Meet Gregor Purgaj

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Gregor Purgaj. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Gregor below.

Gregor , looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

Creativity has always been a source of pleasure and relaxation for me. Despite solving various problems, the process of work or creation always gave me a positive challenge and satisfaction. Of course, little things are very important here, such as relaxed coffee, good music, a full stomach. If these little things match, I am happy to approach the work.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I belongs to the first generation of the Slovenian street art scene. As a self-taught artist, my creations have gone from subculture on the streets to artistic painting studio and galleries in Slovenia and abroad. I am a recognizable artist of the Pomurje art space with a wide and active activity as a designer of museum and art exhibitions, as well as a designer of alternative music carriers (God Bless This Mess Records), various publications, posters and videos. My work is represented in the permanent collection of the Murska Sobota Gallery, the Hospital Gornja Radgona Museum and abroad (20×20 contemporary Rittana collection, Museo diffuso di Rittana, Italy).
Since here in Slovenia the art market has been reduced to the central scene in Ljubljana or limited by the title of academician, I support myself and my family by working as a technician at the Murska Sobota Gallery. Besides design and illustration, my main focus is painting. It’s hard to say why painting. Somehow it seems to me that this has always been in me, painting I mean. This physical contact, the crackling of the paint, the gadgets, the game is of great importance to me.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Work, not talk. This is such a saying here. Every thing that ever interested me attracted a strong enough interest that I wanted to study it. Of course, this is always related to art. However, as a self-taught artist, I was always looking through books and magazines either about contemporary art or about art history … artists I admire, design, materials … in short, it was and still is important to me that the things I do are made seriously and professionally as much as I can. My advice is to stay on top of things and delve into them as much as you can. Of course, don’t forget to stay true to yourself and maintain a sufficient amount of humor and enjoyment at work. So to speak, a healthy attitude and ethics.

Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?

Here I must say that I am grateful for the support of my family, which I have always had. Luckily for me, my wife understands what it’s like in the world of art, because she is a singer herself. It’s not always easy, especially since my daughter decided to continue her education at a design school … which means another artist in the house. However like I said, support has never been an issue. And of course it was never taken for granted.
But I am also lucky to be surrounded by people with whom I am friends and also collaborate as various artists, designers, teachers, art historians, collectors, gallerists… who give me inspiration and expand my horizons in various fields. Like say a recommendation of a good book, music… some secret in using the material or just their perspective on a certain matter. This is how I learn and will continue to do so as long as I can.

Contact Info:

• Website: non
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gregorpurgaj/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PurgajGregor
• Linkedin: non
• Twitter: non
• Youtube: non
• Yelp: non
• Soundcloud: non

Image Credits

Personal photo – my portrait – taken by Bine Šedivy