Artan Hajrullahu in Japan removes the walls of the traditional Albanian house

Artan Hajrullahu has positioned his artistic approach on the local scene for a long time. It turns packaging materials into works of art. In small dimensions, it documents nostalgia, breathes irony and provocation. It does this by combining the traditional with the contemporary. The stories he narrates with art will also be spread in Japan, at the "Yokohama" triennial, in the eighth edition of the event named after him.

The echo of the "A House Without Walls" exhibition opened in September of last year at the "Sarieva" gallery in Bulgaria had caused the curators of this year's edition of the triennial to become familiar with Hajrullah's art images. Liu Ding and Carol Yinghua Lu from China had requested that part of the exhibition also be shown at the major art event. There are 34 works of the Kosovar artist that will take place in the Yokohama Art Museum, one of the main art buildings in Japan, opened in 1989.

The artist Hajrullahu said on Sunday that in the communications he had with the curators, they liked the same installation of the works as they were in the gallery in the city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The audience in Japan is the first outside the continent where the artist from Kosovo goes with art.

"Biennials and triennials give the artist the opportunity to continue a better, more sensational career for the future. I expect a lot from this triennial. This is the first time I am exhibiting in a country outside the continent. I think it will be something very expected for me. It is the other side of the unique style, I believe it will be well liked there. I think it will be something very good for my future", said the artist from Gjilan, while showing that the framing of the works is also part of the presentation of his work.

He draws with ordinary pencils and frames his works with cardboard that he makes himself. All these artistic choices lead to the perception of his work with a sense of poverty.

"This time the framing of the works is also done by me, not with fabricated frames but the ones I make as a work process. There is nothing fabricated. Even from the triennial, when they saw this way of installation as I had in Bulgaria, they liked it very much and asked to provide the works completely as they were, without intervention", said the artist, who is currently a painting teacher at the School Art High School in Gjilan.

Hajrullahu has participated in many local and international projects. He was awarded the "Artists of tomorrow" award in 2013, while in 2018 he was honored with the "Muslim Mulliqi" award from the National Gallery of Kosovo.

His last exhibition "A House Without Walls" opened the new season of the "Sarieva" gallery. The curator of the exhibition, the Bulgarian Vesselina Sarieva, wrote about the works that they present typical everyday situations and that the themes are accurate for Balkan life.

"They represent the typical Balkan objectivity and aesthetics of the past - modest furniture, wood stoves, workman's blankets, lace veils and watermelons, combined with symbols of modernity - televisions, rockets, automobiles and machinery. Coexistence with the objects are the images of family and community members - husbands, parents, children, brothers, sisters, aunts, mothers-in-law, colleagues, classmates, and others", the curator of the exhibition wrote about the works that will be located in the magnificent Yokohama Museum of Art facility.

The museum has a collection of about 13 thousand works of modern and contemporary art since its opening. A wide variety of exhibitions as well as seminars and art appreciation programs for both children and adults have taken place there.

The museum, which has been under renovation for three years, will reopen this March with the eighth edition of the "Yokohama" triennial.

Hajrullah's works that will take place in one of the spaces there are like a reflection of the everyday life of the past in miniature. They will be accessible to the public from March 15 to June 9, as long as the "Yokohama" triennial program lasts. The works that show the former life of families in the Balkans also fit with this year's theme of the event - "Wild Grass: Our Lives".

"It is important that as an artist you adapt to some extent to the subject and the time approximately. Artists always have their own form, concept in the development of their artistic work. Anyway, it is the details that are caught with the theme of the triennial, but not anyway to work on the theme. I do not develop my art for certain topics, but simply to develop a concept of my work", said the artist Hajrullahu, who practices painting and drawing in his works.

In his works, he presents modest furniture, wood-burning stoves, blankets and traditional covers. There are also modern elements, such as televisions, rocket cars. It also creates coexistence between close and extended family members. It expresses the intimacy of the development of life within the walls of the house.

Some of the works that will be presented at the "Yokohama Triennale" have been exhibited within the program of the European nomad biennial "Manifesta" in the 14th edition in Pristina in July 2022. The works of "On Love", as part of the thematic exhibition "Grand Scheme of Things", were like a sequence of memories cut from some intimate diary. With them, the artist dissected and restored the naturalness of human life.

"There were also some works that were in the 'Manifesto' and were also taken to a personal exhibition. But there were new works, but also others made in different periods of time, it was a mixed time cycle", Hajrullahu said.

It also includes some works that were exhibited at the contemporary art institute "Archive" in Peja under the title "Silence Took a Hold of the Rooms". With it, the institution started functioning in July 2022.

The works with small dimensions, where the narrative is placed in the packaging material of the products and it is also the background of the work, come as nostalgia and longing for the warmth in the family where the members share the same space for many functions, in the same way as it used to be .

Narratives from everyday life and memories are reflected in the artist's works. In general, the works refer to traditional themes, but also include nudity as a taboo subject.

"It is greatness and privilege for me, since I am the only artist there, I expect that the presentation and professional reception from art lovers and curators there will be very good as it gives an overview of the country as well. Simply, I expect a very positive color to be given in this case", said the artist Hajrullahu.

"A dream of home" made with wood colors on packaging paper material, where the imaginary landscape of childhood is presented, was one of the works that was exhibited in "Sarieva". Human superpower comes to mind first when seeing two people flying. The space near them is permeated by the smoke coming out of the chimney of a traditional house, next to which stands a tree. Below it, the artist has added a car inside the fenced garage covered with transparent material.

The very material used gives the impression that the event is the reality of the past. It gives the works the effect that the message comes about the past, without the need to interfere with the background of the objects presented.

In "Silence" the narration comes in the form of a postcard where the daily life inside the house is shown, namely the living room. Three women sitting at the table and another one resting on the couch are the protagonists of this work. A photograph of a man on the wall and a landscape painting hanging there, along with the chandelier at the top of the work, bring the intimacy of community living.

"The diary", "Floëer", "Bird", "Game", "Gallery", "Prom night", "ERCP doctor", "Marketplace", "Made in Albania", "Bathing Together", "Weddings", "A summer day", "Bride", "Home" and other works, some of which are also untitled, are expected to be exhibited at the triennial held in the southern city of Japan, in Yokohama.

This year's list of artists includes 68 individuals and collectives, of which 21 will produce newly commissioned works. Artists from all over the world will be part of the event.

Among them are: Danish Søren Aagaard, Belgian Dirk Braeckman, Élise Carron and Fanny Devaux from France, Chinese Chan Susan, American Larry Clark and Norm Clasen, Italian Raffaella Crispino, Carlomar Arcangel Daoana from the Philippines, British Jeremy Deller and others.

Folegj: Turns packaging materials into works of art. In small dimensions, it documents nostalgia, breathes irony and provocation. It does this by combining the traditional with the contemporary. The stories he narrates with art will also be spread to Japan, at the "Yokohama" triennial, in the eighth edition of the event named