Rojen 23. 1. 1967.
Diplomiral 1989 na Akademiji za likovno umetnost v Ljubljani.
Živi in dela v Škofji Loki kot samostojni umetnik.
Born Jan. 23rd 1967
Graduated 1989 from the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana.
Lives and works in Škofja Loka as an artist.
Domen Slana ne sodi med tiste likovne ustvarjalce, o katerih bi se po strokovnih krogih mnogo govorilo in pisalo, ker živi in deluje umaknjen iz centra in ker njegovo delo nasploh ustvarjeno, da bi bilo sproti komentirano ali da bi o njegovih neprestanih spremembah nenehoma ugibali in jih ocenjevali, ne nastaja, da bi se pojavljalo edino v galerijah, kjer bi se soočalo z deli sodobnikov in razburjalo duhove na temo sodobnih umetnostnih izraznih sredstev, vzpodbujalo neskončne razprave o različnosti kot bistveni, če ne že edini lastnosti, edinemu merilu umetniške kvalitete.
Domen Slana je predvsem slikar, eden tistih, ki svojih naporov ne namenjajo predvsem ali pa sploh edino raziskovanju slikarstva, pravzaprav »likovnega ustvarjanja«, ki se ne posvečajo izključno razmišljanju o »umetnosti«, temveč prepričani, dasvojo stroko dodobra poznajo, s pomočjo sredstev, ki jih nudi, raziskujejo svet, v katerem živijo in o katerem vedo marsikaj povedati. Na brani se uporabe starih sredstev na nov način, tudi kako novo sredstvo uporabi in izpove kaj takega, kar še dotlej ni bilo, pa vendar vsemu temu navkljub ostaja »slikar« in se ne sramuje naziva, ki se nekaterim, zlasti najmlajšim ustvarjalcem, zdi nekakšen cenen, skorajda poniževalen sinonim za »rokodelstvo«.
Slikarstvo Domna Slane ne nastaja po tako popularnem načelu »ustvarjam edinole zase«. Jezik njegove izpovedi sicer ni bil nikdar kompromis med ustvarjalčevim in omejenimi možnostmi razumevanja širokega občinstva, pa vendar vselej razumljiv, ker je bilo njegovo slikanje vselej v nekem smislu dialog s tistim, ki mu je bila podoba namenjena, vselej rezultat pogovora z gledalcem, vselej neskončna vrsta odgovorov na vprašanja o svetu, ki ga raziskuje pač vsakdo, ki v njem živi, pa onjem ne ve toliko, kot ve Domen Slana.
Njegova dela, pa naj gre za oljne podobe, akvarele in gvaše ali za duhovito tesane, grobo obdelane rustikalne stole, so nastale za to, da bi poplemenitila naše vskdanje okolje in se pojavljajo v galerijah zgolj izjemoma (za kar so galerije kot razstavišča navsezadnje tudi namenjene), ne pa da bi bile že že zamišljena kot muzejski eksponati. To so okna v lepši, človeka vrednejši svet, skozi katera človek zre ne le s hrepenenjem, poln neizpoljnenih pa tudi neuresničljivih želja zre, temveč – če se podobi prepusti – za nekaj časa tudi vstopi in odpočije dušo. In to ni namenjeno le tistim »posvečenim« strokovnjakom, temveč dostopno neštevilnim ljubiteljem, ki sicer ne pišejo člankov in kritik, zato pa o slikarju vedo mnogo povedati – in to od srca.
Jože Hudeček
Domen Slana is not one of those fine artists who are frequently talked about in professional circles since he lives and works away from the center and because he neither creates with the purpose to have his work regularly commented on or speculated about and judged, nor creates only to be exhibited in the galleries, to be compared with the work of his contemporaries and instigate endless discussions about the uniqueness of his work as the essential if not the sole measure of the quality of an art work.
Domen Slana is primarily a painter, one of those painters whose efforts are not dedicated chiefly to explore or to contemplate painting as an art form, but belongs to those painters who want to master their profession with the means available to them, investigate the world in which they live to tell us a lot about it. He does not hesitate to use old means in new ways, or use new means to express what has not been expressed before. Nevertheless, he remains a “painter” and is not uneasy about this title which seems to the younger artists a cut-rate title, almost a degrading synonym for “craftsmanship”.
Domen Slana’s painting does not follow the popular principle “I create only for myself”. The language of his expression has never been a compromise between his ideals and the wider public limited understanding, yet it has always been understood simply because it has been in some ways the result of a dialog between the artist and the one for whom the work was intended. It has also been the result of a dialog with the viewer as well as the endless number of answers to the question about the world by anyone who is a part of it, but does not know as much about it as Domen Slana does.
Slana’s work — be oil, watercolour or gouache painting, or wittily crafted rustic chairs — has been created to enrich our daily environment and has been exhibited in galleries only occasionally (which actually is the main purpose of the galleries) and is not intended to be museum exhibit pieces. His work is like windows into a more beautiful, better human world through which a man looks with a longing full of unfulfilled and unrealized desires, but, if he makes a contact with the image, enters this world for a moment where his soul can rest. And this delight is not available only to the “initiated” professionals, but also to countless fans, who do not write reviews, but can say a lot about the artist from the bottom of their hearts.
Jože Hudeček