Mitja Konics Malerei beschäftigt sich intensiv mit der philosophischen, geistigen und meditativen Beziehung zwischen Mensch, Natur und Ding.
Seine Bilder und Arbeiten auf Papier spielen einerseits auf Ausschnitte von landschaftlichen Welten, anderseits aber auf abstrakte Welten an, die mit Figuren besiedelt sind. Diese sind ein Teil des ganzen bildnerischen Raumes, wie auch die dekonstruierte landschaftliche Welt ein Teil der Figuren ist.
Konic hat es in seiner Malerei geschafft, eine Zwischenwelt zu erstellen, die Getrenntes vereint. Denn laut Konic muss bildende Kunst formale und inhatliche bzw. semiotische und semantische Elemente, die in der äußeren Welt isoliert auftreten, im Prozess der Artikulation des Bildes zusammenbringen und verdichten. Und Konics Werke loten eben diese Grenzen zwischen Gegenständlichkeit und Abstraktion, zwischen inhaltlichen Geschichten und bildnerischer Gestaltung neu aus. Der gesamte malerische Prozess – darunter auch alle technischen Aspekte – spielen für ihn eine sehr wichtige Rolle.  Er baut unter anderem seine eigenen Bildträger, stellt eigene Pinsel her und arbeitet mit rohen Pigmenten. So erschafft er ein künstlerisches Vokabular, das ihm seine alchemistische Denkweise und seine meditative Weltanschauung formulieren lässt.

Mitja Konic wurde 1984 in Slovenj Gradec in Slowenien geboren. 2004 begann er das Studium der Malerei an der Hochschule für bildende Künste Ljubljana, das er 2011 mit dem Diplomtitel „Vertikal und lateral Denken in Dilemmas meiner kreativen Praxis“ abschloss. Von 2012 bis 2014 war er Meisterschüler bei Prof. Christian Sery an der HfBK Dresden. Im gleichen Jahr wurde er mit dem DAAD Stipendium für Künstler ausgezeichnet. Im Jahr 2023 wurde er mit dem höchsten nationalen Anerkennungspreis Rihard Jakopic ausgezeichnet.



 
1. Ausbildung / Education
2012 – 2014   Meisterschülerstudium an der HFBK Dresden (Klasse Prof. Christian Sery) / Postgraduate Study (Meisterschüler) at the Academy of Fine Arts Dresden (Class of Prof. Christian Sery), (DE)

2004 – 2011   Hochschule für Bildende Künste Ljubljana, Universität Ljubljana, Slowenien / The Academy of Fine Arts and Design of the University of Ljubljana, (SI)

 
2. Stipendien und Preise / Awards
2023 Rihard Jakopic Recognition Prize 2023 / Priznanje Riharda Jakopiča 2023

2012/14 DAAD Stipendium für Künstler / DAAD Scholarship for Artists

2010     Nomination for Vordemberge – Gildewart Stiftung Preis 2010, City Gallery Ljubljana, (SI)

2008   Second Preis – XIX. Kolonie – The Academy of Fine Arts and Design of Ljubljana, Gallery Velenje, (SI)
 
3. Einzelausstellungen / Solo Exhibitions

2022 I Always Wanted a White Horse, Gallery Murska Sobota, Murska Sobota (SI), 2.9. - 26. 10. 2022

2022 Drawing Mentality 2012-2022, Gallery Velenje, Velenje (SI), 4. 8. - 3. 9.2022

2020 Amor Fati, Bozidar Jakac Art Museum, (SI) 25.9.20 - 4.4.21

2019 Read your Little Fate, Execute Project, Dallas, (USA)

2018 Honorary Consulate of the Republic Slovenia Dresden, Dresden, (DE)

2016 Honorary Consulate of the Republic Slovenia Dresden, Dresden, (DE)

2014 EUNIC Berlin - The Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in Berlin, 17.Oktober 2014

2014/15   Dreams of sleepless Nights, The Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in Berlin, (DE)

