At the end of 2024 and in an atmosphere of warming up the pre-holiday mood, we are pleased to inform you that on 16.12.2024 (Monday), at 7 pm, the exhibition of the fine artist and Professor Bashkim Medziti will open in the Chifte Amam gallery. The exhibition is a celebration of the 30 years of creativity of the academic painter Medziti and is entitled "Journey through Colors - Jubilee Thirty Years of Creativity". We will present the painting opus with about seventy paintings made in a combined technique, acrylic on canvas. Medziti’s creative journey has moved through several cycles, from his early youth, obtaining his degree at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Pristina to his current position as a full time professor at the State University in Tetovo.

Portraits and figurative art 1991 – 1998

During the first stage of his creative opus, Medziti had focused on creating portraits and figurative art. His approach is individual and deeply precise, reaching a fascinating impression and individualism with a strong emotional message. The tones are crisp and clearly expressed, as is the subdued animation of the perspectives. In contemporary art, figurativism represents a dynamic and complex phenomenon. In the case of Medziti, it is formed with a sense of pictorial elements in a figurative sense. He uses is it to explore identity, social conduct and relationships and the collective narrative. As a means of visual communication, figurative art enables the depiction of human form and its symbolism and it provides the opportunity for a dialogue between the observer and the art work. The compilation ranges between the form, space and emotional state. In ancient art, figurativism played a crucial role, which points to the fact that since early civilizations and up until contemporary art, the depiction of the human form was treated as a central motif which went through different styles and eras, adapting to change in technique, materials and conceptual approach.

Here, Medziti’s painting is grounded in a clear visual composition, whose fundamental element is the portrait or the form, and it literally corresponds to the situation or the event which he depicts through his work.

Expressionist landscape and sculpture, 1998 – 2014

During this stage, Medziti’s interest in expressionist landscape is remarkable and diverse, where the overwhelming touch lies in the harmonious palette that blends in the entirety of the depicted scene. He reflects the volume and density of the tones in an industrious and clear manner, and the landscapes acquire a vista of natural beauty. He interprets the reflection of the light with the greatest of ease and diligently approaches the motif, elevating it to a clear expressionist style. Creativity is expressed very powerfully, as is subjectivity of the artistic expression. The landscapes embody an emphasized value of emotions, grounded in the warm colors of the background and representing the motifs of the area where he was born.

During this time, Medziti had expressed interest in sculpture. He had worked on historical figures in realistic style, and every detail in these pieces however miniscule is precisely and proportionally done, expressing remarkable harmony and stability in their carving.

Abstract expressionism, 2014

The line is the oldest form of expression in the history of the drawing and it is used by Medziti in his painting as a dominant element to allow us a clear depiction of the chosen motif. The distinct, powerful colours which he uses to fill in the entirety of the canvass is one of his distinctions. At times he keeps close to the traditional motifs and unifies them with the modern, so as to elevate the functionality of the piece. Led by the urge to explore the lyrical abstract and rational consciousness, striving to experience the emotion, he intuitively shapes them with spontaneous expressive strokes. In fact using motions relevant to painting, he takes us to the desired stylistic synthesis with individual alteration. He instigates a reflection through the colors which bring this perception on a level to the specific phenomenon. The abstract paintings are sometimes defined by the artist as moves or strokes that do not really exist in reality, but rather they are an emotionally driven strokes accomplished through the colors. Unlike the figurative paintings, when the collage of lines touches Medziti’s canvasses there is a sense of the so-called absence of content, which is precisely the main tendency of the expressionist style in the abstract, and the module is the need for their interpretation. The artist takes us on an emotional journey and his main goal is to capture nature through the canvas, not in its organic state, but through the lens of his color palette. He now has employed a new approach towards the canvas and he is inclined towards the idea and the colors are his dialogue between the meaning of life and the expression of the inner most emotions and feelings. Unburdened by the spatial objectivity, he abandons the conscious projection of the painting and transports us directly into the creative impulse of emotional cleansing. Brushes and spatulas are used to uncover specific forms thereby achieving the effect of a recognizable reality.

A monograph with appropriate reviews of his painting path will be prepared for the opening itself, the exhibition will last until 16.01.2025 and the curator of the project is Maja Krstevska, senior curator at the National Gallery.