The disease put him in a wheelchair at an early age, but with a great deal of stubbornness and desire for life, he overcame everything. He trained as a watchmaker at the ZUIM, but even at a young age a spark of artistic creativity was burning in him. First he drew, then he began to paint. However, he only achieved recognition in the field of art after retirement.

His works are characterized by excellent drawing and the perception and arrangement of colored surfaces into an artistically well-organized space. His talent - a tendency towards excellent drawing - accompanies him from portraits with red chalk, ink, through still lifes to vedutas. His vedutas: "Views through my kitchen window," depict the environment in which he lives and works. Clean forms, clean drawing, good composition lead to a good painting. The chosen techniques are suitable everywhere. His watercolors are a little "sharp", but he knows how to paint a good picture. The pastel technique "suits" him more than many others, because he masters it to the extreme possibilities of expression.

Still lifes show Branko Rupnik in a different light. In the studio, he places his own collection of flowers, a bouquet, an apple or other household objects that are within his reach on the table, and arranges them in the right composition. He tests himself and creates in different techniques. The correct selection of painting techniques further emphasizes his artistic knowledge.

Branko Rupnik is a painter who likes to play with drawing and create in other accessible techniques. He does not paint the motif like a photographer, but rather conveys his soul, a view of the world from his perspective, which is different, unique to him. Let us accept his works with our own eyes – perhaps we will also see his soul in Branko's paintings. If we look at his paintings in this way and take a piece of his creativity with us in our hearts, then his work was not in vain, emphasized art teacher Arpad Šalamon.

Art historian Dr. Cena Avguštin assesses the painter as follows: "In Branko Rupnik's formal paintings, we have recently noticed major shifts in content - from fantastic architectural landscapes to depicted compositions, in which, with the appearance of a new motif element, the apple takes on symbolic meaning. The apple has always represented a symbol of knowledge and renewal, but it can also take on a negative connotation if, as one of his paintings shows, the painter pierces it with iron. Rupnik's church architecture, presented in the painting, is not static; in a distinctly diagonally designed composition, the painter dynamically directs it towards an invisible transcendental goal."

At a solo exhibition in Gornji Grad, the exhibited works were presented by academic painter Terezija Bastelj. She said: "He still chooses similar subjects, things that surround him, still lifes, people who are close to him or those whose portraits are interesting to him in any way. He is also interested in the landscape, which is becoming more and more a painting object and no longer primarily a drawing object. Despite similar content choices, a series of changes are taking place in him. The previous compositional and coloristic closure and rigidity are increasingly being replaced by openness and relaxation. The slight drawing self-sufficiency in the classical sense is increasingly being replaced by playfulness and a willingness to take risks. That is why he is delighted by smaller color compositions that are no longer concrete motifs, but simply relaxed color formations. It is also good that he is taking up graphics, which is a broad field of art, but through individual experiments with various graphic techniques he gains valuable insight into the omnipotent diversity of artistic creation in general."

We will open the exhibition on Monday, January 12, 2015, at 5 p.m. on the first floor of the library.
It will be on display until mid-February.