Curator
Maša Žekš in Pia Miklič
Y Gallery presents a new solo exhibition by academic artist Aleksij Kobal titled Logarithms of Expression. This is the first in a series of exhibitions within the thematic project From Pixel to Canvas (Od piksla do platna) that will take place this year. The project includes presentations by painters whose work is primarily built from digital images.
The solo exhibition Logarithms of Expression brings together paintings from the artist's series The Planted, Dilemmas Crisscrossed and Wormholes of Heaven. These works are characterised by a unified visual concept of a dynamic play of computer-conceived patterns in combination with toxic fluorescent colours. The hypnotic effect is enhanced by 3D animation software and original technical processes, while the computerised ideas are then precisely mapped in oil onto the canvas. The artist's unwavering zeal for technical development and visual refinement has led to the creation of his latest series in the form of smaller formats, called Wormholes of Heaven. This series differs from his previous works in the technique used, as Kobal, in his desire to show even more detail and create a stronger visual impact, has replaced his deft painterly strokes with the use of computer monotype on canvas. The artist's unique technique potentiates the hypnotic ripples of grid-like structures in the background, which are contrastingly interrupted by fluffy Renaissance clouds. As the previous ones, the celestial cloud masses in this series use their softness to calm and harmonise the otherwise highly expressive works.
The works on display can also be seen as a mirror of society, as they address current political and sociological issues. For example, the chilling triptych, Cyclops of Triglav, addresses the issues of freedom, democracy and privacy of the individual in today's society. The mythical creature Uroboros, the snake that eats its own tail, reflects on society's entrapment in its own repetitive patterns, while at the same time speaks of the constant cyclical nature of life, in which death is always followed by rebirth. Such an interplay of opposing poles, both visual and substantive, is ever-present in the artist's work. The issue of technology and virtual reality penetrating man's natural space is addressed even more explicitly in the latest series, where the sky is replaced by a computer matrix and the experience of true nature remains only in fleeting clouds floating within a parallel world. On the one hand, the Wormholes of Heaven series questions the omnipresence of the virtual, allowing the artist to develop a new artistic practice and free experimentation.
Aleksij Kobal is an academic artist born in Koper in 1962, and he is known for his diverse body of paintings. His work in the traditional visual medium is complemented by animated images in the form of video, and he also works in the fields of music and literature. Between 2004 and 2008, he collaborated with the music group The Stroj, and subsequently published two books, namely Glas (2009) and The Topology of the Golden Horn (Topologija zlatoroga) (2022). The latter was inspired by the fairy tale works of Trenta and was written as a complement to Kobal's piano piece and the painting bearing the same title. He has been exhibiting solo since 1987 and is one of the most prominent visual artists of the middle generation in Slovenia. He has received a number of awards and prizes for his art work, including the Prešeren Fund Prize in 2016. He currently lives and works in Ljubljana.
