The White & Weiss Gallery opens the exhibition of Erik Šille, one of Slovakia’s most successful and outstanding painters of the middle generation, on 9 December 2020. The exhibition In medias res!, curated by Bohunka Koklesová, presents Šille’s latest artwork, a diary-like recording of his inner world in 2020, characterized by social isolation and one person’s loneliness. The paintings scream out the loss of safety and security, and we end up in a state of distress, exhaustion, no-exit, death, or disillusionment with the present. The colouring of the artwork contradicts the depressive content, which creates an interesting tension in Šille’s work. Emotionally, it captures a complex and complicated world in a way that destines any definitive interpretations to failure.

In his latest work, Erik Šille employs automatism, creating authentic watercolour sketches that present alienation, dehumanization, nondemocratic practices, migration, and a complete absence of respect or reverence toward people and humanity.  The curator of the exhibition Bohunka Koklesová points out that Šille works with emotional, often anxious characteristic flavour, and alluring scale of colours without being illustrative or descriptive. He works with diverse topics that are transformed into a chronicling  through his consciousness and skill. His small watercolours reflect his experience with multiple stays in Japan, and one can feel his affection for this country and the influence on him of Japanese culture and arts. In medias res! is an intimate human drama on the feeling of loneliness, and fear – not for onesself, but for the whole of humanity.