Kristina Rutar

I am creating a space of dichotomy as an answer to the sensibilities of perception in the environment. The response of experiencing the surroundings is mirrored in the relationship that is created between an object and a subject. It is within this that I am exploring the interrelation of freedom and captivity, presentness and absentness, and shelter and exposure. At the same time, I bring awareness to the fragility of social structures and relationships in contemporary society. I perceive space as multilayered; as the negative space of an object, as the space in which we are present, and as my personal space within society.

The main motive of my work is the body, in its broadest sense. Its form contains several variables, both in it’s symbolism and the space it occupies. I create archetipical, elementary constellations through my experience of sensing the body. Isolated and unreachable to the viewer, it is through their detachment that the forms are able to return to their primary state of shelter and safety. I question the traditional understanding of pottery by utilizing new approaches to the medium, as my primary understanding of the objects lies in their conceptual and not technical and functional purpose. I see an opportunity to expand the width of artistic expression by intentionally limiting myself to the potter’s wheel and throughout curating the creative process, I create sculptural objects and detach the forms from its functionality. I see the craft of the potter’s wheel as a necessity for creating sculptural objects.

— Kristina Rutar

Kristina Rutar (1989, Tolmin, Slovenia), graduated from Art Education at the Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana, with an emphasis in ceramic. In 2015 she concluded a postgraduate study of Interdisciplinary Printmaking at Academy Sztuk Pięknych E. Gepperta in Wrocław, Poland. She currently lives in Ljubljana, where she works as an Assistant professor at the department of the Applied Arts / glass and ceramics course, Academy of Fine Art and Design, University of Ljubljana.