Urša Toman’s art is pervaded with a fantasy world, imbued with creatures that originate from that place where fairy tales are at home.

In exactly the same way that fairy tales describe the relationships between people within society and the very intimate experiences of the individual, Urša Toman’s characters arise and tell stories about feelings and emotions with symbolic language. Fear and facing up to fear – especially facing it courageously, because where there is fear, there must also be courage – are almost always present, whether in the traces of a trilobite, an adorable monster or creatures that resemble gnomes and fairies. These images depict a certain uneasiness associated with everyday life, something that is actually present in a person all the time, a kind of indefinable anxiety before the unknown. Although not directly linked to any specific event, this anxiety can be recognised in an individual way by a person through these creatures in his or her intimate experience of them.

At this exhibition in the Srečišče Gallery, visitors will be frightened by pullovers, those soft, warm, cuddly things that were once knitted by mothers and even more often by grandmothers. They have two elephant trunks, one large opening, one small opening and a tubular body that is so big that a person can get lost in it, and yet so small that it takes your breath away. This is especially true when your ears get stuck on the edge of the small opening while searching for a way out, making it impossible to find your way into the light, while the path into the suffocating darkness is not very appealing either. In this situation, one can be overcome with panic, but don’t worry, the pullovers will eat you gently. Urša Toman says this lovingly.

Curator: Vasja Nagy-Hofbauer

Urša Toman was born in 1972 in Ljubljana, where she attended the Secondary School for Design and Photography. In 1998, she graduated from the Ljubljana Academy of Fine Arts and Design, where she studied sculpture with Prof. Matjaž Počivavšek.

Since 1993, she has been exhibiting her works in Slovenia and abroad at group and solo exhibitions. Many of her works are located outdoors, reflecting her interest in placing sculpture in natural environments, parks and gardens. These include works at the exhibition Zaziban vrt, at the Veselov vrt Gallery in 2017, as well as permanent installations, such as the recent Rakiški sekač, in Rakitna in 2022.

Urša Toman has the status of freelance artist in the field of sculpture with the Slovenian Ministry of Culture. She also runs art workshops and participates in pedagogical-andragogic projects.