Alen Ožbolt: Umetnost po pošti / Art via mail

Alen Ožbolt prepared a selection of his projects for gallery KiBela and entitled them Art via Mail. The exhibition lasted from 19 March to 9 April 2004. Until then the artist had been exhibiting in central Slovenia mainly. In 2003 he received a France Prešeren Fund award for one of his projects presented in the Modern Gallery Ljubljana.

“Do not keep to the silence and unspeakable, find someone to talk to even if he looks at you strangely; do not be afraid of verbal misunderstandings and being betrayed by the words.”
(Alen Ožbolt, Letter to myself)

The exhibition Art via Mail presents works that - verbally or through letters - indirectly address the reader. The viewer is a reader at the same time. (S)he is addressed personally, as a receiver or addressee of mails. These are designed as visual texts, invitations and letters and express author's thoughts, manifests and other texts taken from his book “Beseda slike” (The word of an image). This form of communication by mail is in its essence unique, since it connects the writer and the reader in an extremely personal and intimate way, which today hardly ever happens. Through this kind of personal letter communication, Ožbolt provoked completely different, more concrete feelings due to the directness and obsolescence of such personal communication.

About the author:
– Attended the Fine Arts Academy in Ljubljana and Zagreb;
– 1986 - 1995: an active member of fine art group “Veš slikar svoj dolg”;
– important projects / exhibitions: Konzervacija spomina (Gallery of Radenska), Mesečnik (Tretji človek; Modern gallery), Samo za zmagovalce, Bellevue (international exhibition A sense for order), Mapping (exhibition Krieg), Odtok iz sveta (international exhibition Ecology and art);
– published a book of authorial texts “Beseda slike” in 1997;
– was granted a scholarship Arts Link and realised space projects “Ne-vidno (Videti ali ne videti)” and “Mera in nesmisel (Modro znotraj)” at a New York gallery;
– A Fulbright scholar in 2000 and a guest artist at San Francisco Art Institute;
– Project “Sejalec/1.000.000” in gallery Kapelica in Ljubljana.
– Exhibition “Rob, Igra solz, Dvoje, Še” in Modern gallery Ljubljana brings him France Prešeren fond award in 2003.