Through his artistic practice, painter Staš Kleindienst seeks, as he puts it himself, to understand the world in non-verbal terms, by depicting what cannot be put into words and arises between thought and feeling. In doing so, he formally draws on selected chapters from the entire art-historical tradition of painting, from the Renaissance (particularly in Northern Europe) onwards, into which he inscribes today’s ideological, economic and political coordinates, thereby tracing out images that reflect the social imaginarium of the contemporary world.

The artist always approaches his work narratively, with the broad perspective of an omniscient narrator, opening out onto a natural or, less frequently, an urban landscape, where he observes tiny human figures going about their daily tasks. Given the breadth of his gaze, which extends beyond the scope of individual human life and its social or material formations, his paintings appear at first glance to be idyllic allegories of the immutability and solidity of the (natural) order; but the more the viewer focuses on the details, the more a sense of uncertainty and unease takes hold. Not only because the tiny human figures in the midst of the vast landscape appear lonely and lost, but also because their actions cannot be fully understood, as they remain unspoken, half-concealed by vegetation or shadows, bizarre (in some places, for instance, the figures are dressed in the uniforms of Roman soldiers, whilst elsewhere they are tilling the fields naked) and mysterious. Similar goes for human formations and their trappings; buildings or structures are often positioned in unusual places, appearing unfinished or abandoned, surrounded by fences that end abruptly or vehicles parked in the middle of nowhere... in short, all signs of human activity are pervaded by a kind of vagueness and absurdity, a strangeness that prompts the viewer’s imagination to speculate on what is actually happening in the painting, and as these clues connect with their everyday experience, it becomes clear that nothing good is likely to come out of it. This feeling is further reinforced by the atmosphere, which sets the scene under the cover of night or in the midst of blazing light, to a time of unusual natural phenomena, such as a lunar eclipse, and against the backdrop of some undefined, distant catastrophe, hinted at merely by the unusual colour of the sky or the light.

The paintings, which from a distance appear to depict scenes of peace and harmony, upon closer inspection reveal themselves to be evocative portrayals of human malice, delusions and problems. In these works, the artist addresses numerous societal and cultural issues that interest him: humanity’s relationship with nature, the management of public space, social power relations, the culture of surveillance, the power of ideology, rituals, customs and habits, the constitution of identity, in short, everything that makes up an average day, or, more precisely, a night on Earth.

However, despite their subtle critique of social reality, interpersonal relationships and humanity’s relationship with the world, the paintings are not pessimistic in themselves. When the viewer takes a step back and looks at them again from a distance, the human problems they had been pondering upon a mere moment before seem small, insignificant and most of all – fleeting. The disrupted balance is restored, allowing the viewer’s imagination to become a tool for alternative thinking and potential change. This is why, facing these paintings, one could also envision another world, better than today’s, in the light of which the current dog days will simply seem like – a puppy’s passing troubles.

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Staš Kleindienst (1979) obtained his BA in Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana in 2007, completing his MA there two years later. He is the recipient of the Prešeren Student Award (2007), the OHO Group Award (2014) and the Jakopič Award (2023). He has presented his work in numerous solo exhibitions in Slovenia and abroad. In addition to these, his work is regularly shown in major survey exhibitions, including Crises and New Beginnings. Art in Slovenia 2005–2015 (+MSUM, Ljubljana, 2015), Time Without Innocence: Recent Painting in Slovenia (Moderna galerija, Ljubljana, 2019) and The Figurative: Selected Examples in Slovenian Art (Cukrarna, Ljubljana, 2023). His works are held in several important public collections. He lives and works in Vipava.
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