FROM NATURE TO THE WORKSHOP
Even during my studies in architecture, my work gravitated more towards the natural landscape than the built architectural environment. I wove dresses around old willows, stacked stones into spyral dry wall and created stick structures around trees, etc.
Balancing a regular job and family life, I adapted and moved my creativity into my home workshop, where I have spent the last decade handcrafting architectural models of vanishing Slovenian vernacular architecture. These buildings hold beautiful memories from my childhood, when I spent carefree summers in my grandmother’s old farmhouse.
I am still inspired by anonymous vernacular architecture, the work of simple masons and carpenters.
ARCHITECTURAL MODELS
My passion for model-making expanded to include disappearing vernacular architecture across Europe, America, and other parts of the world. Windmills, water mills, timber-framed houses, apiaries, covered wooden bridges...
The beauty of vernacular architecture lies in its simplicity and functionality. It is built sustainably, tailored to human needs, from natural materials. These buildins are no longer built, and the existing ones are falling apart, so I try to preserve them in the form of fragile wall art miniatures protected behind glass.
By creating and handcrafting these models I share my passion with you and bring the beauty and significance of our shared heritage into your homes.
VENEER ART
While making models, I constantly use veneer as a facade layer that covers the skeletal structure. At some point, I began using veneer on its own as a medium for a separate and distinct artistic expression. This led to the creation of low-relief sculptures made from veneer. At the same time, my thoughts began to free themselves from architectural concepts and forms, once again seeking inspiration in archetypal shapes from nature, ancient patterns...
It’s as if, in this creative journey, I am maybe somehow returning to my beginnings in a different way?
ARTIST BIO
Damjan Popelar graduated from the The Faculty of Architecture at the University of Ljubljana in 2002. After his studies, he made several land art projects in Slovenia, including The Stone Spiral, The Enwoven Willows, and The Pyramid-Tree, etc.
Since 2012, he has been more intensively engaged in Slovenian vernacular architecture. His clients includes not only companies and institutions but also Protocol of the Republic of Slovenia.
In the last two years, he has expanded his area of interest to include vanishing traditional architecture from around the world.
His works have been exhibited in Slovenia and abroad, including Faculty of Architecture in Munich , CEEC Expo in China, Apimondia Congress in Chile, at Mohogallery stand at Genova Art Fair in Italy, at Malamegi LAB in Venice.
He currently lives and works in Slovenia.