Silvester Komel (1931 - 1983)

Komel was born on 5 September 1931 in Rožna Dolina pri Gorici (which at the time was in Italy) and died on 24 December 1983 in the same place (Nova Gorica). He attended the Ljubljana School of Arts and Crafts (applied graphics department). After a short break due to illness, he enrolled at the Ljubljana Academy of Fine Arts, where from 1953 to 1958 he studied painting under Profs Marij Pregelj and Gabrijel Stupica, not officially graduating until 1968. He visited Paris with other students from the academy in 1958 for the first time.
From 1958 to 1979 he taught art at primary schools in Miren and in Šempeter, inciting enthusiasm for the study of art in several of his students. He retired because of problems with his heart. In 1981 he received the Prešeren Fund Award.
Komel's development as a painter was marked by the late 1960s (when he was preparing for his graduation), when he abandoned the realistic depiction of Kras and Vipava landscapes and turned to abstraction. In this, he followed the Slovene tradition of a lyrical meditative mood, keeping the initial motif (the landscape) recognisable. Some of his works are quite large. He carefully constructed the surface of his paintings, which are marked with a tension or energy created by means of light streaming from the background and creating the illusion of depth and by means of intensely nuanced colours. In the late 1970s he turned his painterly gaze upwards, to the universe, selecting blue for his main colour.