2014 State of Escape, Studio Gallery, New Mills, England (mit Bartosz Beda, 30. Oktober bis 5. Dezember)

2011 The Academy of Fine Arts and Design of the University of Ljubljana, (SI)

2009 Duett des Malers, City Gallery Velenje, Velenje, (SI)
 
4. Gruppenausstellungen / Group Exhibitions

2023 MS’23 - Misterij GEA, Kulturni center - Delavnski dom Zagorje ob Savi (SI)

2022 MOMENTAL/MENTE, Museum of Modern Art Ljubljana, Ljubljana (SI)

2019 Selection of Greatness, Execute Project, Dallas, USA

2018 Jahresgaben, Kunstverein München, 7. - 16. Dezember 2018, (DE)

2016 „Papier!“, Von Klee bis Baselitz. Klassische Moderne und Gegenwart im Dialog. u.a. Georg Baselitz, Peter Doig, Marlene Dumas, Paul Klee, Jorinde Voigt, Andy Warhol. Kuratiert von Thole Rotermund, 68projects - Galerie Kornfeld, Berlin, 23 April – 4 June 2016, (DE)

2016 CAUSALITY,  Galerie Stephanie Kelly, Dresden, (DE)

2014/15   Person, Place or Thing: u.a. Richard Prince, Micha Laury,Zak Prekop, Mitja Konic, Pau Atela, 68projects - Galerie Kornfeld, 15 November 2014 - 10 January 2015, (DE)

2014     New Masters So Far, 7. Okt – 2. Nov 2014, Kunsthaus Dresden, Städtische Galerie für Gegenwartskunst, (DE)

2014     Dada Ty, Hellerau - Europäiches Zentrum der Künste Dresden, 24. 5.2014-22.6.2014

2010.   Vordemberge – Gildewart 2010, City Gallery Ljubljana, Ljubljana, (SI)

2008   XIX. Kolonie – The Academy of Fine Arts and Design of Ljubljana, The Ljubljana Castle, (SI)

2008   XIX. Kolonie – The Academy of Fine Arts and Design of Ljubljana, City Gallery Velenje, (SI)

2004   Gallery MC Velenje, Velenje, (SI)
 
6. Schriftenverzeichnis

Konić, Mitja / Mentaliteta risbe 2012-2022 / Drawing Mentality 2012-2022, Galerija Velenje, 2022

Konić, Mitja/ Amor Fati: Galerija Božidar Jakac, 2020
Jurij Selan, “Slike, ki so,” Duett des Malers: Galerie Velenje, 2009

Dr. ROBERT SIMONIŠEK

Mitja Konić's 'In-between world' caught between an inquisitive mind and fate (Amor Fati - Bozidar Jakac Art Museum, SI, 25.9.20 - 4.4.2021)

Mitja Konić comes as a surprise to the Slovene art space, if for nothing else, for the fact that he had settled down in south Germany, where he lives and works as a painter. The German art market, in which he is establishing himself, is far larger than the Slovene one and functions differently, as the relations between curators and artists are governed by a different logic. The German art market is a part of the global art market, in which artists can do almost anything and the main measure of success is persuasiveness. This leads to ever growing demands for rounded and insightful original art poetics amongst art connoisseurs and collectors. As Konić’s monumental canvasses, drawings and miniatures are not commercially oriented works, they depend on his small circle of collectors and curators.

With digitalisation, which has encroached into everybody’s lives and way of thinking, in a negative as well as positive way – even in those who deliberately try to avoid it – contemporary artists (and Konić is one of them), have become less restricted by geography. Most of them are no longer interested in historical traumas, which were especially strong in Germany in the post-World War II period. Afterwards, Germans have catapulted into the world numerous explicitly individualistic artists who have developed as a result of their aversion of national-socialism and under the influence of American art. Artists faced the question if and in what way will they have to adjust the modernistic ideals or maybe even the ideals that were enthroned by the Northern romantic tradition. At this point we should mention Anselm Kiefer and Gerhard Richter, whose works trigger similar contemplation within the observers as the works of Konić. Konić’s aesthetic views and art parameters cannot be a result of the milieu in which he had found himself a century after Wassily Kandinsky opened the path to abstraction which lead to the internationalisation of art. It would not make sense to try to connect his artistic identity to the German tradition or the duality, which emerged as a result of his move from Slovenia. Artists have always been hybrids and every new generation is more decentralised than the previous one. This characteristic spread even more after the fall of the Berlin wall and the establishment of the new order, in which the borders between various art forms started disappearing and the traditional art forms started losing the battle with interactive media. National and particular identities started dissolving as they were enriched by heterogenous directions and movements, which merged in the phenomenon known as post-modernism. The echoes of this can be felt even today. Regardless of the confusion amongst the theoreticians, who tried to explain the term as a cultural dominant and not a style, most agreed that the smallest common denominator could be found in the concept which does not permit the co-existence of a line of diverse, yet subordinate characteristics. The main characteristics can be found in the weakening of the historical, the introduction of the simulacre as a copy of something without an original, an emotional tone, which is explained with theories of the sublime, the disappearance of the borders between the artificial and natural, etc. Of course, post-modernism should not be understood without the diverse modernism, from which it obtained its name; even though this took place in the form of negation, this negation is by no means applied in all aspects.

