IRWIN

IRWIN is a Slovenian art collective founded in 1983, consisting of Dušan Mandić, Miran Mohar, Andrej Savski, Roman Uranjek, and Borut Vogelnik. They developed the retro principle, an approach that affirms national visual arts through eclecticism and the simultaneous use of diverse, often contradictory styles. Unlike postmodernism, their work draws on conceptual art traditions.

A key project is the long-running Was ist Kunst series, inspired by the Laibach group. Over thirty years, IRWIN has created hundreds of paintings framed in heavy black borders, exploring the ideological context of art. Their work appropriates and reinterprets socialist realism, Nazi propaganda, religious art, avant-garde movements, and Slovenian national iconography, prioritizing motifs over artistic style. All works are collectively signed, reinforcing their critique of authorship and ideological influences from both the East and the West.

Beyond painting, IRWIN engages in institutional critique, highlighting the exclusion of Eastern European art from the global art system. Projects such as Fra-Yu-Kult and NSK Embassy Moscow have contributed significantly to shaping the history of Yugoslav and Eastern European art.

IRWIN operates strictly as a collective—their works are never signed individually. In 2004, they received the Jakopič Award, Slovenia’s highest recognition in the field of visual arts.

Submitted by Gallery SLOART