My project is connected with people I know and met in person; they are unemployed, isolated, depressed, and deep in thoughts about the meaninglessness of their own lives. They don’t want to change their dirty clothes and can’t live in the fresh air. This group of people is looking deeply into the past but also pay a lot of attention to social networks. Unfortunately, most of the time, they read misinformation about the present, increasing the illusion of isolated ideas and dreams.
National
North Macedonia
Albania
Kosovo
Mainly urban
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
“Empty Room” is a painting concept that comes from scenes of ordinary coffee shops in my hometown, an abandoned house, and streets of the city. This artistic concept will bring an atmosphere of lostness, the characters will stare at you and judge you, and they will protect your borders as a way to manipulate you. This atmosphere, through colors, will represent the monotony of life; on the other hand, the abandoned house will represent emptiness, all of this connected with calm faces.
"Empty Room" takes the overall nature of my city's small group of people, having connected with religion, politics, fake news, contemporary architecture, and social-modernist architecture. The architecture is engaged with heads on the wall's surface, table, window, door, gate, floor, table, and clouds as if they were living creatures. The portraits don’t have ears, but they listen carefully to everyone, especially the ones from EU countries because they can be rich and they may have a lot of money. The portraits have the aureola (halo) of the saints because they believe they are so. These people always wait for things to come from the sky because the sky and the space are rich, god is prosperous, and god can give them what they don't have. Ironically they are stuck in time and incapable of changing, saying more straightforward: they have been fossilized.
My artistic concept is focused on the current political situation in Western Balkans. I have captured the laziness of the region and how this laziness in working and spending time in bars has become part of the life of the mass. The political parties pay a lot for fake news, which has started to run in everyday life. They lie to the population and win the elections with the same lies by telling people that next election, we will be part of the EU. Ironically knowing that next year amounts of money will come from the sky and everyone will be rich, laziness and idleness become more substantial, and corruption becomes stronger.
Borders
Smoking/Rakija
Table
Streets
Isolation
The main objective of my concept is to transmit an actual image of social reality through experimental painting. How people judge and waste time and life, only moving their eyes from each other but not making eye contact. The sustainability of my project is in the final stage because this project started three years ago, and all this information is the result of continuous research. The literature I read, including European and Balkan literature, has been an incredible information resource. Also, getting to know different artists from North Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece has also played an essential role in better understanding and perceiving the social reality and how this reality is viewed by others. Above all, the main inspiration and what makes my concept deeply connected with the social dilemmas are the people I have met, talked to, and spent time with. These people are mostly unemployed and spend most of their time chatting in coffee shops, bars, and nightclubs. The majority, as a whole social problem, is that this laziness comes from comfort. Being surrounded by the European Union, automatically, we are in a comfort zone because we are practically surrounded by rich neighbors, and sometimes these wealthy brothers will give us something more. And this expectation and this illusion have seriously damaged the interests of citizens and villagers because when things do not work as they should, one of the children will undoubtedly decide to leave the country to work in the countries of the European Union, and this individual decision will become a social dilemma. This person should contribute by sending cash to his family, and in this case, it doesn't matter if they are poor or rich, the currency should be sent, otherwise you are worth nothing. This cash, which for developed countries is not a big deal, but for poor countries is a big deal, it creates a feeling of comfort, and people do not know the value of work and wealth.
The main objectives of my concept from an aesthetic point of view include sealing a stable environment that does not move at all, located in a comfort zone. Based on my experience and what I am creating through colors, the images do not resemble ordinary people, even though the inspiration is from these people. From an aesthetic point of view, the images created in my drawings and my paintings are more like the saints, but this is ironic for the man who created the communist system. Because from the revolutionary point of view, it was evident that this system tried to create a man who only aggressively know how to accept different points of view and has the ability to survive in different historical conditions. Through colors, I will create precisely this image and how these individuals who are still part of society today are creating obstacles to the healthy development of society because they do not accept different views and new points of view. By staying in a comfortable area, they invite us to stay in the same comfort area. Therefore, my artistic concept will be exemplary regarding the current social conditions because highlighting the contemporary aspects of society and the obstacles of the state, will touch on an even bigger social dilemma, which is protecting the wrong borders, the borders that are not ours. The emotions that go through the created portraits will create a connecting bridge through a generation that must necessarily cross this bridge. Therefore, through my art, I invite everyone to cross this bridge and break this wall of the current social situation that has been proven wrong by the young generation.
