Ewa Borysiewicz
The landscapes depicted in Staš Kleindienst’s works are not mere representations of visible surfaces of physical locations. The scenes depicted have no direct real-life equivalents but are rather conglomerates of images that have taken root in the artist’s mind, that are then dissected to reveal traces of collective imaginariums, fragments of societal archetypes, and echoes of paradigms imprinted in an individual’s perception of space. Emerging from a background in political theory and decolonial thought, Kleindienst’s work is deeply fixed in the same critical inquiries that defined his role as co-editor of Rearticulacija between 2007 and 2010, a journal dedicated to exploring power structures, imperialism, and the legacies of colonialism. This theoretical foundation informs every layer of his paintings, even as his current approach has become more subtle. In his work, he aims to create an atmosphere in which the viewer senses the presence of ideological forces without being directly confronted by them. In this shift, his art becomes a meditation on how we relate to the world: not just as individuals, but as part of a larger collective shaped by internalized convictions, biases, and power dynamics that in turn, shape our relationship with the environment, often granting humans the right to manipulate their surroundings for personal gain.
A defining feature of Kleindienst’s practice is his deeply layered, deliberate painting process. Each canvas is worked over an extended period of time, sometimes taking months to complete. The time-consuming nature of his work echoes the painstaking labor of the painting itself, with the hours devoted to each piece becoming embedded within the work, imbuing the landscapes with a sense of suspended time. In effect they seem to be neither anchored in the past nor the future but instead immersed in a timeless present, where history and the future merge into a one surface and a single moment.
Being grounded in emotion and memory rather than just reality itself, the composition of the paintings often defies conventional logic: the scale of objects may seem disproportionate, light may shine from oblique angles or unexpected sources; some compositions hint at an event—its nature uncertain, whether benevolent or catastrophic. Similarly, the artist’s perspective is often aerial, distorted, or pre-rational, contrasting with the ordered, geometric perspectives of Western tradition. The result is a space that feels both intimate and vast, and always slightly beyond our full comprehension. The unknown seeps into the viewers’ consciousness, prompting them to question their relationship to their surroundings and allowing them to relate to the world anew.
