 Dec 10 2024 - Jan 19 2025

 Ljubljana

An exhibition at the Ljubljana Vžigalica (Match) Gallery showcases the work by John Fekner, an artist of Slovenian descent who is considered one of the most "known-unknown" artists working in New York.

The retrospective and documentary exhibition Just John ... And So On sheds light on the diverse aspects of Fekner's 60-year artistic legacy, which although rich has often been overlooked.

Fekner, who was part of the vibrant New York art scene in the late 1970s and 1980s, deals with contemporary topics like mass media control, digital addiction, corporate greed, and chemical environmental devastation.

He also raises public awareness of the indigenous peoples who were displaced and erased from the greater New York area.

In the 1970s and 1980s he exhibited with artists such as Don Leicht, Keith Haring, David Wojnarowicz and Jenny Holzer.

His statements were always loud and in the right places, while he remained more or less anonymous by choice himself, says Jani Pirnat, who curated the show in collaboration with Fekner's archivist Brad Downey.

The exhibition opens with an information wall showcasing the breadth of the artist's work and his baptism certificate, which was used to establish that his father, Ivan Fekner, was born in 1909 on Karlovška Street in Ljubljana.

John Fekner was born in New York in 1950. He started writing poetry as a teenager and his first outdoor graffiti in 1968 were the words Itchycoo Park painted at Gorman Park 85th Street Park in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York.

Until the 1980s, he would carry out his guerrilla graffiti campaign called Warning Signs across New York, creating more than 300 conceptual works to draw attention to the city's urban decay, using stencils to make his graffiti look official.

In 1980, he began working under the concept of Fashion Moda, a storefront for experimental art and cultural exchange, and an outpost for showcasing graffiti, breakdance and rap art.

He also started a music band City Squad, made up of teenagers who worked with him on the graffiti.