THE HAPP(N)IT EXHIBITION
ACADEMIC PAINTER NUŠA SMOLIČ
Bogenšperk Castle GALLERY
Duration: 27. 8.-31. 10. 2025
OPENING: 27. 8. 2025 at 18.00
With her fifteenth consecutive presentation at Bogenšperk Castle, the academic painter Nuša Smolič concludes the fourth chapter of her extensive and long-term project of solo exhibitions at national and international venues, and in the coming year the project will continue with a new exhibition, opening the fifth chapter of this broader artistic process.
The exhibition Happiness(n)is is an artistic and existential invitation to a deeper presence, to the recognition of gratitude as a fundamental inner source that transforms one’s view of the world. The starting point is therefore simple but powerful; happiness as a state of being and encounter as a space of contact – with oneself, with others, with nature – with life. When we become truly present, even the smallest moment expands into meaningfulness and invites reflection: what does it mean to truly experience?
The works in the exhibition are not only based on representations of the external world, but also offer introspective landscapes, spaces of feeling, thought and transformation. Through colour relationships, rhythms of strokes and the silence of the canvas, the artist explores the subtle dynamics between the visible and the invisible, between form and experience. Thus, a painting is not just an image, but an invitation into a space where the sensual meets the conscious.
Along the way, works of art become silent mirrors of our interiority, where aesthetic pleasure is intertwined with a deep inner response. The encounter with art turns into an intimate journey through one’s own feelings and thoughts. It is no longer important to understand what a painting “means”, but to recognise the reflections of one’s own essence in its image. Sometimes we are captured by the intensity of a portrait’s gaze, other times by the mood of a coloured landscape, or by the boundless freedom of an abstract composition that opens the door to our unspoken parts of ourselves.
In its silence, the exhibition opens up a space of awareness that happiness is not a goal, but a state of attention. That encounter is not an accident, but a choice that requires vulnerability and courage.
Happ(n)is a place of subtle power, an invitation to become not just spectators but participants. To encounter life with an openness that holds the deepest wonder. And in that wonder, gratitude – happiness.
Opening programme
The opening will be held under the honourable patronage of g. Blaž Izlakar, Mayor of the Municipality of Šmartno pri Litija.
The exhibition will be deepened with an art-theoretical perspective by curator mag. Ana Kocjančič.
The painter’s colours on canvas will be brought into physical form through musical performances by the versatile artists of Kryst.
The programme will be enriched by a solo dance performance by interdisciplinary artist Hanna Alhadi and musical interpretations by singer-songwriter Mario Sekola.
The opening will be fully moderated and announced by Neža Dacar.
WELCOME TO HAPP(N)Y!