The Hambis Municipal Printmaking Museum in Nicosia in collaboration with the Ljubljana Biennale of Graphic Arts, the international Centre of Graphic Arts presents the exhibition Contemporary Equals Fresh – Contemporary Slovene Graphic Arts curated by mag. Breda Skrjanec. Launching on Friday, the exhibition will be opened by Androulla Vasiliou, former European Commissioner, in the presence of the curator of the exhibition and printmaker Svetlana Jakimovska – Rodic.

“Slovenia has a significant tradition in the production and promotion of fine art printmaking,” say organisers. “The decisive moment of this tradition lies in the fact that the Ljubljana Academy of Fine Arts was one of the first in Europe to introduce the study option of printmaking after the Second World War. The founder of this tradition is the Ljubljana Biennale of Graphic Arts, which has been held for its thirty-fourth consecutive edition this year.

“The International Centre of Graphic Arts (MGLC),” they continue, “is a special museum whose identity is based on the heritage of the Biennale of Graphic Arts and the art of printing from the mid-20th century to the present day. MGLC is also a major producer of contemporary art with a focus on printmaking. The exhibition Contemporary Equals Fresh offers an overview of the latest graphic production by ten Slovene artists. It shows the latest works by artists of different generations, created in the last five years. Through their art practice, these ten artists create images of our time that are not only fluid and multidisciplinary in their approach, but also in their language and investigation. Most of them push the boundaries of the graphic medium in their practice. The artists use a wide range of technical, formal and conceptual processes. They do not merely focus on technical know-how as the works reveal various stages of the creative process in the artists’ practices. Each artist takes a specific and interdisciplinary approach, combining traditional printmaking methods with different media and presentation strategies.

“The exhibition, which represents a cross-section of contemporary Slovene graphic arts, in a way confirms that the preoccupation with classical printmaking does not exclude experimentation and combination with new techniques, technologies and more modern media. Content-wise, thematically and philosophically, the individual works reach far into intellectual and cultural concepts, while the artists show an interesting and penetrating approach to printmaking as an art genre within the contemporary visual arts.”

Contemporary Equals Fresh – Contemporary Slovene Graphic Arts

Exhibition curated by mag. Breda Skrjanec. June 16-August 5. Hambis Municipal Printmaking Museum, Nicosia. Opening night: 7.30pm. Tuesday, Thursday, Friday: 10am-1pm. Wednesday and Saturday: 10am-1pm and 6pm-9pm. www.printmaking.cy