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Bio

1959 - born in Ljubljana, Slovenia
1987 - graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts, Ljubljana
1993 - moved from the town to the country: he lives and works as a freelance artist in the hamlet of Mohorje

Jakše was born in 1959 in Ljubljana. In 1987 he graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts under the mentorship of M. Krašovec and made his way to the Slovene painting scene with his shocking metaphores that perverted Christian mentality rooted in Slovene mythology. On one hand provocative and on the other melancholic paintings, whose contents are playing with anything in an uncensored manner, have always been likable and enthusiastic in the eyes of the public. Paintings drawn during the last three years do not distinguish much regarding the contents and problems, but qualitatively the artist is sharpening as a diamond. So, to that it is only about the strong continuity of a vigorous creator would not be saying enough.

Marko Jakše's qualitative extent is still extremely wide and he still researches figure, portrait and flora and fauna in interiors as well as in open landscapes. The artist puts diverse figuration as equal elements into mutual conflicts, dramatically and many times bloody situations on one hand and elegiac, melancholic and sometimes symbolically tranquil shades on the other hand. (Študije v modrem, 40 let Marije Snežne).

He is extremely sublime observer, who lucidly perceives visual tactile values and translates them into painting material. In his mature years and with continual researching approach he is achieving a true refined painting mastery.

It is as if he uses realism as a means to deceive / convince the eye, so that the viewer starts believing in a possible existence which is later, with some break or extreme, put into the sphere of the unreal (unreal because it can not be seen). And so he opens the dusty doors of a viewer and brings him into the world that arouses fear in its greyness or dreadfulness; there he swings him into aesthetic comfort, which is the immanent quality of art.

Melancholic romantic landscapes per se or virtuously interweaved patterns with 3D effect are formally minimised into abstractions, which is a result of new challenges the artist faced after his New York experience (2000). These abstractions are incredibly alive, convincing and express qualities with colours and forms, typical for Jakše.

Marko Jakše has reached refinement of old masters and even more: his paintings can not be put in just any century; Although he operates with archetypes, his paintings talk about here and now. He is completely contemporary, subversive.

By Aleksandra Kostic

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Solo Exhibitions

2007
Superstition and Weights ("Vraže in uteži"), ŠKUC Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia

2006
White Herd, White Flock ("Bela creda, bela jata"), intermedia event, MMC KIBLA - KiBela space for arts, Maribor, Slovenia
White Herd, White Flock ("Bela creda, bela jata"), event, ŠKUC Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia

2005
Too Modern Carpets ("Premoderne preproge"), TOO-MODERN (PREMODERNA) Gallery, Hotic, Slovenia
Mejd in Franc, MMC KIBLA - KiBela space for arts, Maribor, Slovenia
Made in France, ŠKUC Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia

2004
Egurna Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Art Must Be Beautiful. And White ("Umetnost treba da bude bela. I lepa), MMC KIBLA - KiBela space for arts, Maribor, Slovenia

2003
Art Must Be Beautiful and White ("Umetnost treba da bude bela i lepa), Codelli Manor, Ljubljana, Slovenia

1999
MMC KIBLA - KiBela space for arts, Maribor, Slovenia
Modern Gallery, Celje, Slovenia

1998
Umetnostna galerija Maribor / Art Gallery Maribor, Slovenia

1997
White Herd, Egurna Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia

1994
Cekinov grad, Ljubljana, Slovenia

1992
ŠKUC Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia

1991
Egurna Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia

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Group Exhibitions

2005
EYE TRY St. Peters Cathedral gallery, Cork - European Capital of Culture, Ireland, official Slovenian selection for EU accession