CATALOGUE of ABSTRACT ARTWORKS

ABSTRACT ARTWORKS 

UROŠ PATERNU 

2013-2015

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In this catalogue, which is curated as an exhibition, 

we are pleased to present abstract artworks, created between 2013-2015, 

of a contemporary abstract painter Uroš Paternu, 

whose paintings show virtuosity of color with an immense power and mastery of 

contours, shapes and compositions. 

I am wishing you a delightful and inspiring journey of discovery 

through the catalogue of abstract paintings. 

Zala Prislan 

UP Art Gallery 

Paintings are like a lock of ourselves 

and only the viewer himself can find his own key. 

3

BIOGRAPHY 

Uroš Paternu was born on 3. December 1972 in Kranj, Slovenia, Europe. He was already 

as a child looking for his own way of expression by drawing, painting and sculpturing. 

From 1991-1995 he was studying painting and he graduated from the Academy of Fine 

Arts in Ljubljana, Slovenia, where he also received the Master Degree in painting in the year 

2000. In the year 1996 he received the National Slovenian »Prešeren« Award for the 

painting »Wet living green«. And in the same year he also received the First prize for a 

postgraduate study from Ivan Napotnik Cultural Centre, Velenje. Only three years after 

graduating from the Academy he presents his first independent and comprehensive 

exhibition in Gallery Keleia, in Slovenia. 

In 2015 he was awarded with 2 Prix Award, International Exhibition Art Resilience, Musée 

de Peinture de Saint - Frajou, France. On their invitation he become an associate member of 

the Art Resilience movement in France. 

His work appears in various publications and his paintings are represented in corporate 

and private collections. Internationally his paintings have been exhibited in Japan, Italy, 

France, England and Portugal. 

He lives and paints in Ljubljana, Slovenia. 

In these post-digital times when the world is inundated with visual impressions of flashing 

images, in their hollow and perpetually formative existence, the artworks of Uroš Paternu 

are like islands that attract the viewer with their inner content and open up new questions 

which allow the viewer to meet himself face to face. The paintings are like mirrors that 

reflect his spirit, they are an initiation into spiritual concentration and ethical attitude. They 

are feelings of everything that has happened and will happen, feelings of horror, peace and 

joy. 

Uroš Paternu developed his recognizable and unique visual language in the nineteen with 

the theoretical interpretation of his own creative process, which is characterized by artistic 

analysis and systematisation. 

The artist sees the art of painting as a way to harness his thoughts and to ground the 

objects and the world around him on the basis of a dialectic relationship between the 

spiritual-conceptual and the physical-material, which is established by transposing the 

concrete empirical matter into its visual articulation. This passage from the physical to the 

spiritual, from immanence to transcendence, from observing to seeing, from reflexion to 

catharsis, starts with the first stroke of the brush and lives on in the viewer's perception. 

4

Although abstract art is an embodiment of the artistic freedom of expression it remains 

bounded within the laws of the painting media. The fundamental structure of each and 

every painting contains the author's concentration, sensitivity, contemplation and 

experience, which are inseparable from it and trickle through its layers as a contemplative 

mystery which the viewer discovers gradually, not at first glance, but through a process of 

perception, creative inspection and growth. 

The basic and most active agent and content of the artistic creation of Uroš Paternu is the 

color in all its range and dynamics, attitudes and relationships, in violations of the rules and 

freedom from them with an inner depth and visual form. More than the expressive or 

emotive expression of the morphological elements of the creation, Uroš Paternu favors their 

contemplative, universal side. 

He never uses colors as an empirical, associative, symbolic or evocative visual element, 

but rather eludes the mimetic and referential framework of perception. In color he searches 

for its dematerialized nature which in a creative process becomes a carefully thought-out 

composition, an echo of the artworks that resonates in the viewer's perception and gives the 

impression of being a vibrating living organism. 

His approach to the bare canvas consists of a ceaseless quest for new solutions, as if 

»hunting for prey« during which skill, deep concentration and determination are the decisive 

factors catching the eye of the spectator with an independent and perfected visual reality. 

The paintings come into being with either thoughtful or impulsive strokes, with smooth or 

rough applications of paint. The perceptive depth is created by sophisticated spatial cuts, 

color metamorphosis, internal segmentation of the color field and overlapping layers of 

color, from underneath of which allusive images from the deeper strata surface into 

existence. 

Uroš Paternu can be described as a true virtuoso of color and its space in all its variations, 

metamorphoses and compositions. He is a master of perfection in actualizing an artwork to 

create a newly established harmoniously aesthetic order. »I want to paint living paintings«, 

he says and he delivers what he promises. His paintings are full of color dynamics, tensions 

and contrasts, characterised by a sophisticated or a robust composition, bursting into life to 

the sound of their own music. 

