12.08.2017 - 02.09.2017

deutsche Version hier!

off the hook

Ivana Bajec | Horrid Habits | Leon Zuodar | Marko K. Gavez | Miha Perne | Mina Fina |  Nez Pez, | Nina Čelhar | Simon Kocjančič |  Zoran Pungerčar

curated by Lara Plavčak

Opening Reception 12th of August, 7pm

Off the Hook is a travelling exhibition project, organised by the DobraVaga Gallery (Ljubljana, Slovenia). Taken literally, the exhibition title winks at the identity of DobraVaga as a gallery in a former fish market, as well as at the artwork that slipped off the hook of its domestic confines. The exhibition aims to provide the international professional and general public with a glimpse of the current contemporary Slovenian production of artists featured at DobraVaga.

In their work, the participating artists masterfully tackle various art genres, from painting, collage and graphic and other prints, to drawing and illustration, often in the final form of a spatial installation. It is precisely the point of decisive exploration, invention and persistent examination of new visual languages that connects the varied selected artists. They share an inclination for exploring the artistic canvas, evident in the form of characteristic strokes, attention to detail, playing with the effects of colours, layers, blank areas, lines, shapes, prints, manners of reproduction, collaging and combinations of techniques and materials. Through the spatial realisation of the exhibition itself, the variety of approaches and themes invites the viewer to pay attention, to discover and to enjoy the comprehensive visual and aesthetic experience.

The DobraVaga Gallery exhibition and project space places an emphasis on various contemporary artistic approaches and exploration by the younger generation of artists. The venue is designed as a junction for stimulating creativity, interpersonal connections, dialogue, active support and exhibitions, communicating with the audience and promoting contemporary artistic production. It aims to advance this platform with the travelling exhibition.

Ivana Bajec

Ivana Bajec (1990) graduated in painting from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design (ALUO) in Ljubljana, under the supervision of Marjan Gumilar. She is currently completing her postgraduate studies at ALUO under the supervision of Žiga Kariž. She is active in the fields of drawing, graphic arts and painting. She has participated in various group and solo exhibitions, including at Kino Šiška (2016), the P74 Gallery (2016) and Plac Boris in the Rog Factory (2015) in Ljubljana, the Transform international group exhibition in Bucharest (2014), the accompanying exhibition of the 30th Biennial of Graphic Arts in Ljubljana (2013), and the Off the Hook group exhibition at UGM Studio in cooperation with the DobraVaga Gallery. She lives and creates in Ljubljana.

Horrid Habits

Jaka Vatovec (1989) graduated in 2016 from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana with a degree in painting. He creates in various media. In 2012, he participated in the Vstop/Enter group exhibition at the Alkatraz Gallery and the Transform 2012: Pandora's Box group exhibition at the Teloglion Foundation of Art in Thessaloniki, Greece. He is also active in the field of zine production, with the Beli sladoled art duo publishing his zine, Altruistic Nihilistic, in 2013. In 2014, he participated in THE NEW WAVE: Watch out for children! group exhibition at the P74 Gallery. That same year, he presented his solo exhibition, Tetradotoxin, at the Pivka House of Culture. In Udine, he participated in the Reasons for Family group exhibition at the Villa Di Toppo Florio, and in Sweden, in the group Exhibition Nr. 23 at CAC Landskrona. In 2015, he presented his solo exhibition at Kino Šiška as part of the Young Artist Series 2.0 and participated in the series' retrospective group exhibition, Common Space, at the Kortil Gallery in Rijeka. His work was also featured in the retrospective exhibition of the V. Independent Biennial at Kino Šiška. He also participated in the Off the Hook group exhibition at UGM Studio in cooperation with the DobraVaga gallery, and the Neki piše exhibition at the Vodnik Homestead gallery within the framework of the Ljubljana Centre for Contemporary Arts. He lives and creates in Leipzig.

Leon Zuodar

Leon Zuodar (1977) graduated in Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana in 2004. In 2005, together with Miha Perne, he established the Beli sladoled painting group and zine label of the same name, focusing on different, marginal and experimental drawings. So far, they have released 23 publications, mostly zines, a few compilations of drawings and exhibition catalogues in the form of zines. In 2011, they received the OHO Award for their work. In December 2016, they participated in the Off the Hook group exhibition at UGM Studio in collaboration with the DobraVaga Gallery, then in February 2017, they were featured in the Zines! Contemporary Zine Production group exhibition at the International Centre of Graphic Arts. On his own, Zuodar is active in the fields of drawing, prints and painting. He participated in the Zine Vitrine programme at the DobraVaga Gallery with the Zinko Tiček exhibition, as well as the Neki piše group exhibition at the Vodnik Homestead gallery within the framework of the Ljubljana Centre for Contemporary Arts. He also co-organises an exhibition program and runs a graphic arts studio. As of 2016, he is in charge of the Zinko Tiček zine reading room at the Pivka House of Culture.

Marko K. Gavez

Marko K. Gavez (1993) creates in various media, but the starting point is always illustration. He studied graphic arts at the Secondary School for Design and Photography. Over the past three years, his work has been featured at various venues, including solo exhibitions at the Strupena Gallery, Bikofe, UAUU, Plac Zelenica at the Rog Factory, and the DobraVaga Gallery Artist per Month and Zine Vitrine exhibition programmes. He participated in the Independent Biennial in 2015, the Off the Hook group exhibition at UGM Studio in collaboration with the DobraVaga Gallery, and the Zines! Contemporary Zine Production group exhibition at the International Centre of Graphic Arts.

