Nika Oblak & Primož Novak / Saetchi Collection

01 November 2008 > 14 November 2008 The exhibition has been prepared in collaboration with Alkatraz Gallery from Ljubljana and sponsored by City of Ljubljana and Republic of Slovenia - Ministry of Culture.

Saetchi Collection is a collection of replicas of artworks by commercially successful contemporary artists, which is dealing with the relation between global economy and marketing of contemporary art. We slightly changed the names of the represented artists, a strategy commonly used in copying fashion or technical trade marks, where the original name is changed, but still recognizable. For example Adidas becomes Amidas, or Hitachi is turned in Fitachi.

Saetchi Collection deals with the absurdity of the contemporary art market, where market value of the artwork exceeds its artistic merit. We see the strategy of pirate copies of trademarks as a creative reaction to the hermetic global economy. Our work questions the relation between the original and copy in contemporary art and enables anyone to afford artwork by Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons ..., actually Damon Horst, Jeffry Kunst ...

Replicas of artworks are being produced by craftsmen in countries, which offer cheaper work force.

Nika Oblak

born 1975, graduated in painting from the Academy of Fine Arts, in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in 2002. In the 2000-2001 academic year she was a guest student in the class of Prof. K. Sieverding at the Hochschule der Kuenste in Berlin. In 2005, she received her M.F.A. in video from the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana. Since 2002 she works in an artists cooperative with Primoz Novak.

Primoz Novak

born 1973, graduated in sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts, in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in 2002. In the 2000-2001 academic year he was a guest student in the class of Prof. K. Sieverding at the Hochschule der Kuenste in Berlin. In 2006, he received his M.F.A. in sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana. Since 2002 he works in an artists cooperative with Nika Oblak.

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