Petar Waldegg

22. 6.–30. 9. 1991

Cankarjev dom Gallery

Petar Waldegg, Sky Bush, 1986–1987, colour etching; recipient of the Young Artist Prize, 18th International Biennial of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana, 1989.

The exhibition included seventeen colour etchings and aquatints made between 1985 and 1991. Petar Waldegg is a great connoisseur of printmaking techniques, especially colour etching and aquatint. At the same time, he has no reservations about introducing into printmaking various additions that are considered as quite legitimate in contemporary artistic practice. Before he begins working on a plate, he always makes drawings, sketches and notes on the basis of which he creates the plate. The treatment of the plate is the most important part, as it is the plate that determines the appearance of the final product. It is characteristic of Waldegg that he consistently breaks the convention of a rectangular matrix – his matrices always have free forms, which then serve as the basis for his stories, for he fills them with a number of details that make every print an independent whole. His motifs are not so much a depiction of something as they are experiential moments full of memories, secrets and premonitions.