TIRANA, Nov 8 / ATA/ Prime Minister Edi Rama attended on Friday the opening of the exhibition by the painter Naxhi Bakalli on display at the premises of the Center for Openness and Dialogue (COD).
He described the exhibition as a beautiful display of lines and colors.
In this emotional moment for the professor and all his admirers, I want to share with you a few words about his paintings, but two moments of my personal experience with him.”
“I have a vivid recollection of the Professor as an imposing, silent character, always behind the glass frame of the door to his studio at the Artistic High School. Because of my height, I would catch a glimpse of him sitting at his teacher’s desk, drawing. Every time I see him now, I always remember that time, and it feels as though I’m stepping back in time and becoming very small in front of him,” said Rama in his remarks.
“The second moment is, whenever I watch films featuring scenes related to the work of monks in miniatures or calligraphy, I always think of the Professor. If you’ve seen the movie The Name of the Rose, there are many images of monks bent over those ancient papers, writing and painting.”
“There is also a third moment that ties both things together, that connects the person to their dedication to their work. You will see it somewhere at the end of the corridor, where there is a man and a woman in bed. It is the romantic postcard of the Professor’s unyielding love for his lady, and this is the first time I meet the Professor without his lady, who was not within his arm’s reach. ‘Where is the girlfriend?’ I asked. ‘She has stepped back a little to give the stage to the lover,’ he replied,” Rama quoted him as saying.
While speaking about the artworks by Bakalli over the years, the Prime Minister described him as a rare and valuable figure.
“I said something related to the inner content of what is hidden behind that character in the paintings, and what keeps everything together, where a very motif of life in communism has been taken and used to smuggle a way of seeing the paintings through the lens of the anti-formula of socialist realism, all the way to the newer works, which represent an advanced moment in the journey from the beginning of that painting,” he said.
“When you link up the paintings with the artist and the character, everything becomes entirely clear. There are nuances of asceticism and romanticism in Bakalli’s persona that make him truly unique. As for the legendary beret, I’ve only seen you wear it on two occasions: once, when you were sitting at the desk near the window in class, carefully placing it at the corner of the table, like Skanderbeg’s breast plate after returning from battle. The second time was in the painting, on the bed, where the beret cannot be worn, surely because that piece is one of your declarations of love. May you remain in love throughout all the years ahead! That’s how it will be, because you never give up, and you possess that inner light and passion that keeps you devoted to your work, a romantic ascetic. I hope that everyone enjoys this beautiful exhibition of lines and colors, and I wish that, after this experience, you all feel even better, thanks to Naxhi Bakalli’s merit and to those who made this exhibition possible,” the Prime Minister emphasized.
Artist Naxhi Bakalli thanked those present for attending the opening of his exhibition, calling it a rare moment in his career.
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