The work of Nana Wolke examines the nature of perception, analysing ways in which desire, power, and control circulate within systems of access and visibility. Her projects originate in film-like sets, where staged situations and improvised actions unfold within environments selected for their social, architectural, and psychological characteristics.
Using a variety of consumer grade recording devices, Wolke translates these live scenarios into compressed visual and acoustic atmospheres composed of paintings, sound, and time-based media. Wolke translates these live scenarios into compressed visual and acoustic atmospheres composed of paintings, sound, and time-based media. Light plays a central role in her work, acting as a structuring force that models space, distorts surfaces, and unsettles perception. The granular surface of her distinctly monochromatic paintings resist clarity, operating instead through tension, duration, and partial legibility.
Operating as fragments of lived and filmed sequences, Wolke’s works invite viewers to navigate perceptual fields that oscillate between exposure and concealment. By constantly confronting the logic of live actions, cinema and paint, Wolke ultimately seeks to analyze the progressive inextricability between actual and perceived realities.
Nana Wolke was born in Ljubljana, Slovenia in 1994 and lives and works in New York, USA. 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 Nicoletti, London, UK (2025, 2022); Independent, New York, with NıCOLETTı and Management, New York (2025); Liste Art Fair, with NiCOLETTi, Basel, CH (2024); Management, New York, US (2024); Castor Gallery, London, UK (2022);VIN VIN, Vienna, AU (2021); Fondazione Coppola, Vicenza, IT (2021); and Stekleni Atrij Gallery, Ljubljana, Sl (2019).
Her work has been included in group exhibitions at Olney Gleason, New York, USA (2026); Suprainfinit, Bucharest, RO (2025); Commune, Vienna, AU (2025); Eyes Never Sleep, New York, US (2025); Cankarjev Dom, Ljubljana, Slovenia, SL (2024); U3 Triennial of Contemporary Art, Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana, Slovenia, Sl (2024); Brigitte Mulholland, Paris, FR (2024); Wilhelm Hallen, Berlin, DE (2023); Tube Gallery, Palma de Mallorca, ES (2023); Green Art Familly Foundation, Dallas, TX (2022); Marlborough Gallery, London, UK (2022); Bangkok Biennial, London, UK (2021); Kiribati National Museum and Cultural Centre, Tarawa, KI (2019); G2 Kunsthalle, Leipzig, DE (2018); and Biennial of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana, SI (2016).
Selected collections include M Woods, Beijing, China; SCoP – Shanghai Center of Photography, Shanghai, China; Fondazione Coppola, Vinceza, Italy.
