Staš Kleindienst Lost Space

Staš Kleindienst
Lost Space
8 March – 25 March 2017
KiBela, Space for Art / MMC KIBLA, Maribor

The exhibition title Lost Space recapitulates the idea of a depoliticized space, which is present in the artist's works. This is a painted space, which has lost the power of antagonism and only remains in service of the ideology of capitalism. A space, where mutual relationships have become ritualized and controlled, yet devoid of any kind of potentiality and political manifestation.

"In my artistic practice I focus on the reality of our society and the changes it implies from a perspective of the discourse of power and the role of authority. In this context I attempt to form dystopian social fiction scenarios, which are nonetheless based on existing ideological, economic, and political coordinates. At the same time, my practice evolves around the idea of imagination as a tool for developing a potentially different way of thinking, rather than just a literal interpretation of the current social phenomena. Formally my works lean against the tradition of Slovenian naive painting, the painting of large scenes, the period of American realism from the beginning of the 20th century, and certain practices of contemporary figural painting." – Staš Kleindienst

Staš Kleindienst (born 1979) completed his MA in fine arts in 2009 at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana. In 2007 he received the Prešeren Student Award. During his study years he became part of the Leban/Kleindienst duo, which has been more or less intensely active for nearly a decade, their production covering a variety of media. Later Kleindienst joined the collective Rearticulation and founded the eponymous journal. After an intense period of working inside collectives, the artist turned once again to the traditional artistic media, working mostly in painting, drawing, and video. In 2014 he won the OHO Group Award, the central nationwide visual arts award for young artists. He participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions home and abroad. He lives and works in Ljubljana.

About the exhibition