Under the leadership of the renovned painter Klavdij Tutta and his tireless and self-sacrifing team from the Likovno društvo Kranj (Kranj Fine Arts Society) one of the major festivals of fine arts in Slovenia and in Central Europe takes place in Kranj –  the International Fine Arts Festival.

Through the years the festival in Slovenia and internationally gained much attention and attracted many artists, their colleagues and friends, and other lovers of fine arts. This year 126 authors from 25 countries participate in it on the theme BLACK AND WHITE.

The central venue of the festival are the galleries of the Gorenjska Museum, where are presented 70 selected international authors, with an emphasis on collaboration in the Alps-Adriatic area, and Slovenian authors. The special exhibition presents one of the most prominent Slovenian visual artists Janez Bernik and his international contemporaries, Picasso, Dali, Vasareli, Rauchemberg, Dado, Mušič and many others. Selected international photographers exhibit at Layer House. In the Škrlovec tower, geometrists on the creative axis of Paris-Budapest met with the black-and-white challenge. These two cities pay particular attention to geometric art related to design and applied art, which is reflected in the architectural designs of graphic images of urban centers. Among the exhibitors of geometry we expose Janus Saxon, Charles Bezie and Milija Belić. In the Prešeren Award Winners of Fine Arts Gallery are presented Miha Maleš, Andrej Jemec, Marjan Pogačnik, Valentin Oman, Herman Gvardjančič and Milan Erič. Among the exhibitors are also international authors in the field of textile patchworks, representatives of local art production, architects, designers, comic strips and video creators. The residency at Layer’s House hosts artists from Zagreb. In different festival sections we also find SMBA award winners Eva Petrič, Branimir Ritonja, Marjan Mirt and Maruša Štibelj.

The festival nominees for the life achievements in the field of black and white, Žarko Vrezec and Milena Gregorčič, present their works at solo exhibitions.

During the festival Zveza društev slovenskih likovnih umetnikov (Association of the Slovene Fine Arts Societies) awards authors that most succesfully present the festival’s theme.  This year the life achievements award in the field of black and white received Črtomir Frelih, who has devoted almost 40 years to creation in black and white with a strong contrast between light and shadow. He professionally imparts his graphic and painting skills to young generations at the Faculty of Education of Ljubljana.