By breathing through its colors a painting becomes alive as a perceptive living organism 

and develops its own personality and character. A painting becomes and remains a »living 

painting«, the fingerprints of the painter's intimate and intuitive view and understanding of 

the world. 

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Untitled 01 © 2015 

Acrylic on canvas 

(70 x 100 cm / 28 x 40 inch) 

Home collection 

6

2 Diptych ©2015 - Untitled 01, 02 


(140 x 100 cm/ 55 inch x 40 inch) 

Sold 

7



(70 x 100 cm / 28 x 40 inch) 

Price: 2.900€ 

8



(58 x 75 cm / 22,8 x 29,5 inch) 


9



(70 x 100 cm / 28 x 40 inch) 

Price: 2.900€ 

10



(70 x 100 cm / 28 x 40 inch) 

Price: 2.900€ 

11

Triptych no. 3 © 2013 

Acrylic on canvas, 

(50 x 70 cm / 19,6 x 27,5 inch) 


12



(50 x 70 cm / 19,6 x 27,5 inch) 


13



(50 x 70 cm / 19,6 x 27,5 inch) 


14



(50 x 50 cm / 20 x 20 inch) 


15



(70 x 100 cm / 28 x 40 inch) 

Price: 2.800€ 

16


Acrylic on wood 

(120 x 150 cm) 

Sold 

17



(50 x 70 cm / 19,6 x 27,5 inch) 

Price: 1.900€ 

18



(70 x 100 cm / 28 x 40 inch) 

Price: 2.800€ 

19



(100 X 100 cm) 


20



(130 x 160 cm) 


21



(50 x 50 cm /20 x 20 inch) 




(50 x 50 cm /20 x 20 inch) 


22



(124 x 220 cm / 49 x 87 inch) 

Price: 7.000€ 

23

20 Triptych 01© 2015 


(58 x 75 cm / 22,8 x 29,5 inch) 

Price: 1.500€ 

21 Triptych 02 © 2015 


(58 x 75 cm / 22,8 x 29,5 inch) 

Price: 1.500€ 

24



(140 x 100 cm/ 55 inch x 40 inch) 


25



(44 x 61cm) 


26



(60 x 80 cm) 


27



(50 x 50 cm / 20 x 20 inch) 

Price: 850€ 



(30 x 40cm / 12 x 15,7 inch) 


28



(50 x 50 cm / 20 x 20 inch ) 

Price: 1.300€ 

29



(25 x 58 cm / 10 x 23 inch) 




(30 x 40/ 12 x 15,7 inch) 

Price: 550€ 

30



(50 x 70 cm / 19,6 x 27,5 inch ) 


31



(70 x 100 cm / 28 x 40 inch) 

Price: 2.000€ 

32



(70 x 100 cm / 28 x 40 inch) 

Price: 2.900€ 

33



(20 x 60 cm / 8 x 23,6 inch ) 

Price: 500€ 



(25 x 58 cm / 10 x 23 inch) 

Price: 500€ 

34



(50 x 70 cm / 19,6 x 27,5 inch ) 


35



(50 x 70 cm / 19,6 x 27,5 inch 

Price: 1.500€ 



(30 x 40/ 12 x 15,7 inch ) 

Price: 700€ 

36



(140 x 100 cm/ 55 inch x 40 inch) 


37



(50 x 70 cm / 19,6 x 27,5 inch ) 

Price: 1.500€ 



(50 x 70 cm / 19,6 x 27,5 inch ) 

Price: 1.500€ 

38



(50 x 70 cm / 19,6 x 27,5 inch ) 


39



(70 x 100 cm / 28 x 40 inch) 

Price: 2.700€ 

40



(70 x 100 cm / 28 x 40 inch) 

Price: 2.700€ 

41

44 Triptych 01 © 2015 


(58 x 75 cm / 22,8 x 29,5 inch) 

Price: 1.800€ 

42

45 Triptych 02 © 2015 


(58 x 75 cm / 22,8 x 29,5 inch) 

Price: 1.800€ 

43



(140 x 100 cm/ 55 inch x 40 inch) 

Price: 5.000€ 

44



(25 x 58 cm / 10 x 23 inch) 

Price: 500€ 



(25 x 58 cm / 10 x 23 inch) 

Price: 500€ 

45



(70 x 100 cm / 28 x 40 inch) 


46



(70 x 100 cm / 28 x 40 inch) 

Price: 2900 € 

47



(20 x 60 cm / 8 x 23,6 inch) 

2 Prix Award, France (Sold) 

48



(70 x 100 cm / 28 x 40 inch) 

Price: 2.800€ 

49



(30 x 40/ 12 x 15,7 inch) 

Price: 550€ 



(30 x 40/ 12 x 15,7 inch) 


50



(70 x 100 cm / 28 x 40 inch) 

