The Painting Race
Slikarska Dirka
Solo exhibition, 2026
Galerija Vžigalica
Ljubljana (Slovenia)
Curated by Jani Pirnat
and Antonio Grulli
Slikarska Dirka
Solo exhibition, 2026
Galerija Vžigalica
Ljubljana (Slovenia)
Curated by Jani Pirnat
and Antonio Grulli
The exhibition The Painting Race by the Italian art trio CANEMORTO, on display at the
Vžigalica
Gallery, is the final instalment in a series of exhibitions that have explored the plurality of approaches, techniques and
artistic positions within contemporary painting since 2020. This series of exhibitions emerged as a programmatic
consideration of the status of painting as a medium in an era of global social and technological change,
exacerbated further by the pandemic. During this period of isolation and abundance of free time, it would seem
that painting has once again come to the fore; however, this turn towards traditionalism may also be a consequence
of the socio-political climate, which has stifled
free thinking.
Since 2007, the CANEMORTO art trio has worked at the intersection of multiple artistic disciplines. Their practice combines painting, sculpture, video and performance, drawing on Dadaist provocative and Surrealist absurd strategies. They create situations in which the exhibition space becomes a field of intervention, often directed at points of institutional or social unease. This approach recognises an affinity with the Vžigalica Gallery’s programme, which has explored the relationships between art, institutions and the social mechanisms of representation for many years. […]
The Painting Race - Slikarska Drika project refers to the inaugural exhibition The Painting Race in Bologna in 2024, which juxtaposed the art system of the Arte Fiera with the speed and prestige associated with Formula 1 races in nearby Imola. This symbiosis reveals surprising affinities between the art market and the economy of spectacle; both are based on the intensive generation of events, media attention and symbolic capital. […]
The Painting Race employs subversive humour in the gallery to initiate a discourse on painting as a redemptive medium that might appease the custodians of normality through traditional mastery. The feeling of time standing still in the face of rapid social and technological change is simply a reaction to retreat to a safe haven, but in the long run it cannot withstand the dictates of progress, with all its positive and negative consequences. Today, painting exists within a pluralistic media landscape where it can freely combine with digital technologies, performance or conceptual practices. As an open medium, unburdened by tradition, it can absorb diverse social contexts. In this regard, the key issue in contemporary art appears to be not the selection of a medium, but rather creative energy, conceptual consistency and quality of expression.
Jani Pirnat
Photographs by Blaz Gutman
Since 2007, the CANEMORTO art trio has worked at the intersection of multiple artistic disciplines. Their practice combines painting, sculpture, video and performance, drawing on Dadaist provocative and Surrealist absurd strategies. They create situations in which the exhibition space becomes a field of intervention, often directed at points of institutional or social unease. This approach recognises an affinity with the Vžigalica Gallery’s programme, which has explored the relationships between art, institutions and the social mechanisms of representation for many years. […]
The Painting Race - Slikarska Drika project refers to the inaugural exhibition The Painting Race in Bologna in 2024, which juxtaposed the art system of the Arte Fiera with the speed and prestige associated with Formula 1 races in nearby Imola. This symbiosis reveals surprising affinities between the art market and the economy of spectacle; both are based on the intensive generation of events, media attention and symbolic capital. […]
The Painting Race employs subversive humour in the gallery to initiate a discourse on painting as a redemptive medium that might appease the custodians of normality through traditional mastery. The feeling of time standing still in the face of rapid social and technological change is simply a reaction to retreat to a safe haven, but in the long run it cannot withstand the dictates of progress, with all its positive and negative consequences. Today, painting exists within a pluralistic media landscape where it can freely combine with digital technologies, performance or conceptual practices. As an open medium, unburdened by tradition, it can absorb diverse social contexts. In this regard, the key issue in contemporary art appears to be not the selection of a medium, but rather creative energy, conceptual consistency and quality of expression.
Jani Pirnat
Photographs by Blaz Gutman
Projects