If Konić circumvented numerous dilemmas as a result of belonging to a certain generation, he could not help but address them as a painter and personality with an inquisitive spirit. These dilemmas helped him focus on the philosophical and intellectual relations between man, nature and objects, and strive to create a well-thought out art language which he articulates on canvass or paper with formalistic, semiotic and semantic elements. Parallel to his studies he also followed the current visual production and studied paintings created over the last forty years in greater detail, which leads us to wonder which segments of his painting vision reflect the arsenal of ideas, views and aesthetic principles of the 20th century. This question should be posed, as the reflections of his works so far failed to delve into a detailed analysis, which Konić’s work certainly deserves. As admirers of Konić’s canvasses and drawings it is hard to come across direct connections with everyday reality, as the connection with mimeticism has been severed. It is too early to link the characteristically dark and metal colours in his monumental canvasses with the grey and patina infused architecture of Dresden, the famous birthplace of expressionism, where the artist studied. To a certain degree the lack of such traces is a consequence of the tightly sealed painting, which is subordinated to the artist’s aesthetic principles. The canvasses do not depict an objective history, which the artist most likely views as a subjective illusion, as defined by Michael Foucault. Not even the concrete social reality of the here and now, regardless of the extent to which it has become more complex and usurped by the media, as well as dispersed and buried in the amorphousness of the global world in these uncertain times, receives any attention. This does not mean that the past and the present are not reflected through the contemplative nature of the artist, but that these signs are inscribed and erased in a specific way.

The combining of opposites, which can be followed on multiple levels, is a recognisable characteristic of Konić’s poetics. Overcoming traditional dualisms and dichotomies is on one hand rooted in the artist’s feeling for the complexity of the phenomena in a disillusioned world, and on the other in his understanding of the paradox as something immanent to the spirit of the times in which he works. In this existential orientation it has become even more self-evident that he started to turn to his personal experiences and started rising his criteria. One of Konić’s imperatives states that the ideal painting or drawing needs to fulfil not only the rational criteria, but also the intuitive sense. The enlightenment and the romantic thought also addressed the relation between these two fields, as have all 20th century philosophies that addressed the issue of human realisations. Numerous Konić’s works reveal the combination of two contradicting paradigms, which have defined the visual experience of the 20th century. Of course, I have in mind the synthesis of the figural and abstract that can be seen, for instance, in the works by Francis Bacon. However, Konić’s figure is not naturalistically fleshy and does not upset the darkest and most aggressive partitures of the observer’s imagination. During the painting process its trace has oft become lost, or has merged completely with the abstract void and this is where the recognisable quality of Konić can be found. The combination of painting and drawing elements on canvass results in specific relations and visual effects and condition the relation between the narrative and lyrical elements. A good example of the mentioned characteristics is the canvass Africa that can be found in this exhibition. Konić started by painting a person with a jar on her head, and then he, influenced by graphic printing procedures, started removing or scratching certain parts of the painting so that the final form resembles the African continent. Less hidden and more expressive are the drawn figures in which linearity stimulates the outlines of the body and a more explicit narration. However, due to their large format, the final effect is in fact similar to that of a painting.

