Črtomir Frelih

Prints and Drawings. Four Decades.

25. 10. 2022–12. 2. 2023

Grad Tivoli

The approximately one hundred works selected for the exhibition span Črtomir Frelih's creative arc over a period of forty years. The selection mainly comprises his very rich printmaking oeuvre, which is dominated by the technique of collagraphy. The artist already attracted attention during his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana and received the student Prešeren Award. Even then, he decided to study in depth the technical possibilities that would enable him to work directly on the matrix and print in the form of intaglio, which would contain the main features of a certain calligraphic freshness. The love of experimentation, driven by his creative curiosity, remains a constancy in his work to this day.

Frelih's oeuvre is initially marked by an emphatic use of signs and abstract forms, and even in the works on which the ink has barely dried, the artist retains his characteristic expressive pictorial language. Almost all the classic iconographic themes can be discerned from his extensive art production, from nudes to still lifes and landscapes, inspired by the mysterious Bohinj, where he grew up and where he still seeks his creative refuge in his free time. A special chapter – also highlighted in the exhibition – is dedicated to figurative art, expressive depictions of the naked figure and mystical scenes of transition, in which the artist touches on the most mysterious existential questions. This section also includes the shocking Human Landscapes, which are in some ways a distant echo of Mušić's horrific memories of the piles of bodies from the Dachau concentration camp and at the same time a direct reaction to the revelation of the tragic post-war massacres in Huda jama.

In addition to the black and white prints, the exhibition includes drawings in the technique of acrylic, pastel and wax on paper, as well as a monumental canvas with the motif of a floral still life as a pars pro toto, next to which a tiny didactic detail – a matrix and its print – is placed.

The exhibition concludes with his foxy stories with witty commentaries, which have literally represented the artist's trademark for several years – they were published in an artist's book two years ago – and are also available to the public online. Fox Garden is also complemented by the FoxBox installation. Frelih's popular motif with the two fox figures can also be found on ceramics, cups, plates and trays.

Breda Ilich Klančnik, curator of the exhibition

Painter, printmaker and art educator Črtomir Frelih (Nomenj, 1960) graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana in the Department of Printmaking in the class of Prof. Zvest Apollonio in 1985. He continued his studies with a postgraduate specialisation in Printmaking and completed it successfully in 1990 under the supervision of Prof. Zvest Apollonio and Prof. Branko Suhy. In 1997, he obtained an MSc in Art Didactics at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana. Since 2014, he has been Full Professor of Printmaking in the Department of Fine Art Education of the Faculty of Education at the University of Ljubljana. He has inspired many generations of students to take up printmaking. He is also the author of art textbooks for primary and secondary schools as well as for higher education and regularly publishes articles in the field of fine art, art theory and art education. He has had more than 80 solo exhibitions and has participated in more than 240 group shows at home and abroad. At home, he has received several national and international awards. He lives and creates in Radomlje and Nomenj.

''Printmaking is an amplifier of the artistic expression. Everything that is possible in other media can be made stronger, clearer, more decisive in the graphic arts; we can draw a thin, strong line with a pencil, but we can erase an even thinner and stronger one; a coloured surface can be applied with a brush, but the most homogeneous and saturated impression can be made with a screen. Marjan Tršar repeatedly pointed out to us that it is typical for an artist to think in terms of the material. And in this sense printmaking offers a series of production methods for individual artistic expressions, which thereby acquire a specific, clearly defined character. I have the feeling that I can speak more clearly in printmaking.'' (Črtomir Frelih)