In this exhibition – a specific intervention by Naim Spahiu in the premises of the Open Art Gallery in Prishtina – we come across a new cycle of works and previously unexplored territories where techniques and materials are closely related to a long process and ultimately result in artist’s public manifesto. The works are a part of the cycle “Time Swimmers”, an exploration of the relationship between time and human experience, where painting can be a powerful reminder of the human journey and where the artist intervenes each time with a result which is different from the other, but specific to the purpose of the exhibition with all perceived differences and similarities. Naim Spahiu’s paintings convey a powerful metaphor of trans materialization, where the material at the starting point is therefore modelled by time, where artist dives to give us another, metaphorical reading, which is then transformed into a completely different material, to a pictorial language. Metaphor is here something more, the abstract connection of one stratification to another, of one curtain to another, of one level of perception to another – for the audience it turns into a sensation that keeps it suspended between expressed language and materiality.
The title of the exhibition helps to understand the concept, as much as it divides the public into other perceptions of the curtain, between the notion of a hanging textile and the notion of a wall, a border. Even the Iron Curtain of the last century wasn’t a physicaly impassable border? Did we not, once we crossed it, encounter other borders – physical and mental – which were previously unperceived? And here, this artistic intervention brings us closer to our territory, identifies us with it, our mind combines what is expressed with what is hidden in a hybrid idea, where it is impossible to examine a painting without comparing what we know with what we do not know – Spahiu’s trans materialization does not require artistic language to express the abstraction of our reality, on the contrary, it conveys his idea of boundaries beyond material and process – what is born to be inside comes out and the opposite, what is outside of us” dives” deeper inside. Naim Spahiu’s public art thus turns into a deeply political art, his works are metaphorical processes that represent transitions and discoveries, from one reality to another.
“Behind a wall there are other walls” is a powerful call that does even more – it continues the extraordinary work of the Open Art Gallery which creates a direct and human connection with the suburban neighbourhood where it’s located. This exhibition aims to further melt the boundaries between public and private space, engaging the local community in an open and honest dialogue about the influence of art, politics, power, society on acute topics for the suburbs of cities – topics such as cultural homologation, gentrification, nationalism, migration, etc. This public aspect of the exhibition aims to create a space where beyond the “art public” of the capital of Kosovo, even residents or ordinary people can actively reflect on the barriers that surround them – those outside and those inside them in a community engagement.
About the Artist:
Naim Spahiu was born in 1978 in Mitrovica and graduated painting at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Pristina in 2002, in the class of prof. Esat Valla. After graduation, he continued his postgraduate studies (Master’s) and in 2005 got his Master`s degree in Painting. Since 2003, he started working at the National Gallery of Kosovo, initially as a exhibition’s coordinator, He was a Acting Director of the Gallery during 2021-2022 and Gallery curator nowadays. The artist’s work is presented everywhere, in various private and state collections in Kosovo and abroad. It`s worth noting here that the Glaisdorf Museum in Austria has three works by Naim Spahiu in its collection. He held 13 personal exhibitions, 7 of them are international exhibitions and has participated in over 100 collective exhibitions in Kosovo and various European countries. Currently, the artist continues his PHD studies at the Pedagogical Faculty in North Macedonia, for Art Methodology and Humanities.
BEHIND THE CURTAIN THERE ARE OTHER CURTAINS
Naim Spahiu | Solo Show
Opening Ceremony: 19.06.2024 | 20:00
Open Art Gallery Pristina (KS)
Curators: Ardian Isufi | Elton Koritari