Miran Kreš: XYZ 2

Miran Kreš: XYZ 2
22 March – 30 April 2019
KiBela

To Miran Kreš, art is like open-ended science; an art work is a set of psychological impacts of colors and forms on the viewer. Kreš confronts the viewer with a paradoxical dichotomy – with the right degree of lighting/obscuration, the monochromatic white objects/visual elements, otherwise almost invisible to the eye, turn into light-radiating color surfaces and geometric forms. Through this the artist explores primary visual elements, where colors and forms gradually become more and more minimalistic, yet intense in their manifestation.

INVITATION (PDF)
POSTER (PDF)

For this occasion, the spatial installation XYZ 2 has been tailored to the architecture and logic of the KiBela gallery space, and is formally based on primary visual elements and their interrelatedness – lines, colors, light and space. Miran Kreš constructs the visual space by threading strings painted with phosphorescent pigments, whose barely noticeable light vibrations challenge the viewer's eye as well as their bodily position in the gallery space, and their perception of it.

The minimalist abstract composition, consisting of carefully positioned vertical lines, which shape, alter and ultimately subjugate the existing gallery space, is an attempt to translate the two-dimensional painting surface and the traditional visual elements inscribed in it, into a three-dimensional space, which at the same time appears as a digital environment. More than just a simple translation of the different dimensions of space, Kreš's work is a phenomenology-based research approach to visual perception.

Through an absence of the mimetic, the use of abstracted elements and a minimalist esthetic, the artist creates a (endless) depth and airiness of space, yet in spite of the seemingly self-explanatory positioning of the light-coated vertical lines, he demands a considerable degree of concentration and active participation on behalf of the viewer. In his own words: "This kind of 'pure perception' can be interpreted as an experience, which allows and requires tranquility, or, in other words, a process of perception including visual concentration, and the power of mind through concentration. I am interested in what lies 'between the lines'. My work explores visual forms which lead to a sensual dialog through the faculty of sight, in a manner which allows them to become upgraded in their manifestation."

– Živa Kleindienst

Miran Kreš (1973) graduated in painting at the Department of Art Pedagogy of the Faculty of Education in Ljubljana in 1998 under the mentorship of professor Zdenko Huzjan. His works have been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions during and after his study years. He spent a few years in Amsterdam, working independently and alongside fellow Dutch, British and French artists, and creating several noteworthy projects in painting and multimedia. After returning to Slovenia, he works as a self-employed artist in the field of culture. Kreš works in painting, graphic art and installations; the common denominators of his works are color, light, space and the psychological effect they have on the observer.

Some of the milestones in his career include: GAD Project at the Youth Biennial in Bucharest, Romania (2005), special recognition award for his graphic work at the II. International Printmaking Exhibition in Istanbul, Turkey (2006), an exhibition at the Californian Institute of Integral Studies Gallery in San Francisco, California (2008), Project Berlin at the Factory-Art Gallery in Berlin, Germany and at the MOP Gallery in Sydney, Australia (2012), the exhibition Illuminations at the International Center of Graphic Arts in Ljubljana (2013), and participation in the project Preliminary Design of an Experimental Art-Circling Spaceship, at the Kunstahaus Essen in Germany (2016). His works form part of private and public art collections. He lives and works in Ljubljana.

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Production: X-OP Association for Contemporary Art
Exhibition opening on Friday, 22 March 2019, at 7 p. m.
The exhibition will be showing until 30 April 2019.

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MMC KIBLA / KiBela, space for art
Ulica kneza Koclja 9, Maribor
Opening hours: Mon–Fri 9–22, Sat 16–22