Pleasures is the latest exhibition opened at Bazament Art Space, including the creations of a group of artists, such as: Shpëtim Kërçova, Idlir Koka, Vangjush Vëllahu, Iva Lulashi, Greta Pllana, Valdrin Thaqi, Brilant Milazimi and Irgin Sena. The exhibition is curated by Domenico de Chirico and will be open to the visitors from October 12 to December 4th, 2022.
The creations of the artists consist mainly in paintings, photographs and installations and are exhibited through all of Bazament’s space. The works touch on the entirety of the word pleasure, including situations that belong to its wide meaning, either in the inclusion of pleasure as possession/power, leaving an open path for some kind of mysticism in the treating, whether in situations included in the physical pleasure or those in the form of the image technique. Their concept is treated as an expressive language through image, as an opposition to the restrictive morality by expanding its interpretation into an all-embracing worldview.
The first space of the exhibition presents an installation of Irgin Sena, and then continues with a diptych made in oil on canvas by Shpëtim Kërçova, followed by a triptych made with photographs by Vangjush Vëllahu.
More paintings are exhibited in the connecting space between the two rooms, starting with Valdrin Thaqi’s work, then four paintings in the shape of a diptych by Greta Pllana. On the end wall there’s a woman’s portrait by Idlir Koka, and two more of his paintings are shown on the second room, accompanied by the diptych of Iva Lulashi and concluding with a painting by Brilant Milazimi.
Shpëtim Kërçova (born in 1968) studied painting and textiles at the Academy of Fine Arts in Tirana, where he graduated in 1991. His works usually analyze the human condition in the urban space, their relationship with nature and the themes of globalization. Kërçova’s most recent solo exhibition was Garden of Muscle Queens.
Idlir Koka (born in Tirana in 1979) lives and works in Tirana, Albania. His work explores the relationship between the show and its spectators, framing it as a contemporary regime and a new ideology of conformity. The public is the show and vice versa. The viewers become a show, often hypnotic and dependant of a new relationship/reproduction.
Vangjush Vëllahu (born in Pogradec 1987) lives and works between Pogradec and Berlin. Vëllahu graduated in the National University of Arts in Bucharest (Romania) and got his master’s degree at the Muthesius University of Arts in Germany (2016). Vëllahu counts several personal exhibitions in the country and abroad.
Iva Lulashi (was born in 1988 in Tirana) lives and works in Milan. In 2016 she graduated at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice. Her work starts from found traces, scene photos or frames that reflect the visual language of an Albanian story which was never lived consciously, where she begins to incorporate erotic films, mixing the border between communist propaganda in movies and healthy activity in nature. Iva exposed her creations in various spaces, such as: National Gallery of Arts (Tirana), Villa Brandolini (Treviso), Giovanni Fattori Museum (Livorno), Sincresis Arte Gallery (Empoli), Villa Rondinelli, Porcinai Archive (Fiesole), Miza Gallery (Tirana), Ca’ dei Carraresi (Treviso).
Greta Pllana (born in 1992) is an Albanian artist working between Treviso and Milano. She approaches various forms of art such as painting and drawing as tools for searching memories, origins and lost loves. Painting for Greta is an important tool for gaining knowledge and awareness of what used to be her country of origin. The anonymous memories of everyday life are often interwoven with traditions and symbols that draw her attention for the recreation of the universal moments of collective memory and beyond.
Valdrin Thaqi is a visual artist based in Prishtina. While studying in the Academy of Arts in Pristina, he initially focused on painting and later he worked in a more conceptual approach. His practice moves between experimental painting, sculpture, installation and intervention. He likes to deal with absurdity, existentialism and social stereotypes in his artwork. His work is closely related to analysis, whether biological or metaphysical.
Brilant Milazimi (born in 1994, Gjilan, Kosovo) lives and works in Pristina. His works deal with the function of personal and collective memory and its expression in paintings that seem familiar and strange. The ideas about trauma, hope, confrontation and freedom are transmitted implicitly and poetically in his works, showing his interest in the psychological underground of Kosovo.
Irgin Sena was born in Albania and lives and works in New York. In 2007 he received the “Ardhje” award for Contemporary Art and in 2012 he got the “Marian Netter” award. Sena participated in Multiplicity (New York); International Biennale of Moscow for New Arts and at the Biennale of Tirana in collaboration with Andrea Kuluncic.
