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Silvan Omerzu: A Retrospective

Retrospective at Ptuj City Gallery will showcase the overview of artistic career of theatre director, puppet maker, set designer and visual artist Silvan Omerzu. The exhibition will showcase extensive and diverse selection of his works, from drawing and painting, shadow image, kinetic sculpture, space installation to set design and puppet, that were created in the past thirty years.
Artistic practice of Silvan Omerzu is characterised by pronounced interdisciplinary approach and he has never tied himself to any particular artistic discipline or medium; instead, he has worked as visual artist, set designer, puppet maker and theatre director simultaneously.

In his artistic practice that is being presented in theatres as well as in galleries, he creates complex spatial installations, made out of wood and various other materials, that showcase expressive and often grotesque motifs in which subtle social criticism and gallows humour are reflected. The exhibition will thus showcase selected elements of some of the most renown and crucial pieces such as theatre productions Forbidden Loves (Ljubljana Puppet Theatre, 2009), The Ward of Our Lady of Mercy (Mladinsko Theatre, 2007-2008) and Words from the House Karlstein (Maribor Puppet Theatre, 2017), or exhibitions such as Automatons, Puppets, Actors (MGLC, 2010) and Ivan Cankar and Europe (Cankarjev dom, 2018-2019). Silvan Omerzu’s retrospective was initially showcased at Galerija Božidar Jakac, Kostanjevica na Krki, and Rajhenburg Castle in the period 2020-2021.

Silvan Omerzu (1955) graduated at the Faculty of Education and worked at the Puppet Theatre in Ljubljana but in 1983 he left for the additional academic training in puppet set design and puppet design in Prague. In the early 1990s he cofounded independent theatre Konj (Ljubljana) and was regular collaborator of the central puppet theatre Minor (Prague); furthermore, he became independent artist who has been working with different theatres in Slovenia and internationally for which he created number of critically acclaimed productions. For his versatile and prolific work Omerzu received several awards, among other in 2006 major national award for arts, Prešeren Award. He lives and works in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

The exhibition is on show until 19 June 2022.