Katja Pál: "Through geometry, surface, and material, I try to create spaces that captivate the eye and allow the mind to find peace."
I come from a family of skilled woodworkers and craftsmen. For as long as I can remember, our family workshop was the heart of daily life. As a child, I collected wood scraps, sanded them, and pieced them together. These playful gestures felt instinctive and proved to be very formative. The workshop became my refuge for quiet concentration and boundless creativity, the breeding ground for my artistic identity. To this day, manual work is central to my creative process. I build each painting myself, from the internal wooden structure to the final surface. Each work is the result of slow, physical labor: Measured, manual, and precise.
Exhibitions
2025 / Gravity [Duo Exhibition with Áron BARÁTH]: Viltin Gallery, Budapest, HU
2024 / For New Legacy – International Festival of Contemporary Art (IFCA), Algiers, Algeria
2024 / Geometry Now [Group Exhibition]: Vasarely Museum, Budapest, HU
2024 / STRUCTURE OF THE ILLUSION [Group Exhibition]: Ptuj City Gallery, Ptuj, SLO
2023 / PICCOLE GEOMETRIE [Group Exhibition]: DoubleRoom, Trieste, IT
2023 / Garden of Structures [Group Exhibition]: VILTIN Gallery, Budapest, HU
2023 / GEOMETRY IN SLOVENIAN ART [Group Exhibition]: Galerie Zuccato, Poreč, HR
2022 / Salon des réalités nouvelles [Group Exhibition]: Réfectoire des Cordeliers, Paris, FR
2022 / Momental–mente: Vivid Paintings [Group Exhibition]: MG+ MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, Ljubljana, SLO
2022 / SEEING RED [Group Exhibition]: Equrna Gallery, Ljubljana, SLO
Statement
Geometry has always attracted me. Not as a system of control, but as a way to explore form, space, and perception. Early on, I became interested in shaped canvases and the challenge of transforming a flat surface into the illusion of an object. By painting the sides of a work, I emphasize its object-like quality and invite the viewer to move around it and engage in a spatial relationship with it.
Over time, my forms have become increasingly complex. Yet, the driving force remains the same: to merge form, color, and line into unified objects of contemplation.
My work is not based on a narrative. It represents nothing outside of itself. Each piece is intended as a quiet encounter, a visual point of rest that invites focused attention.
Education
2010 – MFA Degree / Painting, Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Ljubljana; SLO
2005 – BFA Degree / Painting, Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Ljubljana; SLO
2003 – Student Exchange at National College of Art and Design, Dublin, IRL
What remains after everything unnecessary has been removed is what I seek. A beauty that comes with slowness and stays with silence.
Katja Pál
