Pod nebem rozlehlým
In his current work, Cinkanič explores the intertwining of identities, using his own family history as a starting point. At the center of his interest is the relationship between himself and his grandfather, a Himalayan mountaineer, whose life experiences and archival materials become part of the artist’s series of paintings. While his grandfather’s journeys led him to high-altitude landscapes, Cinkanič finds his own way of discovering the world through adventurous expeditions across Europe. It is precisely the convergence of these two distinct experiences—which are, however, linked by the theme of overcoming obstacles and distances—that forms the central theme of the exhibition Portal. In his paintings, the artist interweaves personal memories, family photographs, and archival materials into new visual scenarios in which the past meets the present. The geometric forms that recur in the works are not merely formal compositional elements; they also disrupt the linear perception of time and space, thereby becoming portals through which different realities intersect. Cinkanič’s work is characterized by a sensitive interweaving of the medium of painting with an original graphic technique based on the transfer of images via screen printing. This process allows him to work with photographic sources and archival records.
The exhibition’s title refers to a poem by Charles Hamilton Sorley, which resonates with the artist’s perception of adventurous expeditions, where intense experience meets an awareness of one’s own insignificance in relation to the landscape and the world
"The waters of all the seas are as restless as in a storm.
Wicked gales tear at the branches of the trees.
Will the shadow of the storm pass? Why the trees, of all things?
We run without reason beneath the vast sky."