Miha Perne

Miha Perne – born in 1978 in Ljubljana. In 1997, he graduated from the Secondary School of Design and Photography with a degree in photography. In 2004, he graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana with a degree in painting. The following year, he founded the Beli sladoled painting group with Leon Zuodar. In 2011, they established the Beli sladoled books & zines label and received the OHO Group Award for their work. As part of the collective, his work was featured in the Zines! Contemporary Zine Production group exhibition at the International Centre of Graphic Arts and in the Off the Hook exhibition at UGM Studio in collaboration with the DobraVaga Gallery. He creates in the fields of painting, graphic arts and comics. He gardens.

Mina Fina

Mina Fina (1978) graduated in 2002 from the Department of Visual Communication at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design (ALUO) in Ljubljana. During her studies, she received two awards for typographic excellence from TDC New York. She received the ALUO Award for Excellence her final degree piece, as well as the Brumen Award. Lately, she has been exploring drawing, animation and video. She has released several original artistic publications, zines and artist's books, and has published two print series in cooperation with the International Centre of Graphic Arts (MGLC). The first was presented in 2012, and the second was featured in a solo exhibition titled Včasih nič, včasih kaplja čez rob / This mess we're in. Her work was displayed within the Zine Vitrine exhibition programme at the DobraVaga Gallery, and she participated in the Off the Hook (UGM Studio), Neki piše (Vodnik Homestead) and Zines! Contemporary Zine Production (MGLC) group exhibitions. She is a member of the Ee design group, as well as the YGT (Your Gay Thoughts) audio-visual collective.

Nez Pez

Nez Pez (1985) studied sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design (ALUO) in Ljubljana. In 2010, she received the University of Ljubljana Prešeren Award and the ALUO Award for Special Artistic Achievements. She is interested in various media and art genres, which is why the materials and approaches used in her work vary with each project. She works in the fields of sculpture, installations, sound and video art, drawing, graphic arts, illustration, street art and scenery design. Her works have been displayed in several solo (Zine Vitrine at the DobraVaga Gallery) and group exhibitions (UGM Studio, International Centre of Graphic Arts). She lives and works in Ljubljana.

Nina Čelhar

Nina Čelhar (1990) graduated in painting from the Academy of Fine Art and Design (ALUO) in Ljubljana, under Associate Professor Marjan Gumilar (2012). Currently she is concluding her BA studies in painting at ALUO. She perfected her knowledge for a year at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig, Germany. In 2012, she received the ALUO Award for Special Study Achievements, then the special ESSL Collector's Invitation in 2015. She has put on solo exhibitions in Ljubljana, at the Bežigrad Gallery (2014) and the ZDSLU Gallery (2015), at UGM Studio in Maribor, Stolp Škrlovec (2015) in Kranj, the Tir Gallery (2016) in Solkan, and the Simulaker Gallery (2016) in Novo mesto. She has participated in many group exhibitions in Slovenia, Germany, Austria, Greece and Italy.

Simon Kocjančič

Simon Kocjančič (1979, Koper) studied painting at the College of Visual Arts in Ljubljana. In 2007, he graduated under the supervision of Assistant Professor Tanja Matnak and Assistant Professor Dare Birsa. He is active in the fields of painting, drawing, graphic arts, photography and art zines. He lives and works in Truške pri Kopru.

Zoran Pungerčar

Zoran Pungerčar (1985) lives and works in Ljubljana. He is a practicing professional in the fields of graphic design and illustration. His clients include The New York Times, LUD Literatura, Buba Booking, SNG Nova Gorica, Kino Šiška, Delo, Mladina, Nikki Louder, etc. At the 2015 Biennial of Slovenian Visual Communications, he received an award in the category of "book covers" for the Prišleki series, published by LUD Literatura. When not designing for clients, Zoran paints and draws. Since 2011, he has been actively displaying his works in solo and group exhibitions. In 2015, his It Is Nice to Have a Choice solo exhibition was featured at the P74 Gallery. In 2016, his work was featured within the Zine Vitrine programme at the DobraVaga Gallery. He participated in the Off the Hook group exhibition at UGM Studio in collaboration with the DobraVaga Gallery, and the Zines! Contemporary Zine Production group exhibition at the International Centre of Graphic Arts. He has been publishing art zines and artists' books on the Look Back and Laugh label since 2011, including five small-scale zines. In March 2016, he took part in the Riso Paradiso self-publishing project, printing an artists' book in collaboration with four other artists.

DobraVaga Gallery

DobraVaga is a gallery space and an open project studio that actively supports, encourages and promotes contemporary visual arts from younger generation artists. DobraVaga may be a new entrant to the physical creative space, but it is no stranger to the arts thanks to its long-standing collaboration with the community of artists, collectives and diverse artistic initiatives, far and wide. Inspiring creativity is at the heart of our vision. A dynamic brand of creativity - one that does not conform to established notions set by classic art market conventions. DobraVaga is committed to bringing fresh innovative formats, as expressed by budding art and artistic practices, to the forefront. In fact, we'll be keeping in spirit with our friendly neighbours in the nearby central market by giving value to fresh, sustainable and local products – and in good taste!

We are delightfully located in the milieu of the central city market space - developed by our internationally recognised architect, Jože Plečnik. It offers unique programme options; a gallery under the arcades, near a river or even within a fish market - where one can find the fresh 'catch of the day' within the burgeoning contemporary fine art scene. Ljubljana has earned a coveted spot on the regional artistic map with a venue that offers a thriving hub for creative research and development, networking events and bold experiments that invite original fine art expressions. Our promise, to maintain high standard programming by closely monitoring artistic practices and offering in-depth knowledge of young contemporary art.

www.dobravaga.si/en
www.facebook.com/dobravaga
instagram.com/dobravaga
pinterest.com/dobravaga
vimeo.com/kinosiska
www.kinosiska.si/en