Artist Statement
Bujar Asllani
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Artist Statement |
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Bujar Asllani |
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In my paintings I don’t seek to tell a story, I am not interested in anecdotes or even detailed descriptions of objects. My obligation is to separate something from within and translate it in a strong subjective manner. Naturally the environment and migrations have their effect in me artistic journey. The Mediterranean region where I was born and molded as an artist, dictates the remnants of ancient cultures and legends, from the Illyrian and Hellenic enclaves to the great Roman and Byzantine empires. Although I have chosen not to imitate or borrow the same artistic mannerisms used by these cultures, I constantly sense the way their energy affects my use of color The 90’s brought an era of social transformation in Albania. The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe also led the way to freedom of expression. Nothing would have helped me better at that time than the technique of the monotype, for it allowed the quick transfer of my long repressed feelings onto a substrate. This memorable mark of events, I think, is very much responsible for the expressionistic intent of my art. The most important element in my works has been, and still is, the human figure. It is not so much the subjective approach that interests me as it is the internal emotional state. Generally I prefer to keep a position between the real and the surreal, reality and dreams, the objective and subjective. It is through this constant state of flux that I claim freedom of expression. I need to believe that my work has a certain presence of realism, just enough to intrigue or pull the viewer into the spiritual vortex I am trying to express. Emotion is of the outmost importance. It dictates the tools I use. Emotions also have their influence on my personal style, but I believe that by the time emotion has made its way to the canvas, the true style is already present. I never felt the need to search for any type of stylistic approach to my paintings, as I see style to be a natural bi-product of true art. The naive and somewhat subliminal interest in color as a medium, gives me the irresistible urge to violate the white surface of a canvas by throwing at it a restless play of tense lines and soft tones which start to unveil the image of the female figure. The moment I feel the first signs of this emerging subject, I seek more inner awareness so that I can carry my concept to a more peculiar sentimental stance, thus leading the way to a new kind of harmony of elements, never before experienced by me. This is what I consider a true quest for exploration. I don’t necessarily always hang on to a premeditated subject, as it has to withstand the test of execution, a process from which other more promising subjects often emerge. These new subjects are often mere visual concepts, but they often spark a greater hope for success, as they carry the fruits of random variations and non-premeditated expressions. These are subjects that I try to learn from and carefully observe. It is at this point where I let the new subject dictate the appropriate manner of execution. Often I have to painfully sacrifice the embellishments of interesting details in the quest to retain these emerging subjects in a new composition. To go through with this, I often have to distance myself from well established artistic values, do away with everything that connects me to them, and start using coarse tools, often unsophisticated, in order to go against the flow of well established values of harmony. It is in this place that I look for the catalyst of something sensational and when I feel that there is hope in this new creation I often think of Gete’s expression: “The biggest pleasure is that of creation.”
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