BORUT POPENKO: OPENINGS

“Everything starts in an empty space, which releases adrenaline in Popenko," Aleksandra Kostič wrote twenty-five years ago for the exhibitions in Maribor City Hall Rotovž Exhibition Salon and Loža Gallery in Koper. A quarter of a century later, the painter Borut Popenko has returned to the Loža Gallery and Rotovž Exhibition Salon, which is now named UGM Studio. But the starting point remains the same. Since the beginning, Popenko has been interested in the basic elements of painting that arise from empty space, from the materiality of the painting medium to the formation of the painting field. In his exploration of colors and shapes, proportions, compositions, volumes and harmonies, he refers to the abstract painting tradition, from abstract expressionism, color field painting, geometric abstraction to monochrome painting and minimalism. Among his role models, he cites giants of abstract art such as Mark Rothko, Josef Albers, Morris Louis, Ellsworth Kelly, and contemporaries Anish Kapoor, Peter Halley and Gerwald Rockenschaub.

The hosting of the personal exhibition of the Maribor artist Borut Popenko in the Piran Coastal Galleries is an exchange exhibition for the January presentation of the works of the artist Lara Marconi Jeranko from the Littoral region of Slovenia in the premises of the Maribor Art Gallery (UGM), which aims to encourage the cooperation of Slovenian galleries and to promote and valorize current artistic creativity in the area of ​​operation of public institutions.

Borut Popenko (b. 1969 in Maribor) completed his studies in art pedagogy at the Faculty of Education in Maribor. Along with presentations at numerous solo and group exhibitions, he also took part in guest artists and art colonies in Slovenia and elsewhere around Europe. In the more recent period, he presented his work to the public at solo exhibitions such as Openings (2023, UGM Studio, Maribor), Breaks (2019, artKIT, Maribor) and Break (2018, Church of the Holy Spirit, Črnomelj) and at numerous group exhibitions, including Spekter. 70 years of the UGM Collections (2024, Maribor Art Gallery), Structure of the Illusion (2024, Ptuj City Gallery), The Book Story (2023, UGM Studio, Maribor), Time on the Way (2023, Bažato Gallery, Ljubljana), Colors (2023, Equrna Gallery, Ljubljana) and Fantasy – Geometry: A Dialogue (2022, Novo Celje Mansion, Žalec). His works are kept in private and public collections, including the Maribor Art Gallery.

Jure Kirbiš, exhibition curator