Arjan Pregl

Arjan Pregl (1973) is a visual artist whose painting practice engages directly with social, political, and ideological realities through a distinctive visual language of irony, humour, and sharp critique. His works address the contradictions of the present, balancing apparent simplicity with layered conceptual complexity. Through colourful, stylized, and immediately engaging compositions, Pregl reflects themes such as war, nationalism, ecological collapse, social control, protest movements, eroticism, nihilism, and the absurdities of everyday political life.

At the centre of Pregl’s practice is the tension between historical painting traditions and contemporary visual culture. His images often establish deliberately contradictory relationships with art historical references, popular imagery, internet culture, memes and political iconography. While they may initially resemble caricatures, memes, or humorous illustrations, they simultaneously operate as complex reflections on systems of power, ideological mechanisms, contemporary socio-political issues, and the fragmentation of public discourse. His figures are stylized, direct, occasionally humorous, and often charged with aggression, nudity, discomfort, and ambiguity.

Pregl’s wor...

Arjan Pregl graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana in 1998 under the mentorship of Prof. Metka Krašovec and Prof. Bojan Gorenec. In 2001, he obtained a master’s degree in painting under Prof. Bojan Gorenec at the same institution, and in 2004 a master’s degree in printmaking under Prof. Lojze Logar. He completed part of his postgraduate studies at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, USA.

SOLO SHOWS
2024 Kresija Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia, "Self-Sabotage Paintings"
2023 Y Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia, "Good one!"
2023 Nova Gorica City Gallery, Nova Gorica, Slovenia, "The Birth of Painting"
2022 Gallery Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia, "Images to Come"
2020 Tobačna 001 Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia, "Childlike Paintings"
2019 Likovni Salon Gallery, Center for Contemporary Arts Celje, Celje, Slovenia, "GUGU GAGA"
2018 Koroška Gallery of Fine Arts, Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia, "MONUMENT"
2016 Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova, Ljubljana, Slovenia, "Precarious Day"
2014 Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova, Ljubljana, Slovenia, "Five-Minute Revolutions"
2013 Simulaker Gallery, Novo Mesto, Slovenia, "Who Is Afraid of Financial Markets?"
2013 La Chaufferie, Brussels, Belgium, "Sunday Watercolours"
2012 Nova Gorica City Gallery, Nova Gorica, Slovenia, "120 Days of Arjan Pregl"
2011 Krško Gallery, Krško, Slovenia, "Intervention from Above"
2010 City Art Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia, "299 Hairy Ones and Broad Bean Bob"
2009 Ganes Pratt Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia, "I Love Kitties and Other Paintings"
2008 Shanghai Zendai MoMA, Shanghai, China, "Different Same Shanghai"
2005 Vladimir Bužančić Gallery, Novi Zagreb Cultural Cent...