One of Uros Paternu's theoretical essays includes a statement that sounds like a personal manifesto: "My main volition is to paint living paintings".And indeed from the very first meeting, before entering deeper into the conversation, we are seized by his latest paintings' vibrational energy and intense dynamics, which make it seem as though a secret life is unfolding in the depths of the painted canvas.This vivacity, at times palpitating and cheerful, while at others dark, muted, and slow-paced is the result of a carefully premeditated process of image construction. The fundamental reference frame of Paternu's painting is color and its sensual and emotional expressiveness, which is achieved by each individual creation of tones and color fields as well as their mutual interactions. Color is applied to the canvas with spontaneous, albeit tamed strokes and with rhythmic brushes of thick and translucent layers of paint, which frequently creates an illusion of submerged abstract space residing within the image field. The path into its interior is found with the help of thoughtful spatial cuts, implied by the juxtaposition of color or tone contrasts, while the opening up of the surface into the depth is sometimes predicted by the decomposition of the image field.In the resulting compositions, the dialectical play of colors, strokes, and effects of illusion meld into suggestive seething energy that comes to life in its full force only in dialogue with the spectator. For it is then that the scattered and seemingly arbitrary energetic surges join and thicken into associative figural components that evoke images of veiled human beings and strange mysterious bodies, an interplay of meaningful movements and theatrical gestures, facial contours, and a glimmer of dancing shadows, overlapping each other in a whirlwind of emotions and a furious pace of passion. In certain most energetic places these components, assisted by sensory, emotional, and symbolic values of colors, manage to fuse into a dynamic theatrical performance, during which as if in yesterday's dream, the unconscious awakens and visualizes. The spectator, who imagines himself as a director, does not even notice when he turns into an actor.
M.G.
Biography Uros Paternu
Uros Paternu (b.1972) graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia in 1995, receiving his Master's Degree in 2000. In 1996 he earned the Slovenian University »Prešeren« Award and the First post-graduate prize. Only three years after graduating he presents his first independent and comprehensive solo exhibition in Gallery Keleia, Slovenia.
In 2015 he won the International Exhibition Art Resilience ‘2 Prix Award’ by the Musée de Peinture, Saint Frajou, France. He subsequently became an associate member of the French Art Resilience movement.
In 2017, he exhibited four paintings at the International Biennale of Contemporary Art- XI the Florence Biennale, "eARTh: Creativity & Sustainability".
Paternu developed his recognizable, unique visual language in the '90s. His creative force is color, in which he explores her nature along the path of dematerialization, articulated by hierarchical relationships and carefully thought-out compositions.
His artworks are internationally exhibited and are part of many private collections and appeared in various publications.
Paternu moved away from public life to the hills after the year 2000, where he built a unique villa and where he still paints and lives with his family in the residential UP Art Gallery near Ljubljana, Slovenia, Europe.