Nik Hrovat W.

Lives and works in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Born 2004, Ljubljana.

Nik Hrovat W. composes scenes that refuse to settle into one reading: part picture, part theatre, part reality.

His large-scale oils question what we accept as real by default. Familiar figures turn up where they are not quite at home, on an uncanny stage where everything is a shade too real. He builds his own stretchers and primes each canvas the way the old masters did: the thinking is slow, the painting fast. Recent works include Chef’s Choice, The Amazing Production House and The Given World (all 2026).

He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts Ljubljana, Minerva Art Academy in Groningen and the Polytechnic University of Valencia. Recent exhibitions include EX-TEMPORE PIRAN 2026, Civic Gallery Piran (2026); Sveže ribe, Dobra Vaga Gallery, Ljubljana (2026); and Images of Inside, Minerva Art Academy, Groningen (2025).

Selected works

View all works

Chef’s Choice by Nik Hrovat W., 2026. A glossy orange toy goldfish lies on a blue cutting board beside a cleaver, watched by a crowd of chefs in tall white hats with bowed heads.

Chef’s Choice, 2026
Oil on canvas
180 × 120 cm

The Amazing Production House by Nik Hrovat W., 2026. Spider-Man stands in a green-screen studio under lighting rigs, beside a staged moon landing with a lunar module and an American flag, a blurred figure in a green cap in the foreground.

The Amazing Production House, 2026
Oil on canvas
180 × 120 cm

The Given World by Nik Hrovat W., 2026. A girl in a pink jacket stands with her hands pressed together, a dark shadow beside her, among blurred red-robed figures.

The Given World, 2026
Oil on canvas
160 × 130 cm

Masked Dance by Nik Hrovat W., 2026. A crouching violet figure wearing an ornate turquoise mask, embraced by a pale figure against a red ground.

Masked Dance, 2026
Oil on canvas
100 × 100 cm

Nothingness is vast by Nik Hrovat W., 2026. A bowed monk in red robes among translucent figures, a magpie and a guardian face in green foliage.

Nothingness is vast, 2026
Oil on canvas
100 × 100 cm

Peace of Yushan by Nik Hrovat W., 2026. A monk sits beneath a twisting pine in front of a patterned green and ochre mountain.

Peace of Yushan, 2026
Oil on canvas
100 × 60 cm

Lotus by Nik Hrovat W., 2026. A figure meditates in the lotus position inside an arch of glowing forest light.

Lotus, 2026
Oil on canvas
100 × 70 cm

breath by Nik Hrovat W., 2026. Two seated figures merge into one against a field of blue and green with a red sun.

breath, 2026
Oil on canvas
100 × 150 cm

Promise of Yushan by Nik Hrovat W., 2026. A couple in black and red hold hands in a doorway, each carrying a red lantern, a mountain at dusk behind them.

Promise of Yushan, 2026
Oil on canvas
60 × 60 cm

Who are the ones that want to see? by Nik Hrovat W., 2026. A nude woman in a green chair surrounded by white owls and a dark horse, crossed by sweeping coloured ribbons.

Who are the ones that want to see?, 2026
Oil and acrylics on canvas
100 × 120 cm

AFTERIMAGE by Nik Hrovat W., 2026. Soft veils of pale green, pink and yellow over bare linen.

AFTERIMAGE, 2026
Oil on linen
50 × 40 cm

Upcoming exhibition

All exhibitions

Solo exhibition Another Aquarium Painting exhibition Gallery Wolf, Škofja Loka, Slovenia 27 November – 12 December 2026 Opening: Friday 27 November, 19:00

They say the fish is the last to discover water. An aquarium is a closed ecosystem whose inhabitants don’t know they live inside it and never think of leaving. Another Aquarium offers a second one, almost identical to ours. Almost.

Read the exhibition text

Nik Hrovat W.

Selected works

Upcoming exhibition

Newsletter