Sašo Vrabič belongs to the generation of young artists whose works relate to the 21st century and worldwide problems of contemporary society that are interconnected and subordinated to the world of mass communication. Radio, television and other contemporary communication media (such as mobile phones, Internet, handheld devices, etc.) are objects of our everyday lives and we grew up surrounded by these electronic "gizmos". Using this "material" that was given to us is something we consider completely normal and even necessary. But when it is (ab)used for expressing one's feelings and thoughts or for investigating the relation between individual and political, economic and social issues in the given geographical space, than this material has a potential to rise questions.

Vrabič is using electronic media to gether pictures from his immediate vicinity - photos and videos of his family and closest friends, images that are appearing on television or available on the net. Transforming these images from their original media to traditional oil-on-canvas is one of the approaches he used in his artistic practice. More recently, Vrabič has been manipulating these media images by combining them and/or taking snapshots and adding short notes, comments and responses and thus giving them some other, more personal meaning, which in the process reveal his subjective point of view.

His works are based on radical artist's position that comes from a critical and - sometimes - ironic attitude towards global issues such as communication, personal relations, technocracy, urban living, etc. His focus is on re-interpreting the response of an individual towards life in contemporary society, which is saturated with new technologies. Artists, just like anyone, are sensitive to the impulses coming from our surroundings. But they are the ones who scratch at the shiny surface of our brand(ed) new world, explore their feelings, pose questions and respond in a way that we could all relate to and/or find something in for ourselves.

Alenka Gregorič,
director of Škuc Gallery in Ljubljana

Text was first published in a catalogue for the traveling exhibition CENTRAL - New Art from New Europe, project by Siemens_artLab: An Initiative of Siemens Austria and Ernst Hilger Gallery, Vienna, 2005

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