PAINTRESSES FROM THE LITORAL FROM THE COLLECTIONS OF PIRAN COASTAL GALLERIES

| Meduza Gallery, Koper, 31.01.2025-13.04.2025 |

The exhibition presents seven Coastal artists from different generations: Mira Ličen (1950), Majda Skrinar (1963), Fulvia Grbac (1968), Beti Bricelj (1974), Joni Zakonjšek (1974), Lara Marconi Jeranko (1984) and Ira Niero Marušič (1989). Their works – mostly paintings on canvas, complemented by watercolors and graphics – were acquired by the Piran Coastal Galleries through regular purchases, Ex-tempore Piran prizes, and donations. The exhibition does not deepen into individual artistic expressions and personal poetics. Its common denominator is genre and status in the collection, and above all, belonging to the coastal area from which the artists come and in which they work. The artists are not only known in their local environment, but are also known and renowned in the Slovenian art scene in which they actively participate and often appear in important exhibitions at home and abroad.

Since the exhibition venue of the Meduza Gallery is limited, the space affected the selection. Unfortunately, again some works remained in storage: paintings by Barbara Čižmek and Arelena Zakonjšek; works on paper by Aljoša Križ, Klavdija Marušič, and Katja Smerdu; and ceramics by Tanja Krstov, Kristina Rutar, and Nataša Sedej. A sculpture by Gail Clair Morris is included in the group exhibition Miscellania, Stories and Works of Art from the Depots of the Piran Coastal Galleries at the Loggia Gallery in Koper, on view until May 18, 2025.

The exhibition is also an opportunity to think about the possibility of a permanent exhibition of the OGP collections. As long as works from the collections are kept in storage and rarely shown in temporary exhibitions, the public will continue to be deprived of the opportunity to admire these works of art, to appreciate an artistic experience, and to learn about an important part of contemporary visual arts in the local and national space since the 1980s.

Curator: Tatjana Sirk