TIRANA, Oct. 23- Prof. Gazmend Leka is a great story teller. He has sealed his mastership by using a unique approach when telling stories about life and death. His preferred themes about Eva and Adam, Centaur and Minotaur, Crusaders, Kings and Queens, Pyramids, Pharaohs and Sarcophagus, Icarus, are told through symbols and metaphoric compositions.
Most of the stories are affixed on canvas, but a great number are painted on wood and therefore have a different appearance from normal paintings on canvas. Leka’s style is distinct by the coordination of colors, where semi-darkness is predominant, but significant light shines from inside.
“Color is, both for the artist who uses it and for the spectator who perceives and assesses it, the vehicle of the impression. Every color provokes different sensations. Though with identical functions, each color makes itself known by a specific vibration,’’ said Frank Kupka discussing the impact of colors on the emotions, drawing a parallel between the wavelength vibration and emotional vibration in his ‘Creation in the Plastic Arts’ from 1923.
Gazmend Leka is an Albanian painter who has been active since the 1980s. He studied painting and graphics at the Academy of Arts in 1978, and a year later he started collaborating in the interior design of the ‘’Gjergj Kastrioti-Skenderbeu’’ museum in Kruja until 1982. For ten years he was the artistic director of the animated films in ‘’Shqiperia e Re’’ (New Albania) film studio. Then, in 1991 he started teaching at the Academy of Arts (today University of Arts).
He has recently displayed another exhibition of 24 works called ‘’Prayer’’ at FAB Gallery. The concept speaks to the call the society needs to make in front of big verdicts, as prayer is the only thing that would put together the shapeless state of our country. This work comes as a prayer to each individual, that instead of cursing, shouting, hating or complaining, to pray and to work in compassion rather than heinous violence, as we’re all passengers of the same boat.
The ‘’Stories on Wood’’ exhibition of 40 artwork pieces will be displayed from 23 October to 4 November 2018 at the Kalo Gallery.
