BECOMING ONE
STRABAG ART SITE, VIENNA, AUT
SEP - OCT, 2026
In his artistic practice, Marko Šajn addresses some of the most fundamental existential questions of humankind by focusing on interpersonal relationships and the social order. For a number of years, he has been exploring the motif of human bodies, crammed in an amorphous group, which is a subject matter with highly ambivalent meanings and reverberations. This powerful and strange imagery has been executed in various media and techniques: be it painting, graphic print or sculpture. Šajn has always used the method and approach that suited his intention and desired visual effect the most. His paintings are rich, colourful and contrasting, since they are composed of monochromatic surfaces; his prints are restricted to a black and white gradient; and his metallic sculptures are dynamic in shape and rudimentary in texture.
But what do these stylised human figures represent and mean? The ambiguity is deliberate, because the everyday experience of so many people is often as incomprehensible and overwhelming. His works could suggest a sense of commotion and disorder, as if the depicted figures are in a scuffle or a fight. It could be a reflection of the inherent violence within alienated modern society, fuelled by individualism, greed, competitiveness and lack of empathy. However, in contrast to this interpretation, his works could also represent people who are tightly embraced, hugging and comforting each other. They could be reminders of how significant and powerful a collective can be, and how great is the power of the people if they work together.
Text: Miha Colner
Photo: Rudi Froese
TEMPO, TEMPO
BAŽATO GALLERY, LJUBLJANA, SI
FEB - MAR, 2026
The exhibition Tempo, Tempo at the Bažato Gallery in Ljubljana represents an overview of Marko Šajn's works created between 2021 and 2026. A selection of paintings, risograph prints, drawings, and sculptures reveals how his artistic practice gradually developed into a recognizable visual language based on the principles of repetition, the variation of motifs, and consistent reduction of form. The exhibition offers detailed insight into the work of an emerging artist, whose central thematic starting point is interpersonal relationships.
Full text: ENG / SLO
Exhibition video: YouTube
MARKO ŠAJN
KRKA GALLERY, NOVO MESTO, SI
SEP - OCT, 2025
Marko Šajn is an artist who successfully combines his own individuality, dedication to creative work, and deeply ingrained perseverance. He moves confidently across various media, from graphic art to painting and sculpture, which serve as processes for exploring the boundaries between space and the viewer’s perception, with the associative element playing an important role. His oeuvre is marked by the purity of formal language, reduction, deliberateness, and subtle sensitivity. In the creative process, he is primarily interested in the structure of visual language: light, the relationship between color and pictorial surface, lines, and their material and spatial presence (architectural logic), through which he shapes his installations. His spatial solutions often function like drawings in space: precisely measured lines and surfaces create a balance between rational planning and emotional responsiveness. The monochromatic background is not merely a neutral backdrop, but an active element that determines the final appearance of the work. His recognizable visual language is characterized by refined graphic imagery. The works are either vividly colored or constructed from a restrained gray palette. They are often playful, with a visually clear language and emphasized metaphors.
Full text: ENG / SLO
FREE HUGS
KIBELA GALLERY, MARIBOR, SI
1. March - 6. April 2024
In preparing the exhibition, which combines analog painting and sculpture with contemporary digital interfaces, the artist used the free website for his paintings, which generates images with the help of artificial intelligence. The passwords he entered often contained the words “hug”, “group hug”, “embrace”, etc. Based on this and other online data, he received images according to which he modeled his paintings. However, the machine processing led to various deformations, which he had to rework and edit. His work can therefore be defined as a visualization of communication in a triangle between “machine” and “human” perception of the “conceptual”, which, like interpersonal communication, is never perfect, as it always contains a noise between sender and receiver that depends on various parameters and must be “corrected” again and again.
Full text: ENG / SLO
Exhibition video: YouTube
MUTUAL COMPROMISE
The International Centre of Graphic Arts (MGLC), LJUBLJANA, SI
MAR - APR, 2023
The exhibition presents the latest series of prints in silkscreen and riso-printing techniques, as well as a metal object as a special feature of the exhibition. Marko Šajn's prints are characterised by a clear concept and perfect execution, as well as a humorous, funny, fast-paced, witty and playful artistic expression with many references to art history, classical painting, popular printmaking, urban culture, graffiti and street art.
Full text: ENG / SLO
Exhibition video: YouTube