Marko Jakše

Marko Jakše  /  Biography

Marko Jakše was born 1959 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia in 1987. In 1993 he moved from the town to the country: he lives and works as a freelance artist in the hamlet of Mohorje, Slovenia. Always a favorite in the eyes of both the crowd and the critics, this rebel »with a cause« fights the Establishment because he believes that the system impoverishes art and strips art of its basic postulate, which is freedom. His canvases depict paradoxical, antithetical entities relating to the symbols and relics of sunken civilizations, spirituality, religions, mythologies, and art heritage. The painter’s visions unveil an anti-world of mysteries, curiosities, and miracles set in archetypal landscapes and timeless architecture. In the context of the 2022 Venice Biennale theme, his paintings challenged the idea of controlling nature and the related categories of existence, the scientific systems, and the knowledge of what actually is the primordial in and outside us, and above all, how something is. Jakše’s response to these questions covers a broad range from Nietzschean Dionysian abandon to meta-symbolistic and meta-romantic allegories reflecting the enthralling drama of human passions and yearning—mysterious games without a master.