Luka Širok (b. 1982, Šempeter pri Novi Gorici, Slovenia) lives and works between Slovenia and Italy. He studied at the Max Fabiani Art School in Gorizia and graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice. Painting forms the core of his practice, which also extends into drawing, collage, installation and other hybrid visual forms.
Širok’s practice is concerned with the instability of perception and the transformation of the image. Working between figuration and abstraction, he approaches painting through reduction, fragmentation and the gradual destabilisation of recognizable forms. Architecture, landscape, interiors and human presence appear as partial structures rather than fixed subjects—fragments that move between observation, memory and reconstruction.
His paintings do not seek to describe reality so much as examine how reality is translated into an image. Forms emerge, dissolve and reassemble within layered pictorial spaces, creating a continuous tension between recognition and uncertainty. Light, darkness, atmosphere and silence are not merely thematic elements but active components in the construction of the image.
Across different bodies of work, Širok has developed a visual language in which abstraction and form remain in a state of negotiation. The painting becomes a space where the recognizable can lose its stability and the abstract can acquire structure, allowing meaning to remain open rather than resolved.
Painting remains central to his practice, while his ongoing experimentation with different media and processes expands the possibilities of the painted image. His work reflects on the relationship between observation, memory, perception and the construction of visual reality.
Širok has exhibited extensively in Slovenia and internationally, with solo and group exhibitions across Italy, Austria, Germany, Croatia, Poland, Serbia, the United States and Monaco. His selected solo exhibitions include OBEX VICTA (The Defeated Barrier) at Christ the King Church, Krumpendorf (Austria, 2026); Nič osebnega / Nothing Personal at Galerija Meduza, Koper (2026); I Pilastri at Joystick Space, Fondazione Malutta, Venice (2025); Shaping Changes at Y Gallery, Ljubljana (2025); Fra le righe / Between the Lines at Spazio Agorè, Gorizia (2024); Ein bisschen von allem at Galerie ZugänglicheKUNST, Pörtschach (2024); Metamorphosis of the Discard at ZDSLU / Consulate General of the Republic of Slovenia in Klagenfurt (2024); Macro Micro Expansion 2 at Vila Vipolže (2024); Macro Micro Expansion at the Dolenjski Museum, Novo mesto (2023); and RRRRRRR at MSNG Gallery, Nova Gorica (2021). lukasirok
His international exhibition history includes projects with Fondazione Malutta and Dolomiti Contemporanee, as well as participation in the Imago Mundi – Luciano Benetton Collection. Earlier international exhibitions include Most / The Bridge at Sztuki Gallery in Poznań, Poland (2010), Sketch it Out at APW Gallery in New York (2009), Art Takes Miami at Miami Beach (2014), and exhibitions in Berlin, Venice, Vienna, Dresden, Torino and Monte Carlo. lukasirok
In 2022, Širok received the Special Prize at the 18th Novo Mesto Art Days, presented through the Dolenjski Museum. His works are held in the collections of the Dolenjski Museum – Jakčev Dom, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, the Borkovsky Collection / Fonticus Gallery, and the Imago Mundi Collection.