conditioned by Vrabič’s cooperation within the project Bad Girls & Bad Boys that was held in the Municipal Gallery Ljubljana this spring. For this exhibition the artists from the gallery prepared an installation that was created without the control of the curator.

Vrabič prepared four different sized canvasses, partially painted them and then handed them over to the other artists: ‘I toyed with the idea that each one would get his own canvass that he would enrich with his mark, writing, sketch, painting, whatever is currently on his mind. Due to the logistics it would probably be the best if they received all four canvasses at the same time.’ Vrabič’s part of the project was represented mainly by figural compositions with a strong black drawing, limited to a part of the canvass and equipped with writing such as for instance Give me just one more night or Every little thing she does. Is magic. Magic. At least one of the paintings was most probably made in cooperation with his son Erik, with whom he cooperated already at the preparation of the exhibition in Žalec. Following Vrabič’s intervention the paintings were handed over to Pregl, who added attributes to Vrabič’s figures – three dimensional collages that were linked to his previous painting cycles, for instance Oil on the bible and our Tito and the series Damn good female painters. Pregl also added only small interventions thus giving space to future interventions. When Bernik got the paintings into his hands he intervened radically and painted three of them with white wall paint and added a small white square on the fourth. This made the three paintings empty, deleted, which could also be linked to the project that the author prepared for the Painting project. Bernik’s radical gesture caused that the painters as well as the spectators are faced with a new question that deals with the painter’s relation to his own work of art. One of the paintings did not experience a radical deletion. It is as if Bernik wanted to allow for the possibility that at least one work within the project develops in accordance to Vrabič’s shared creativity expectations, for which it seems that the painters imagined in different ways.

The last to get the paintings into his hands was Janša, but he opted not to intervene in the works and decided that his only addition will be to pass the paintings to his family so that they can sign them. Janša’s gesture is connected to the project Policy of the painting, which the artist also exhibits at the exhibition (as an individual project). One of the levels of both Janša’s interventions is the questioning of the importance of the artist’s signature on the painting – an element that in fact gives the painting its cultural and market value, for it is important who signs the painting. The signature on the painting denotes the authorship, for it defines the painting with a signature that tells everybody that this is an original hand made work. The fact that Janša opted not to sign the paintings, or rather that he passed them on to his family so they could sign them, is additionally complicated with the change of his name and surname. Kariž is a surname which should ensure that the work of art was painted by a painter, for his previous works and their placement into the world of art ensure value also for his future works. However Žiga Kariž no longer exists. Today this artist is called Janez Janša. What is more important – who signs or what is signed? And what does it mean when a painting understood by Vrabič as a democratic process is now marked with a single signature. If Vrabič understood the canvasses as a sketchbook, Pregl brought into them the reminiscences of his previous work, Bernik emptied them so that they became a field for questioning the ideology of painting that could be then used by Janša.
Within the gallery Vrabič leaned the paintings against the wall and thus negated the typical placement of the painting as a window in the wall at the height of the spectator’s eyes. He exhibited the project as an archive which the visitor can use. The work phases are shown on photographs (that include the name of the artist of the individual phase) stuck to the backs of the paintings and evoking questions as regards the importance of the idea in relation to the direct surface, i.e. the painting. The spectator can move the paintings and view them from all sides.

In Vrabič’s project we also stumble across the question as regards the title of the paintings. An exhibited painting is usually equipped with the artist’s name, title, technique and year of origin. Vrabič’s project is equipped only with the following information: Sašo Vrabič, Arjan Pregl, Viktor Bernik, Janez Janša, 2007. It is not clear whether the four names mark the authors of the painting or is this the title. The names are in the same order in which the painters received the canvasses and most probably represent the title as well as the name of the authors. Vrabič thus fails to accept the authorship of the project that he came up with the idea for and divides the authorship amongst the four participants."

Sašo Vrabič, Arjan Pregl, Viktor Bernik, Janez Janša, 2007
one of the installation view
more info at Gallery Ganes Pratt

<Text in Slovenian>

Odlomek iz kataloga Slikarski projekt
Besedilo: Petja Grafenauer Krnc

"Sašo Vrabič je izmed vseh umetnikov edini, ki je delno ohranil prvotno idejo skupnega dela na eni površini. Le špekulirati je mogoče, ali je bil motiv za tako odločitev pogojen z Vrabičevim sodelovanjem v okviru skupinskega projekta Bad Girls & Bad Boys pomladi letos v Mestni galeriji Ljubljana, kjer so umetniki galerije pripravili projekt, veliko instalacijo, ki so jo ustvarili v medsebojnem sodelovanju in brez nadzora kuratorja.

