Onufri 2010 visual arts competition announces participants

TIRANA, Dec. 8 – Twenty-seven Albanian contemporary artists have been selected to participate in this year’s edition of the Onufri 2010 competition, organizers said ahead of the opening of the exhibition on December 23 at the National Gallery of Arts in Tirana. The short-lifted candidates will display their specially created works in the competition named after Onufri, Albania’s 16th century most important icon painter whose works are on display at the iconographic museum in the southern town of Berat, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2008.
Sculptor Suzana Varvarica has been selected as the curator of this year’s national contemporary art competition, which in many of its previous editions was held as international exhibition bringing together artists from all over the world.
The majority of short-listed participants are young artists including newly graduates who will have the opportunity to display their creations along with some established artists.
This edition’s topic of the visual arts competition is “I am an artist,” which organizers say ‘reflects the real artist placed on stage which is both problematic and productive targeting quality through zig-zags under conditions of continuous transformation.’
Several artists from Kosovo are also participating in the competition whose winners will be announced early next year.
“This year’s exhibition is entitled ‘I am an artist’ and it aims at selecting a group of artists, who are well-aware of everything that happens today. We want to bring a figurative atmosphere, which will make the public think when looking at the work of art,” said the exhibition’s curator.
According to Varvarica, this topic has influenced a great number of artists, the majority of whom are young artists. “The second part of the concept is related to some questions, which I address to myself and to others. This increased their interest and made them apply for this competition. This makes me feel really good because 80 percent of the applicants are at a young age,” said Suzana Varvarica.