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By:
Enis Bytyqi
- 9 May 2024 10:00
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The first thing that comes to mind when the name of the artist Gjelosh Gjokaj is remembered is graphics, the thread behind it and the colossal activity that he has left behind with about three thousand works created during the decades of his career. For the visual art scene in the country, Gjokaj is known as one of the most prominent names of modernism. His works, such as the painting of the 70s, entitled "Sofra", are among the masterpieces of Albanian art. Just like its size, its importance is also translated.
That and other works of Gjokaj - who died on September 26, 2016 at the age of 83 - art lovers will have the opportunity to see them in Pristina in the third week of May. Within the framework of the annual program, the National Gallery of Kosovo after the success of the collective exhibition "Event of a thread. Global narratives in textiles" - which brought together local and international artists, offering different approaches to artistic work with textiles - will now offer part of the artist Gjelosh Gjokaj's activity, in the exhibition that coincides with the 90th anniversary of his birth. . Curated by Shkëlzen Maliqi, the exhibition entitled "Gjelosh Gjokaj's modernist journey" aims to send viewers on a retrospective journey of the artist's activity. Through this exhibition, an overview of the modernization period in Kosovo will be offered, even though the special name of Gjelos Gjokaj will be at the center of the exhibition.
"Gjelosh Gjokaj (1933-2016) is one of the most prominent artists of the Albanian modernism period. His work is of insurmountable value for the culture of the Albanian territories and the region. Apart from Kosovo and Montenegro, the worthy career of the artist Gjelosh Gjokaj also developed in Italy and Germany, where for four decades he lived and acted as a free artist. In Kosovo, Gjelosh Gjokaj has made an extraordinary contribution as a teacher and founder of the school of graphics and as a painter", says the press release issued by the GKK.
Further, there it is announced that the exhibition is held in honor of the artist's 90th birthday, even though in three months, on July 25, 2024, he would turn 91 years old.
In the exhibition co-organized with the Embassy of Montenegro in Kosovo, which will open on May 15 in the National Gallery, works from two collections will be presented: From that of his cousin Sead Gjokaj from Podgorica, with 75 works of the artist - who had also published a monograph about the artist in April of last year with the title "Maestro Gjelosh Gjokaj" - and with 18 works of the artist from the fund of the National Gallery of Kosovo.
Gjelosh Gjokaj was born on July 25, 1933 in the village of Milesh near Tuzi, the area of Malësë i Madhe in Montenegro. It comes from a well-known Albanian family, of the well-known mountain leader Baca Kurt Gjokaj. He completed industrial high school in Novi-Sad, while in Pejë he completed two years of art school (founded in 1949). For a short time he taught in Negotin, from where, in 1958, he went to Belgrade. Being recognized as a talent, he enrolled in the Academy of Visual Arts without a complete secondary education. Determined for painting, which he learns from the professors: Stojan Çelik, Lubica Sokić, Zoran Petrović, Miladen Srinović, to graduate in the graphics sector with professor Boshko Karanović, in 1963.
In the period 1964/1969, he worked as a professor at the Higher Pedagogical School in Prishtina, where he was one of the initiators of the establishment of the Faculty of Arts (1973). At the invitation of the Commission for Cultural Relations of the Federal Executive Council, he was chosen among the seven best Yugoslav painters and four graphic artists to present Yugoslav art at the VI Mediterranean Biennale of Painting and Graphics in Alexandria (1966). He graduated in 1966, at the Academy of Visual Arts (ALU) in Belgrade. In 1967, he participated in study visits to France, Italy and West Germany. Gjokaj decided to continue his artistic career in Italy, where in 1977 he received extraordinary recognition: he was declared the best painter in Italy for that year. By decision of the Government of Montenegro, in 2010, he was awarded the status of outstanding cultural creator.
Otherwise, the GKK comes with this exhibition with clear goals, in addition to the presentation of his works, the figure of the artist will also be honored.
"With these two collections, which are compatible, the achievement of presenting the entirety of Gjelosh Gjokaj's opus has been achieved, which was not realized even during his lifetime as a retrospective of this representative format," the press release states.
