He takes us through the experience of various psychological states, from feelings of tension, nonsense, discomfort, the false, the impossible, the threatening, the unspoken, to feelings of lightness, pleasure, ease and joy. Stropnik’s works subtly communicate with the viewer through various visual and mental loops in a minimalist narrative. They not only require a close reading of the many unusual signs, images, words, titles and locations of the works within the space but also the active participation of the viewer. It is often only through movement and interaction with the works that the various, otherwise seemingly dormant situations in the gallery are activated and the most intimate stories are unlocked, which Stropnik conceals from the superficial viewer, but at the same time discloses to the attentive viewer. Stropnik’s works are thus outwardly fragmentary, incomplete and incoherent, but at the same time, their holes and voids are full of precisely the missing parts that need to be used by the viewer to piece together the whole.

In the course of his art practice, Stropnik has developed a series of meaningful currents which he consistently uses to blur the boundaries between his everyday tasks and artistic work, between the real and the imaginary, highlighting the phenomenon of contradiction and paradox as given facts of life. An unusual set of themes thus encompasses the key topics of his art – from imaginary worlds, sexuality, transition, death, relaxation, (in)visible work, (in)completeness, all the way to the questions of a full life and transformation. This range is also intersected by the installation at the City Art Gallery Ljubljana which shows how Stropnik infuses his art with the experiences of his own everyday life, both from many seemingly banal and trivial events, as well as from states that arise during wakefulness and dreaming without any self-censorship. The works of Stropnik are therefore very direct, playful, brimming with irony and absurdity, but also imbued with the poetic and softly romantic.

Mladen Stropnik has been active on the Slovenian and international art scene since 2001. He has established himself as a (post)conceptual artist exploring his set theme at the intersection of different media, from drawing and collage to performance, video and NFT. The City Art Gallery Ljubljana presents his rich creative oeuvre on such a large scale in one place for the first time. The set-up encapsulates Stropnik’s earlier work and at the same time encompasses his latest production, which was conceived especially for the exhibition. It is accompanied by the artist’s weekly performances, and the exhibition also features the work of four guest artists invited by Stropnik to participate as part of his established art practice.

Mladen Stropnik graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia) in 2001 and completed a master’s degree in 2004 at the same institution. He received the Prešeren Student Award in 2001 (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia) and the OHO Award (P74 Gallery and Centre, Ljubljana, Slovenia). He has presented his work in numerous solo and group exhibitions at home and abroad.

More on: www.mladenstropnik.com.

Guest authors: Scott Lawrence  https://scottlawrencestudio.com; Alice Könitz http://alicekonitz.com; Viktor Bernik  http://viktorbernik.com/; Vadim Fiškin https://vadimfishkin.si/