Arjan Pregl, 299 Hairy Ones
Arjan Pregl, 299 Hairy Ones and Call a Spade a Spade
RSR l Rotovž Exhibition Salon, Trg Leona Štuklja 2, Maribor
Opening: Thursday, 8 July 2010 at 19:00
In his two-part, multilayered visual and sound project, Arjan Pregl addresses the issue of the dialogic relation between image and word. The exhibited 299 ballpoint pen drawings on A4 paper have two things in common: the fact that their motifs derive from art history and literature, and their “hirsuteness” – each drawing is hairy in one way or another. There are images of shaggy objects, all kinds of animals, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic creatures, hairy literary figures, philosophers, artists, musicians, film directors, actors, Biblical figures from the Old and New Testaments (from Moses and Jesus to the Devil), Pregl’s self-portraits in all phases of bewhiskeredness, attractive female nudes in seductive poses with lush pubic hair, Playboy bunnies, old men and women, hermaphrodites, and all kinds of linguistic discourses in the guise of symbolic representations and allusions, maybe as for the human “hairy conscience”.
The second part of the exhibition, Call a Spade a Spade, is a visual and sound representation of transposing language into image in the context of the linguistic phenomenon as homonymy. This installation is composed of small images on cardboard and video footage. As we listen to foreign actors pronouncing the words in English, naming what is in the pictures and in a way speaking “Slovenian”, we are entering on the allusive level a classroom with special teaching aids. (Mateja Podlesnik, exhibition curator).
The visitors of the 299 Hairy Ones change and supplement the exhibition constantly. At the first project presentation in the City Gallery 2 in Ljubljana, as well as in Maribor, visitors are invited to buy the drawings (30 €) and suggest a new hairy motif. The author will draw the motif and replace the old drawing with the new one. The artwork in progress will be accomplished as the original drawings are replaced by new drawings, as well as the artist’s “vision” by the “vision” of the visitors. You can observe the project development at Arjan Pregl’s blog: http://299kosmatih2.blog.siol.net/.
Arjan Pregl (b. 1973; Ljubljana) graduated in 1998 at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana under professors M. Krašovec and B. Gorenca. 2001 he gained an MA in Fine Arts under professor B Gorenc. The last semester of his MA studies he attended the IUP (Indiana University of Pennsylvania) in USA. Under professor L. Logar he gained an MA in graphics in 2004. Arjan Pregl works in the field of painting, graphic, illustration and design. He lives and works in Ljubljana.
The exhibition is organized by Museum and galleries of Ljubljana, City Gallery of Ljubljana.
Curator: Mateja Podlesnik, MGLM