Price: 2.500€ 

51

56 Triptych 03 © 2015 


(70 x 100 cm / 28 x 40 inch) 

Price: 1.200€ 

52



(70 x 100 cm / 28 x 40 inch) 

Price: 2.600€ 

53

58 Diptych ©2015 - Untitled 01, 02, 


(2x70 x 100 cm / 28 x 40 inch) 

Price: single 2.000€ 

54



(70 x 100 cm / 28 x 40 inch) 

Price: 2.700€ 

55



(25 x 58 cm / 10 x 23 inch) 


56



(50 x 70 cm / 19,6 x 27,5 inch) 


57



(50 x 70 cm / 19,6 x 27,5 inch) 

Price: 1.500€ 

58



(70 x 100 cm / 28 x 40 inch) 

Price: 2.900€ 

59



(70 x 80 cm) 


60



(58 x 75 cm / 22,8 x 29,5 inch ) 

Price: 1.800€ 

61



(145,5 x 200 cm / 57,3 x 78,8 inch) 


62



(70 x 100 cm / 28 x 40 inch) 

Price: 2.700€ 

63



(70 x 100 cm / 28 x 40 

inch) 

Price: 2.500€ 



(23 x 69cm / 9 x 27 inch) 

Price: 550€ 

64



(110 x 160 cm / 43 x 63 inch) 


65



(130 x 160 cm / 51 x 63 inch) 

Price: 4.000€ 

66



(130 x 160 cm / 51 x 63 inch) 

Price: 5.000€ 

67



(30 x 40/ 12 x 15,7 inch) 

Price: 700€ 



20 x 60 cm / 8 x 23,6 inch) 




20 x 60 cm / 8 x 23,6 inch) 


68



(140 x 100 cm/ 55 inch x 40 inch) 

Price: 5.500€ 

69



(200 x 100 cm) 


70

BECOME A COLLECTOR 

Art, at times quiet, at times screaming, whether we like it or not, is an eternal companion 

of human existence and progression; it is an expression of the spirit and the creative 

moment of imagination. Being a part of this culture, we can only be richer for these 

experiences. 

A work of art is not intended for consumersatisfaction. Rather, it is an artifact which 

grows together with the soul of the viewer, the capital into which we invest our mental and 

ethical views. 

Any investment in spiritual art bears interest in personal growth. If our gaze becomes 

conscious and deliberate, we become privy to a story, whilst we must not forget that we are 

ourselves the creator of this narrative; the painting serves merely as leverage to our 

thoughts. 

Paintings are like children. When they are not there, we miss them; and when they are, 

they attract us, they entreat us, they scream and cajole or they speak to us speechlessly by 

their sheer existence. Paintings enchant us with the colors of life, inner structures and 

integrated composition. They conceal a testimony which becomes individualized and 

personified with the viewer. 

The invaluable and original works of art of Uros Paternu point to the aurhor's 

inexhaustible power of expression. His paintings – masterful renditions performed within the 

lawfulness of artistic reality – are testimony to the richness of spirit and become 

autonomous fields, vivid images of creative thinking. 

The works of art, which reflect the temperament of the author, are an expression of 

vitality and are in sharp contrast to today's empty cultureheedless of the questions on the 

meaning of life, the pursuit of order, harmony and aesthetics, which culminate in a 

responsible ethicattitude of man towards his fellow-men. 

An abstract painting requires that the viewer approaches it, that he stands before it – that 

is to saythe original not a reproduction. The abstract paintings of Uros Paternu allow the 

sopisticated viewer to enter into a world of self-reflection or self-interpretation where he – 

as a spectator from the outside– observes himself and analyses his own thoughts. 

His gaze becomes creative, his sensiblity awakens, a visual game is set in motion. Our 

imagination has no limits – we can imagine something which we have never seen before or 

something outside the realm of our immediate experience. 

At the level of individualisation a kind of self-awareness arises as a process of controling 

one's own thoughts. When our awareness couples with our memories, which in turn are 

bound by our experiences and culture, it is our thinking that we are able to control, analyse, 

direct and change. To be able to reap the fruits of this realization we should use our 

71

imagination to create new images and positive visualisations, which can help us in leading a 

better life. 

By using the metaphor of developing insight through observation the artist shows the 

perceptual ability of the painting to allow the viewer to bridge the gap between the 

subconscious and awareness. The painting accelerates the viewer's sensuality and 

perception and taking a different route leads him back to re-association and reconception, 

only this time at a higher level of consciousness whereby the spectator becomes the author / 

creator of his own perception. 

Paintings are like mirrors that change together with us as our perception of the world 

changes. This means that by way of self-awareness we become capable of feeling our own 

thoughts independently. And with this we can penetrate matter and change the world. 

A painting with its vibrant composition becomes an eternal companion of the inner 

dialogue. 

