BRUSSELS.- The gallery Baronian is presenting a new exhibition by Mitja Tušek, entitled Trickle-down Economics. In this exhibition, the artist presents three new series of paintings that highlight the diverse aspects of his artistic practice. By exploring the interspaces of visual representation with remarkable ingenuity and depth, his work unfolds into a subtle dialogue between form and colour, capturing the essence of the challenges of daily life and human experience. His works transcend the borders of traditional representation, inviting the observer to engage in an introspective reflection on the nature of reality and perception through an immersive experience in which reality merges with fantasy.

The first series comprises a collection of works on paper. Microspheres have been meticulously affixed to each of the twenty sheets of paper. Mitja Tušek spent a whole year researching and collecting micrometeorites, cosmic particles which are smaller than 1 mm in diameter. Around 52,000 tonnes of these particles reach Earth every year, equivalent to one micrometeorite per square metre. Often spherical with a diameter less than the width of a Marten hair, these micrometeorites are around 4 billion years old, dating back to the formation of our solar system. But most of the tiny particles found on Earth arise from industrial pollution, such as ball bearings carried by winds from China or other regions.

Il più solido piacere di questa vita e il piacer vano delle illusione. - Giacomo Leopardi

The artist’s second series of paintings explore the concept of layering and repetition. Each theme is first painted and then repainted, partially covered by itself, thus creating a slightly offset duplication. This technique creates a paradoxical blurred effect where the two identical images remain perfectly distinct. The works draw inspiration from 15th century wood carvings representing various objects and animals falling from the sky, such as stones and frogs. Metaphorically speaking, these images evoke elements from everyday life, childhood, death and war, which rain down on us likewise.

Mitja Tušek’s third series of paintings feature elaborately detailed group portraits in which a multitude of faces merge with an assortment of objects, such as bottles, cigars, gold coins, a cabbage and snails as well as tomatoes and other foods. The black and white nature of these pieces reinforces their caricatured, almost brutal appearance, placing them at the intersection between painting and drawing. Some elements are clearly painted, while others are drawn. Contrary to some of his earlier works, the faces in this series do not overlap but instead form a complex web in which fish, tomatoes and other objects seem tangled, and whose enigmatic presence plays an unknown role.

Born in 1961 in Mribor, Slovenia, Mitja Tušek grew up in Switzerland and has lived in Brussels for over 30 years. Recent solo exhibitions include ici, ailleurs, Galerie Ceysson & Bénétière, Pouzilhac (2024), Mitja Tusek, Complementary Colors, Galerie Baronian Xippas, Brussels (2021), Freizeit ist Arbeit, Galerie Ceysson & Bénétière, Wandhaff, Luxembourg. Recent group exhibitions include Quinquagesimum, Fondation CAB, Brussels (2023), The Shop Show, Baronian, Brussels, Knokke (2022), Printemps, Galerie Ceysson & Bénétière, Saint-Étienne (2020) Too much is not enough! The Donation “Artelier Collection”, Neue Galerie Graz, Austria (2019), Le Choix d’Albert, Xippas, Geneva (2019) and Salon de la peinture, M HKA, Antwerp (2019).

Baronian
Mitja Tušek: Trickle-down Economics
March 14th - March 20th, 2024