The magic of a group of artists who converted metal into living birds and insects are showing at Tirana’s Kalo art gallery.
Trash remains are seen by artists as spoiling elements, therefore they often convert it into artistic treasure. Important artists like Lumturi Blloshmi, Ardian Isufi, Vladimir Myrtezai, Saimir Strati (a five-time Guinness World Record holder for his largest mosaic works with nails, CD-s, wine corks, toothpicks, coffee beans, etc.) have all contributed with their creative work to raising the awareness for the necessary proactive participation of every member of the society in the safeguard of the nature, flora and fauna.
Artists have always been historically closest ally to nature, environment, landscape, water, air and big fighters against pollution. In such efforts to keeping the environment as virgin and pure they invited the society to enjoy recycling art, making it look rather special turned waste into value.
“So when Emanuel Koko, Benard Lekgegaj, Erisa Bekteshi, Blegina Hasko Bezo, and Endrit Demiri, (who is a lawyer and not an artist by background), proposed this very interesting exhibition, we accepted to welcome it not simply because it suggests and inspires recycling activity as an important life style today, but mainly for the artistic values each individual work/installation represents,” organizers say.
One specific element the concept of this exhibition conveys is the use of living things as the object for artists’ creative mind and hands. Birds, insects, etc. create a paradox when they are put in front of the humans’ activity of daily consumption of goods. The trashes they leave behind every day jeopardize the lives of innocent insects and birds, making some of them extinguish, if not becoming scarce. So the artists in this exhibition somehow use this metaphor in their works.
Since its opening in November 2014, the GALERIAKALO has turned into one of the busiest private run art spaces in Tirana, organizing sixteen exhibitions displaying hundreds of artworks from Albanian and foreign artists, including one exhibition in Ljubljana and one yet to come in Strasbourg. The exhibitions brought to the eyes of the public at large different views, concepts, techniques and dimensions as the real life is and as artists are.
The exhibition will be open from Sept. 13 to Oct. 8.
