Grey Day, 1960, oil on canvas, 110×75 cm

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BIOGRAPHY

Andrej Jemec (b. 1934) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana and graduated in 1958. During this period, abstract art was considered ideologically unacceptable. Between 1963 and 1964, with the help of a grant, he continued his studies in Paris in J. Friedlaender’s studio and later in London.

In 1973, he became a lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana, and from 1984 to 1999, a professor of drawing and painting.

He participated in numerous exhibitions, including twice at the Venice Biennale (1970, 1972), twice at the São Paulo Biennial (1971, 1977), in all editions of the International Biennial of Graphic Arts in Ljubljana from 1963 to 1999, among others.

He received numerous awards for his work, including the Grand Prix International at the 4th Tokyo Print Biennial (1964), the Jakopič Award in Ljubljana (1975), and the 1st prize at the 11th International Biennial of Graphic Arts in Ljubljana (1975). In 1994, Jemec also received the Prešeren Award for Lifetime Achievement in Ljubljana.

In 1995, he was elected as an associate member, and in 2001 as a full member of the Slovene Academy of Sciences and Arts in Ljubljana. In 2005, he was awarded The Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, and in 2010, the First Class Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art.

“Through a systematic and gradual artistic analysis of the object world, Jemec realized that freedom in painting can be achieved by surrendering to its expressive potentialities and liberating the image of all commitments in transmitting narrative content. As he embarked on his independent art career in 1959 after graduating, it was no longer the world of concrete objects, but non-materialistic colour and light, that gained a central position in the syntax of his paintings. He began placing bright colour spots in the centre of the painting, using a central position as a semantic tool to display his artistic beliefs about light as the central problem of painting. This meant a turn from the modernist concept of the decentred composition to the traditional. However, this is how he emphasized the value of his discoveries.

Jemec’s progress into abstract expressionism came individually, as a carefully thought-out process, due to his systematic artistic nature. He realized his thought: ‘Light is synonymous with freedom for me,’ consistently in painting, using painterly means, unhindered by any imposed structure, ideological or creative.” (Nadja Zgonik)

WORKS IN ART COLLECTIONS
Tate Modern, London
Albertina, Vienna
National Gallery, Prague
Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana
Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade
National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki
Museum of Art (Carnoles Palace), Menton
Sakaide Art Museum, Sakaide
Contemporary Art and Culture Centre, Osaka
Library of Congress, Washinton D.C.
New Gallery at the Joanneum State Museum, Graz
Aras Gallery and Publishing House, Ravensburg
Toshihiro Hamano, Takamatsu

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abstract Expressionism Behind the Iron Curtain | Pollock – Krasner House and Study Center, Helen Harrison, Charlotta Kotik, Philip Rylands, August 2017
Andrej Jemec – Early Works | Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Ljubljana, 2017
Andrej Jemec – Geometry and Handwriting 1967 – 1983 | Publishing House 2014
Andrej Jemec – Im Spiegel Des Lebens | Sodalitas, 2014
Andrej Jemec – Formations and Transformations | TR3 Gallery, 2013
Andrej Jemec | Sakaide Civic Art Museum, Japan, 2001

SELECTED ARTICLES
Coming in from the Cold: Eastern European AbEx | The Art Newspaper, Richard Unwin, January 2018
Abstract Expressionism Behind the Iron Curtain | East Hampton Star, ​Jennifer Landes, October 2017
Abstract Expressionism Behind the Iron Curtain | Brooklyn Rail, Joyce Beckenstein, September 2017

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2022
Other Worlds on Paper
418GALLERY, Munich

2021
Worlds on Paper
418GALLERY, Munich

2019
Japan-Yugoslavia and The Biennial of Graphic Arts: Documents of Collaboration
International Graphic Arts Centre Ljubljana

2018
80th Anniversary of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Academy of Sciences and Arts, Ljubljana

2018
Abstract Expressionism Behind the Iron Curtain
Andrej Jemec, Tadeusz Kantor, Jan Kotik, Edo Murtic & Romul Nutiu
Steinberg Museum of Art, Long Island University, NY, USA

2017
Eastern European Abstractionism
Andrej Jemec, Edo Murtic &Romul Nutiu, 418GALLERY, Munich

Abstract Expressionism Behind the Iron Curtain
Andrej Jemec, Tadeusz Kantor, Jan Kotik, Edo Murtic &Romul Nutiu
Pollock – Krasner House and Study Center, East Hampton, USA

2000
Exhibition Slovenian Graphic Art
Andrej Jemec, Drago Trsar, Lojze Logar
Hillside Forum, Tokyo