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By:
Enis Bytyqi
- July 19, 2024 18:48
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The expressionism of the artist Rron Qena is different when it takes shape in his oil paintings. In addition to painting as a primary match, he also offers a memoiristic approach to them, it is a kind of diary that documents his travelogues. Sometimes he paints his family members, in another picture he brings to life an alley of Pristina, the place where he grew up. But above all, it is urban art, it gravitates towards certain cities and living in them.
liveth Qena, who has been working with traditional painting for three decades, comes to the National Gallery of Kosovo for the first time with the exhibition "Roads that I know" curated by Lulzim Zeqiri. But with this exhibition consisting of oil paintings, among the mania of contemporary art sterility, Qena shows that traditional techniques still have their say and are hardly acceptable by anyone. The inner turmoil of Qena in the "Paths..." exhibition comes with 39 works like 39 stations, which represent his haunts in several cities such as Pristina, Berlin, Shkodra and Bremen, the current address of the artist. Although he cuts fragments from real urban landscapes, it seems that the first reality ends in his studio. There they take other forms, the artist's world is brought to life with an intimate approach, but one that resonates with anyone whose life has been intertwined with those cities.
The exhibition quarter, Lulzim Zeqiri, has managed to successfully build the connection between these stops.
Apart from art, Rron Qena is also connected by friendship, it was not difficult for him to penetrate the artist's world.
"Rroni and I studied together, we are old friends, I followed his work closely. There were moments when we worked together in the studio, we discussed art, dreams, the future as artists. We both live outside Kosovo and it made us think that this question of whether the artist has a homeland, what is his world, not only in his homeland but also outside it".
Beyond a primary analysis that can be made to the painting of Qena, the curator also highlights the psychological aspect in them. According to him, this touch is very present in the art of Qena. He singled out the work "Drunken Friends", as one of them which presents that aspect well.
"At first glance, as a compositional painting with this silhouette and these colors, it presents a certain depth of interpersonal relationships where with a certain state of mind people perhaps take the courage to discuss their dreams and that artists have always had it easier because of the universal language that unites them, art. And at certain moments we as artists have opened our horizon for art and creativity. It is a very brave work of his, it contains a certain poetic of his creativity and way of expression".
Among the exhibited works are also paintings by the artist, which touch on the beginnings of his journey with painting, but there are also some which are so new that the viewer can still smell the sharp aroma of oil paints.
"Hana Sleeping" is one of Qena's first paintings, painted in 1997, it depicts his sister sleeping, while "Last Greeting" made this year, which measures 70 by 60 centimeters, hangs nearby. an entrance to an apartment in Pristina.
The presentation at GKK was a dream for the artist himself and this exhibition, among others, is a reflection of his identity, which coincides with the European school of expression.
"While I was studying and growing up, I always dreamed of when I would arrive at the National Gallery, but then during the time it occurred to me that I had the opportunity to exhibit earlier, but the time did not connect until now. It's a privilege, it's the height of exposure. During the studies or the analysis that you do, it is a minority of people who can delve into expressive art and then I thought that if we have some details of the past, then we can also frame the majority. If there is national clothing, then many people accept it, but gradually they are starting to go deeper and with more abstract colors."
How respected and loved Rron Qena's art is was shown by the fact that many of the exhibited works are collected from the collections of the owners of his paintings. They were sold before the exhibition. The large turnout at the opening was another testimony. The architect and artist Eliza Hoxha was also there. "Behind the walls" was the painting of Qena, part of the "Roads..." exhibition, which is in Hoxha's possession. According to her, Qena's works deserve deep analysis and constant revisiting.
"I think that there is a dual approach, because Rroni starts from a real stimulation of certain images or moments in the city that he describes through painting, gives them his own colors, adds other colors to them, the dreaminess of his looks and it then it makes Rronin the protagonist even if it is not seen, because it gives its emotion, includes you as well. Therefore, Rroni's paintings must be read and seen in different prisms to understand basically everything that is inside a painting, because there are many layers".
In an outline of this exhibition, it can be said that the artist's observation of all the landscapes and painted subjects is evocative, nostalgic, documenting and, above all, it is original and serves as a guide to the identity of a city and an artist in it. .