Even today, the uniqueness of their artworks remains one of the basic focuses of the artists, who don’t subject their visions of beauty and the role of artwork to the logic of current trends and the broader market. By striving to create new and unique artworks, Konić had also succumbed to the demand radically called upon by the modernists. He sees the creation of a rounded visual language as a ritual and his core occupation. However, the search for strength, liveliness and painting energy does not take place merely within the most appropriate and inventive ideas, forms or concepts, which would surpass the previous achievements. Konić believes that the game incorporates the entire approach from the idea to realisation, including the anticipation of emotions that the work of art will evoke in the observer. His investigative spirit leads him to try out new technical aspects, which he them realises in accordance to his instinct. He pays special attention to the materials, being aware that these, in their multiple possible combinations, live their new and unique lives in each individual work of art. However, he also pays attention to the other sides – he uses raw pigments and combines them in his desire to establish an authentic expression, he creates carriers for paintings, brushes, etc. Konić defines all decisions and procedures that determine the artistic process with ‘alchemy’ (for instance he also uses the motif on the miniature Alchemist). Even though he is susceptible to experimentation, he also likes to restrict himself, in accordance with his experience and knowledge. These restrictions are just as visible in his contents, for his work does not include elements of irony, grotesqueness, social criticism, etc.

Konić’s understanding of creativity is subordinated to contemplation, however it also allows for coincidences. The heterogeneity in his works is a result of freedom as well as necessity, which is defined by artistic principles. It is formed, partially as a controlled process, partially beyond the intelligible. Regardless of the artist’s experience, the result has to fit his vision in the conceptual, compositional and technical aspects. Construction and deconstruction are two sides of the same process. The painting is a cross-section of various worlds, which Konić named the ‘intermediate world’. From the endless possibilities that the artist has at this disposal, the newly emerged world expresses autonomy. The search, which takes place between the artist and the canvass, is a mystical journey. The dialogue that takes place between him and the painting, from the initial idea to its realisation, adopts the characteristics of totality. Konić describes this reciprocal communication as ‘fate’. This central term in his understanding of creativity is emphasised in the title of this exhibition, and is also included in two of the exhibited canvasses of monumental proportions (Amor Fati, Fatum and Fatum II).

It is unlikely that Konić developed his principles under the influence of the history of painting, for it is much more likely that he arrived at them by contemplating the necessity to articulate an authentic artistic language. He had dedicated great attention and intellectual effort to them, and this has led him to innovative typologies. While keeping in mind the importance of continuity in his personal development, he generalises individual concepts, relations between the signs on canvass and similar. The painter creates combinations between the individual visual elements, which place his works into recognisable families. When trying to discover a certain typology, he eventually reaches the edge, and this is where the possibilities for new solutions appear. Instead of a thematic emphasis, his works are connected by shared compositions, technical characteristics, harmony, details, etc, which can also be seen in the fact that his monumental works resemble his miniatures. The works exhibited in the church reveal at least three typological groups. A good prototype of one of the groups is the painting Push the Sky Apart II. In this painting the artist attempted to depict the sky, which has been capturing human imagination since the beginning of time, as a totally new dimension. We could explain other elements found in his works that represent a part of his permanent repertoire, such as birds, with the typological aspect. On one hand they appear as an ornament, which forms some sort of a screen within the painting, while on the other hand they appear as matter. In the painting Bird World he addressed the issue as to how a bird sees the landscape and thus posed the question that the Bavarian expressionist Franz Marc also posed – how to paint a world as seen by animals.

