Boris Beja (born in 1986 in Trbovlje) is a visual artist, critic and curator that works and lives in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
In his practice, he is receptive to the many stimulus coming from the daily life and his researches, always starting from the surrounding reality to develop or inspire reflections through the use of different medias that allow the artist to create various links between the different content he wants to convey, and works characterizes by aestheticized and direct addresses with an emphasis on social criticism.
He helds a BA in Graphic Communications from the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering that – as the artist says – gave him many knowledges concerning artistic design of the product, and he also completed a MA in Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts of Ljubljana. During the course of his studies Boris collaborated, writing on the subject of culture, with the web portal Planet Siol and he was the recipient of some awards, among them the 2012 Prešeren Student Award for sculpture and, in the same year, the Slovene Human Resources Development and Scholarship Fund.
He has had a number of individual exhibitions in Slovenija and abroad: at Alkatraz Gallery of Ljubjana Boris Beja: Splendour Art P-5124 JUS NI 5.110 (2013), at Galerija Simulaker Between the lines (2014) in Novo Mesto, at Galerija Ravne Dormitorij (2015) at the Museum of Modern Art of Ljubjana Beyond The Globe (2016) in occasion of the 8th Triennal of Contemporary Art and he has also participated to the Alptaum artistic led project in Berlin and Montreal.
Boris Beja is currently participating to the B#Side War vol III (2016/2017) edition.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I always start my artistic practice with the perception of the surroundings as a base for infusion of my statement through the artwork, through which I strive to find beauty in relation to the correct. I believe the artwork is correct and “beautiful” only when it appears as such. Then it has an effect on the viewer, me and other works.
When creating, I build the content or the form as a collage. I link the content with subtitles of the working title, which is followed by formalization, combining various artistic media. By thickening or adding on, I wish to create a comment or a piece of art that could provoke thought and would be able to inspire thinking in others as well. I tend to avoid the notion of art as a therapy, hence my wish for the requirement of thinking process. Therefore I am present in the field of art also when I think, read or speak of it.
Various resource and communication channels through which I receive different information are the matter with which I create or supplement and change the project and then to a certain level adjust to my own ambitions and society in which I operate. The spectrum of my work and interest is broad. For attain- ing better goals I simultaneously follow various discourses and mostly choose none. By reflection, I take usefulness and necessity from everyone.
Reflexive experience is shown in architectonic constructions, objects and installations, all through to documentation projecting of an art work. I try to create works that are not selective of the public for I believe that art is for everyone. In regards to this, I advocate the comprehension – an artist. Art as a profession shouldn’t be viewed only by the connoisseurs, but also by wider public. Since art is for real, there is no place jokes.
