OPENING: Wednesday, February 11, 2026, 7:00 pm
EXHIBITION DURATION: February 12 – May 22, 2026

galerie gugging opens the new year with a solo exhibition by the emerging artist Marko Djurdjevic. Step into the blue world of the Klosterneuburg-based artist and be inspired by his oil paintings and wood prints.

Marko Djurdjevic’s painting reads like an open diary. Memories, experiences, and places come together on his oil canvases and wood prints in a striking blue that has defined his work as a fundamental tone since 2020. This color acts as an emotional filter, a carrier of biographical layers, and a space for reflection. It points to a path that is not always linear, yet is followed with remarkable clarity and determination.

Born in Vienna in 2001, Marko Djurdjevic lives and works in Klosterneuburg. He taught himself painting and later the woodcut technique. At the age of nearly five, he moved into the Klosterneuburg children’s home, where he lived until he was eighteen. These formative years form the central foundation of his strongly autobiographical oeuvre. In large-scale oil paintings, the artist explores themes such as belonging, loneliness, security, and departure. Alongside nature and biographical places, animals play an essential role in his work—as early emotional bonds. One such memory is a lamb rejected by its mother, which Djurdjeviclovingly bottle-fed while living at the home. Another recurring motif is Djurdjevic’s dog Vincent, whom the artist adopted from an animal shelter in Sardinia and who has since become a constant companion and part of his daily artistic life.

galerie gugging director Nina Katschnig is deeply impressed by the focused dedication of the just 24-year-old artist, who has been represented by the gallery since autumn 2025:
“Marko Djurdjevic is an artist with his entire being. The determination with which he follows his path is truly unique. Marko paints every day and even sold his motorcycle in order to finance his catalogue. Whenever something in Marko’s life does not run smoothly, he goes to his studio in Klosterneuburg and processes his emotions in a new oil painting—transforming negative energy into something touching and lasting.”

The resulting depth, combined with the artist’s autobiographical motifs rendered in his distinctive blue, is palpable in his works and defines the unmistakable charm of Djurdjevic’s art. Alongside small- and large-format oil paintings, woodcut printing has become a central element of his practice. Djurdjevic taught himself the woodcut technique in the tradition of Werner Berg around two and a half years ago and even purchased his own printing press from Germany—another testament to the impressive determination with which the young artist follows his vision.

In his creative process, Djurdjevic is often drawn into nature in the middle of the night. Many works are created outdoors—in the Danube wetlands, the forests around Maria Gugging, or on Pionier Island—and later completed in his studio in Klosterneuburg. Raindrops, wind, dog hair, or other accidental traces remain deliberate elements of the paintings. Nature, surroundings, and the act of painting thus inscribe themselves directly into the works. It is hard to imagine a more authentic and biographical approach. Works by Marko Djurdjevic can be found in the Diamond Collection, the collection of Stift Klosterneuburg, the State Collections of Lowe Austria, as well as numerous private collections.

With Marko Djurdjevic, galerie gugging once again fulfills one of its core missions: to discover artists, support them from the very beginning, and carry their work out into the world—just as it has done for three decades with the Gugging artists and their national and international peers.

The solo exhibition Marko Djurdjevic – On the Path is conceived as a snapshot of an artistic journey in progress. It presents a young artist whose work already displays remarkable formal consistency, emotional depth, and inner clarity. We warmly invite you to accompany us “on the path” and look forward to welcoming you to the opening on 11 February 2026 at 7:00 pm in Maria Gugging, in the presence of the artist Marko Djurdjevic and the Gugging Artists.

Yours sincerely,

Nina Katschnig and the galerie gugging Team