Vrabič je pripravil platna štirih različnih dimenzij, jih najprej delno poslikal sam in jih nato predal drugim slikarjem: »Razmišljal sem, da bi vsak dobil svoje platno, ki bi ga obogatil s svojo potezo, zapiskom, skico, sliko, karkoli že razmišlja o slikarstvu, umetnosti, življenju trenutno. Zaradi logistike bi morda bilo najboljše, če bi vsa štiri platna dobili naenkrat.« Vrabičev del projekta so predstavljale večinoma figuralne kompozicije z močno črno risbo, omejene le na del platna in opremljene z napisi, npr. Give me just one more night ali Every little thing she does. Is magic. Magic. Vsaj ena izmed slik je verjetno nastala v sodelovanju s sinom Erikom, s katerim je Vrabič že sodeloval pri pripravi razstave v galeriji v Žalcu. Po Vrabičevi intervenciji je slike prevzel Pregl, ki je Vrabičevim figuram večinoma dodajal atribute – tridimenzionalne kolaže, ki so se nanašali na njegove prejšnje slikarske cikle, npr. Olje na Biblijo in Našega Tita in serijo Prekleto dobre ženske slikarke. Tudi Pregl je v slike dodajal le majhne intervencije in dopuščal prostor za naslednje posege. Ko se je slik lotil Bernik, je vanje posegel radikalno in tri izmed njih preslikal z belo stensko barvo, na eno pa dodal le majhen kvadrat bele barve. Tri izmed slik so tako postale prazne, izbrisane, kar je mogoče povezati tudi s projektom, ki ga je za Slikarski projekt pripravil umetnik sam. Bernikova radikalna gesta je povzročila, da je tako samim slikarjem, kakor tudi publiki, zastavljeno novo vprašanje, ki se tiče slikarjevega odnosa do lastne umetnine. Ena izmed slik ni doživela radikalnega izbrisa. Kakor da je Bernik vendarle želel dopustiti možnost, da se vsaj v enem delu projekt razvija v skladu z Vrabičevimi predvidevanji o skupinski ustvarjalnosti, za katero se zdi, da so si jo slikarji predstavljali na različne načine.
Zadnji je slike v obdelavo prejel Janša, ki pa se je lastnemu slikarskemu posegu v delo odrekel in avtorstvo prevzel zgolj v odločitvi, da je slike ponudil v podpis lastni družini. Janševa gesta je povezana s projektom Politika slike, ki ga umetnik na razstavi predstavlja samostojno. Ena od ravni obeh Kariževih intervencij je preizpraševanje pomena umetnikovega podpisa v sliki – elementa, ki sliki pravzaprav določi kulturno in tržno vrednost, saj ni vseeno, kdo se podpiše na sliko. Podpis na sliki zaznamuje avtorstvo, sliko določi z napisom, ki vsem in vsakomur pripoveduje in zatrjuje, da je ročno delo nekega umetnika. Dejstvo, da se je Janša podpisu odrekel, oziroma podpisovanje prepustil svoji družini, je še dodatno zapleteno s spremembo njegovega osebnega imena. Kariž je priimek, ki naj bi bil zagotovilo, da je umetniško delo naslikal slikar, saj njegova pretekla dela in umestitev v svet umetnosti zagotavljajo vrednost za nadaljnja dela. Toda Žiga Kariž ne obstaja več. Umetnik se danes imenuje Janez Janša. Je bolj pomembno kdo piše ali kaj piše? In kaj pomeni dejstvo, da je slika, ki jo je Vrabič razumel kot demokratični proces podajanja slikarskega platna, zdaj zaznamovana z le enim podpisom. Če je Vrabič platna razumel kot skicirko in je Pregl vanje vnesel reminiscence na svoje prejšnje delo, je Bernik izpraznil sliko, da je ta postala polje za vprašanje ideologije slikarstva, ki ga je izrabil Janša.

V prostoru galerije je Vrabič slike prislonil na steno in zanikal tipično postavitev slike kot izreza – okna v steni na višini gledalčevega pogleda. Projekt je razstavil kot arhiv, ki ga obiskovalec lahko uporablja. Faze dela so s pomočjo fotografij s pripisanim imenom avtorja določene faze, razkrite na hrbtni strani platen in evocirajo vprašanja o pomembnosti idejnih izhodišč v razmerju do direktne površine, slike same. Gledalec lahko slike premika in ogleduje z vseh strani.

Ob Vrabičevem projektu se vzpostavlja tudi vprašanje o naslovu slik. Razstavljena slika je navadno opremljena z avtorjevim imenom, naslovom, tehniko in letnico. Vrabičev projekt je opremljen zgolj s sledečimi podatki: Sašo Vrabič, Arjan Pregl, Viktor Bernik, Janez Janša, 2007. Ni jasno ali zaporedje štirih imen označuje kdo so avtorji slike ali pa gre za naslov dela. Zaporedje imen je identično zaporedju, v katerem so slikarji slikali slike in je verjetno hkrati naslov in zaznamek o avtorstvu. Vrabič se tako odreka avtorstvu nad projektom, ki ga je konceptualno zasnoval in avtorstvo razpne nad vse štiri sodelujoče."

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21.12.2007 - Paintng project talk with students, Alen Ožbold & Gustav Gnamuš in Ganes Pratt
(behind: works by Janez Janša)

Sašo Vrabič, Arjan Pregl, Viktor Bernik, Janez Janša, 2007
one of the installation view
more info at Gallery Ganes Pratt