V.S.S.D. (Painter Do You Know Your Duty, 1985–1995) +– Alen Ožbolt (works 1995–2018): An Introspective
V.S.S.D. (You know the painter your debt) ± A.O. (Alen Ožbolt): An Introspective
Museum of Modern Art, Cankarjeva 15, 1000 Ljubljana
6 Februar 2020 — 3 May 2020
curator: dr. Martina Vovk
The Museum of Modern Art presents V.S.S.D. (You know the painter your debt) ± A.O. (Alen Ozbolt): An Introspective exhibition, displaying works provided out of the UGM Collection.
Veš slikar svoj dolg (V.S.S.D., Painter Do You Know Your Duty) was the name of a tandem of artists Janez Jordan and Alen Ožbolt; remaining individually anonymous, they conceived V.S.S.D. as an independent entity (also expressing themselves in the first person singular in interviews and texts), as an “expanded subject” transcending with its collective anonymous work the “autopoetics” prevalent in art at the time, particularly in painting. The two artists began working together in 1983 producing street graffiti; their first public presentation came in 1986 with the now iconic exhibition at the Škuc Gallery Veš slikar svoj dolg (Painter Do You Know Your Duty), a title they subsequently adopted as their name. V.S.S.D. was active between 1985 and 1995, when the collaboration came to an end and V.S.S.D. ceased to exist as an artistic subject.
Since the end of V.S.S.D. in 1995, Alen Ožbolt has been pursuing a solo artistic career. While essentially growing out of the basic aesthetic and topical premises of V.S.S.D., Ožbolt’s profuse solo oeuvre has broader dimensions, broaching issues already addressed in V.S.S.D. work and expanding on them. Initially, the artist’s transition to solo work was marked by the trauma of rupture with, denial of, or distancing from the work and heritage of V.S.S.D., which, however, has since become a “working history,” constructive ground for formulating new artistic concepts and ideas.
borrowed work from the UGM Collection:
Alen Ožbolt: Letters, Words and Sentences, 2001 - 2003, Little Bottles with Text, Wooden Frame with Shelves, inv. UGM 3023/K
