The work of Nana Wolke explores the nature of perception, focusing its attention on modes of apprehension of space and time. Her series of works usually begins on film-like sets, where the artist records the unfolding of staged situations and improvised actions occurring in spaces spanning social hierarchy. Wolke proceeds to assemble and edit both original and found footage to create distinctly monochromatic visual atmospheres and rhythms that she then translates into painting and sound installations. Using commonplace lighting to model space and generate the grain, textures and slippages of her images and sequences, Wolke utilizes a variety of devices chosen as much for their technical properties than for their social significance – e.g. CCTV equipment, home video camcorders, inventory cameras, intercom systems, etc. Considering the multiple viewpoints from which an action can be witnessed, Wolke’s work conjures a tension between observation and control, often inviting viewers to navigate environments that interrogate notions of access and inclusion – whether for economic, social, or security purposes. In so doing, Wolke reflects upon the conflation of desire and shame in contemporary modes of production and consumption of images and visual culture. By constantly confronting the logic of live actions, cinema and paint, Wolke ultimately seeks to analyze the progressive inextricability between actual and artificial realities.
Nana Wolke was born in Ljubljana, Slovenia in 1994 and lives and works in London. She holds an MFA from Goldsmiths, University of London and received BFA with honors from the Academy of Visual Arts in Ljubljana. She completed her last year of parallel study at Academy for Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana through a study exchange at Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig (class of Prof. Michael Riedel).
Wolke’s solo exhibitions include Management, New York, USA (Forthcoming); Wanda’s, NıCOLETTı, London, UK (2022–23); High Seat, Castor Gallery, London, UK (2022); 4:28 – 5:28 am, VIN VIN, Vienna, AU (2021); Some Girls Wander by Mistake, Fondazione Coppola, Vicenza, IT (2021); and The Naughty Corner, Stekleni Atrij Gallery, Ljubljana, Sl (2019).
Selected group exhibitions include U3 Triennial of Contemporary Art, Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana, Slovenia, SL (Forthcoming – 2024); Cankarjev Dom, Ljubljana, Slovenia, SL (Forthcoming); NıCOLETTı, London, UK (Forthcoming); Brigitte Mulholland, Paris, FR (Forthcoming); No Angels, curated by Claire Koron Elat and Shelly Reich, Wilhelm Hallen, Berlin, DE (2023); Stilled Images, Tube Gallery, Palma de Mallorca, ES (2023); Painters Painting Painters: A Study of Muses, Friends and Companions, Green Art Familly Foundation, Dallas, TX (2022); Love is the Devil, Marlborough Gallery, London, UK (2022); And this skin of mine, to live again a second time, GUTS Gallery, London, UK (2022); All That and a Bag of Chips, Des Bains, London, UK (2021); CONTRAPPUNTO, VIN VIN, Vienna, AU (2021); Bangkok Biennial, London, UK (2021); Kiribati National Museum and Cultural Centre, Tarawa, KI (2019); G2 Kunsthalle, Leipzig, DE (2018); 31. Biennial of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana, SI (2016).
In 2021, she has been selected as part of Bloomberg New Contemporaries with exhibitions at Firstsite Museum and South London Gallery, both in the UK.
