Opening of the overview exhibition of Jure Cvitan
Gallery of Contemporary Art, 15 May 2026 at 7 pm. You are kindly invited!
The exhibition entitled Out of the Blue offers the first comprehensive overview of the twenty-year creative career of Celje-based artist Jure Cvitan. The exhibition also showcases a selection of works from his latest production – the extensive series of paintings entitled Painting for Backgrounds, which he has been developing since 2022. Since his first solo exhibition in 2006, Cvitan has created a diverse body of work. His primary focus is on painting, though depending on the context of a particular project, he also uses other forms of expression, particularly artistic action, intervention, and performance in the public space, as well as installation, sculpture, and the artist’s book.
The show brings together a selection of his key paintings, which form its core, as well as selected performances and other projects. Together, they uncover the fundamental tenets of his creative practice: an intertwining of the personal and the socially critical, an unconventional approach to the medium of the painting that transcends its traditional boundaries, and a distinct intensity that permeates both his visual language and the very process of creating the artwork. This is also evident in his frequent use of approaches that incorporate elements of surprise and the unexpected.
The initially dominant abstract images in his painting (the series Horizons of the Exotic, 2006), which draw inspiration from nature and the artist’s travels – even later constantly present – are soon replaced by figurative paintings influenced by popular culture, film, and the urban subculture, particularly graffiti. His early paintings are characterised by bright and vibrant colours, a feature that, with the exception of his most recent, darker series, remains a constant in his work. It is precisely through his figurative, particularly narrative, large-format works (such as the series Give Me the Strength to Be What I Was and Forgive Me for What I Am from 2010, or the monumental work Conqueror of the Useless from 2011), in which critical reflection of the world, self-reflection, and destructive events intertwine, Cvitan is particularly recognisable. By incorporating sources of light, bridging the gap between the physical image and the digital image, exploring the mutability and dual nature of images, and frequently presenting them in the form of installations, his works represent a unique experiment with the expanded visuality of a painting.
Cvitan’s performative works and spatial interventions are characterised primarily by a focus on the issues and needs of the local community. He often collaborates with other artists and places himself in the position and role of the other, using this as an effective tool for addressing social issues (projects It’s Hard Being Superman, 2012; El Condor. ¿Qué pasa?, 2013; Give it–You Give–I Give, 2014). Another characteristic of his work are his lightning-fast, guerrilla-style interventions in the urban fabric (Napalm Your Personal Disco, together with Mark Požlep and others in 2010) and the creation of ironic situations in which events unfold contrary to expectations (No Exit, 2009).
The year 2022, following a hiatus of several years, marks the beginning of a new chapter and a radical shift in Cvitan’s painting. He turns to abstraction, colour and the intensification of layering as the exclusive means of creating his paintings. This results in an extensive series of distinctly subliminal black-and-blue compositions, which he builds by pouring diluted acrylic paint onto a horizontal canvas in numerous thin layers, sometimes as many as two hundred. They are marked by Cvitan’s extremely intimate dialogue with a painting, with their main characteristic being this fundamentally new sensibility: a complete reduction of narrative and a departure from references to the external world and the hypnotic effect of the visual, which, through the power of colour alone, tangibly materialises dimensions beyond the definable.
Cvitan has also been actively involved in Celje’s independent cultural scene during this whole time. He is a co-founder and co-curator of the exhibition space Tri izložbe (Three Exhibitions) in the Artistic Quarter, a platform dedicated to contemporary artistic production and experimental exhibition formats. He is also a member of the KUD 567 and Društvo Kunšt cultural associations, where he actively participates in joint artistic and curatorial projects. Since 2006 he has been collaborating with the Admission Free festival of urban art in the public space, organised by the Celje Association of Visual Artists.
The Celje Regional Museum – Center for Contemporary Arts
Curator of the exhibition: Irena Čerčnik
Text: Irena Čerčnik
Proofreading and translation: Lingua service
Graphic design: Neža Penca
Technical support: Matjaž Ernecl, Nada Šmid, Verica Zorko
Supported by: Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, Municipality of Celje