Think positive – think abstract. 

Imagination opens the door to the universe. 

And the universe is abstract. 

And the thoughts are the soul of the world. 

Zala Prislan 

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Uroš PATERNU, contemporary abstract painter 

Address: Mali vrh pri Prežganju 9c, 1129 Ljubljana, Slovenia 

Mobile Phone: +(386) 31-328-228 

E-mail: upaternu@gmail.com 

Web Portfolio: http://uros-paternu.wix.com/uros-paternu 

EDUCATION: 

1991 — 1995 Bachelor of Fine Art , Academy of Fine Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia 

1996 — 2000 Master of Fine art, Academy of Fine Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia 

2001 - 1st year of Master’s degree in restoration 

AWARDS: 

1996 »Prešeren« Award for the painting »Wet living green« 

1996 First prize for postgraduate study, Ivan Napotnik Cultural Centre, Velenje 

2015 2 Prix Award, International Exhibition Art Resilience, Musée de Peinture 

de Saint - Frajou, France 

Artist Bibliography: 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS: 

1998 Keleia Gallery, Celje 

1999 Bevisa Gallery, Grand Hotel Toplice, Bled 

2000 Gallery of the Union of Slovenian Fine Artist's Associations, Ljubljana 

2001 Electro Gallery, Elektro Gorenjska, Kranj 

2002 Gallery in Prešeren House, Kranj 

2004 Libbreria Triestina, Trieste, Italy 

2005 Schwarz Gallery, Ljubljana 

2006 Ljubljana Castle, Pentagonal Tower, Ljubljana 

2007 Gallery of the City Municipality Kranj, Kranj 

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GROUP EXHIBITIONS: 

1991-1995 Academy of Fine Art, exhibitions of student work, Ljubljana 

1996 Ivan Napotnik Cultural Centre, Ilirija Gallery, Velenje 

1996 Gallery Keleia, Celje, IX. International Weeks of Painting 

1997 Gallery Keleia, Celje, X. International Weeks of Painting 

1998 Gallery Keleia, Celje, Exhibition of young artists (Urša Berlot, Edvin 

Dobrilovič, Uroš Paternu, Mihael Rudl) 

1999 Fužine Castle, Ljubljana XI. International Weeks of Painting 

1999 Žula Gallery, Maribor (with Mihael Rudl) 

1999 Gallery of the Union of Slovenian Fine Artist's Associations, Ljubljana 

(new members) 

2002 Sakaide Museum, Sakaide Art Grand Prix, Japan 

2004 City Museum and Art Gallery, Piran, ex tempore (selection) 

2007 Exhibition in Kud Gallery, Trnfest, Ljubljana 

2008 Gallery Jugovic, Ljubljana 

2008 Gallery Kresija, Exhibition "Painting", Ljubljana 

2010 Gallery Ivan Napotnik, Velenje 

2015 International Exhibition Art Resilience, Musée de Peinture de Saint-Frajou, 

France 

PUBLICATIONS: 

1998 - Paintings of Uros Paternu, The meditative perceiving of Paternu’s paintings, catalog: 

Uroš Paternu; Milček Komelj; Tihomir Pinter , Gallery Keleia, Celje, Slovenia 

2000 - Uros Paternu: Paintings, catalog: Uroš Paternu; Milček Komelj; Tihomir 

Pinter; Tarcisia Galbiati , Gallery ZDSLU, Ljubljana, Slovenia 

2002 - Uros Paternu: Paintings, catalog: Uroš Paternu; Damir Globočnik; Drago Holynski , 

Gallery in Preseren’s museum 

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2005 - Uros Paternu: Paintings, catalog: Uroš Paternu; Mojca Grmek; Miha Benedičič , 

Gallery Schwarz , Ljubljana, Slovenia 

2006 - Uros Paternu: Paintings, catalog: Uroš Paternu, Jadranka Ljubičič, Ljubljana Castle, 

Pentagonal Tower, Ljubljana, Slovenia 

PERMANENT COLLECTION: 

AS Gallery, Adriatic Slovenica d.d. , Ljubljana, Slovenia 

MEMBER: 

2015 - Art Resilience movement, France 

VIDEO: 

"INSIDE THE PAINTER'S WORK" Creating,...painting,.. Work in progress.. 

Abstract artworks 2015 

https://youtu.be/rC9MQtcCAVM 

“PRIVATE INVESTIGATION OF AN ABSTRACT PAINTING” 

https://youtu.be/6emRWkllT34 

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On-line catalogue of fine art 

ABSTRACT ARTWORKS 

2013 – 2015 

By UROŠ PATERNU 

Edited and published: Zala Prislan 

All rights reserved to UP Art Gallery 

©December 2015 

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CATALOGUE of ABSTRACT ARTWORKS

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