Numerous Konić’s canvasses depict a figure combined with a fragment of nature. This is merely indicated with a tree, the contact between earth and sky, the moon or the horizon. Layers of emptiness are often revealed on abstract backgrounds and the shades of colour mediate the spirit of the shapeless and endless nature. From the aspect of the development of landscapes in Western art we could place these works in the same line that starts with William Turner and continues through Mark Rothko to the present moment. However, due to the upright format of Konić’s works the observer is influenced by the vertical rather than the horizontal dimension. In light of traditional painting this is more appropriate for sacral paintings and is only exceptionally used by landscape painters. Konić also presents the events from various perspectives. The object or figure is once observed from a distance, and then from up close. Regardless of the depicted motif, it seems that we disrupt a monologue as soon as we start entering the aura of the painting. We are overcome by the feeling that we have disturbed something. In some works, the painter leads us through registers of fear, of course not only on the level of contents, which remain mysterious and layered, but also with the use of tricks, such as making us feel dizzy by making us stare at an anthropomorphic tree trunk from below. At this point it seems that I should mention the difference between the works, in which the artist creates an illusion of movement, and the works in which he establishes the exact opposite, the feeling of being frozen in time. The latter is much easier to achieve with the use of traditional approaches rather than computers, which are today used by many a contemporary artist. At everything that has been said it is obvious that Konić is not guided by an aprioristic, but an inquisitive mind, which is why he cannot be totally dismissive of the achievements of classic or modern art. He chooses the allusions on phenomena from the past very carefully and places them on the canvass within a context of his own artistic interests, whether these deal with the content, formal or technical elements. For instance, he revealed that the impulse for his painting The Ruler derived from the drapery characteristic for the works created by Renaissance masters. He was interested in the haptic effects created by the way the fabric folded and flowed and wanted to discover how to use this to create something new. Through a combination of a shiny base, a figure and two shiny balls he managed to recreate a mythical atmosphere. The phenomenon of the concentration of power, whether it is understood in the metaphysical, social or psychological sense, emerges on some of his canvasses that are not exhibited in the church (Samurai, Pharaoh). However, the traditional symbolism of the carriers of power is subordinated to the sign and the decorative elements, which define the atmosphere and no longer testify to their indisputable authority or decline. An excellent example of the reinterpretation of fragments of classical art can be seen in the drawing The Game Goes On (2015–17), which shows pencil drawn figures which bring to mind Baroque angels even to the lesser connoisseurs.

In the 18th century the philosopher Edmund Burke triggered an avalanche of different interpretations with his thoughts on the sublime. His definition of the sublime as simultaneous comfort and discomfort was not characteristic of the painting, but of the relation that was established between the observer and the work of art. In his definition he argued that the feeling of the sublime reflected the pain, fear and terror, but that it could also emerge from the grandeur of the work of art, the colours, the light. In the 1990s Jean-François Lyotard used the same basis to place the term into the context of fear that nothing is going to happen in the painting. It seems that plenty is happening in Konić’s compositions, however, the moment is slowed down, stopped. The disturbance that emerged leads to astonishment, which Burke defined as the highest level of the sublime. The astonishment which is established when one observes Konić’s works is not the same as the one established by Caravaggio’s compositions with chopped off heads, the angst of the expressionists or the monstrosity that is emitted from the bodies and faces shown by numerous contemporary artists through various media. The astonishment that is encouraged by Konić’s works has a calming effect. It gives the feeling that we have found ourselves in front of the canvass too late and that we have to reconstruct the events, turn back time. As we lack sufficient tangible references, and do not know where to place the events and how to explain them, we seem to be drowning in timelessness. Paradoxically, regardless of the dynamics in the eyes and emotions of the observer, the effect of Konić’s work is meditative. As we observe the head on the painting Fatum, we are struck by fear, but not just fear. Konić’s figures and objects in empty or saturated spaces evoke mixed feelings and create an enigmatic, sometimes alienated or unspoken mood. Some of his paintings are close to illusions. The artist is aware that the observer might experience intense associations that are not exclusively in the register of the painter’s mental processes, subconscious connections and emotions. Konić belongs to the group of artists who understand that the function of the painting emerges directly from the ritual and is beyond politics, consumerism, dialogue with digital media and their imagery. His 'intermediate world' is a result of intelligible endeavours, and yet he allows for fate to intervene. As a personality and painter, he adapts and harmonises with fate. He cannot surpass it as fate is incomprehensible and limitless. However, every step into the unknown represents greater alliance. Maybe the most accessible works are those with an archetypal effect or those that push the observer into a labyrinth of comparisons with classical, modernistic or post-modernistic heritage. The more hermetic canvasses and drawings demand greater mental effort and inclination to browse through the subconsciousness. The connections between the visual elements and the individual similarities with the external world are revealed gradually, or in some cases, their flow is so deliberately cut off, that there is no contact. For this exhibition the painter also considered how an individual work of art will affect the observer when placed in a certain environment. The architectural relations, light conditions, void and the grandeur of the former monastery church seem to be an ideal space to express his well-thought out poetics.

Dr. ROBERT SIMONIŠEK