My key objective in my art concept goal is to create contemporary paintings (based on the drawings, sketches, and writings) on a very large canvas, and exhibit them at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Skopje, the National Museum of Fine Arts in Tirana, Fab Art Gallery in Tirana, Salon of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade, and Galeria Qahili in Prishtina.
This funding and award will allow me to appear in the exhibitions in North Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, and Kosovo, where I will promote my concept basic ideas. The seriousness of this award will give even more weight to my art project and will provide even more weight to my ideas on the current situation in society. This concept, which originates from the social reality, will inspire young people to pay more attention to the opportunities the EU gives us to promote our common cultural values. I have shared the opportunity to apply on this website to many talented artists who have graduated from the Academy of Arts, but they have expressed that they are still being prepared. This step to apply is likely because they have lost hope. My concept and this opportunity to support my artistic project will arouse great interest among talented young people to deal with art and, through art to promote change in society.
“Empty Room” draws lines between Balkan archetypes and mythology. The hidden meaning of being in a coffee shop or bar is related to the lack of communication between people. Technology can connect you with every part of the world, but they stay the same and don’t want to create any relations with anyone who proposes new ideas to them. Monotony and emptiness in a place surrounded by network connections are the main subjects of my paintings. I’m creating a link with new meanings behind monotony and emptiness and how these main subjects are related to technology, architecture, politics, and colors to build a stronger connection related to individuality, monotony, and emptiness. We fight the wrong behaviors by understanding and knowing the societal obstacles. Developing intercultural relations between countries is essential, and art can contribute to this. I have seen a lot of conflicts and speeches that lead to hate. A lot of conflicts happened because of silent hatred within society. This hate still exists, and I’m apprehensive about these things because this is not the way to the democratic development of our community. Fortunately, I was very young when I realized that love and a sincere desire to understand each other will help us reduce hatred of different national groups and build a better democratic future. And one of the tools to achieve this is art. One of my goals is to use art in order to reveal and show society these hidden conflicts that create obstacles to the prosperity of our state as one of the European countries. I believe that my art project is capable of doing it because “Empty Room” is indicated directly to these conflicts that I have been studying and facing every day.
The local craftsman will benefit from my art project because I will have to purchase the products from local art stores.
My concept is connected with people I know and met in person; they are unemployed, isolated, depressed, and deep in thoughts about the meaninglessness of their own lives. They don’t want to change their dirty clothes and can’t live in the fresh air. This group of people is looking deeply into the past but also pay a lot of attention to social networks. Unfortunately, most of the time, they read misinformation about the present, increasing the illusion of isolated ideas and dreams.
The main stakeholders engaged in my artistic concept are mainly the local painters with whom I have constantly communicated and from whom I have received different ideas that have helped me strengthen this concept. Some of them are very well known painters in North Macedonia. In addition, the local artists had an important role has also been played by the recognition of other artists from the countries of the Western Balkans, as well as the European artists that I had the opportunity to meet during my travels through the countries of the European Union.
In my art concept "Empty Room" the disciplinary basis during the inclusion was direct communication with the people I draw and painted. This communication process lasted for three years. From the information gathered, I managed to compile this project which consists of 35 completed drawings, more than 200 sketches and writings, and 25 completed paintings. Knowledge for this concept is also integrated with my learnings during my studies, contact with different artists, university professors, unemployed people, etc. Therefore, the duration of this concept is long because this concept has gone through a phase of construction and reconstruction.
Consequently, I was constantly faced with exciting situations and interesting events. These events date back to when I started to spend more time outside with people; it also happened to me to sleep on the streets, and this made me understand how much stray dogs and animals suffer in this country; I understood better silent people on the streets, with people who beg, with people who sell drugs, with people who judge everyone, with people who judge positively and with those who judge negatively. All this experience and this exploration of places and people are deeply embedded and have been a source of inspiration for my art and my concept.
I decided to make everything around a living creature, for example, the table, because the concept of monotony and emptiness becomes more noticeable by putting facial expressions and making them live as an essential part of the everyday life of the main characters. The people I have met will not make eye contact, even if they stay alone, even if you are at the same table or nearby, because the table is more important than the person to whom they are talking, and even when they speak, there can be a long silence between sentences. They will look at the table's surface, drink from the glass filled with rakija, and again look at the floor and window more than they will be looking at someone’s eyes. Something innovative in my art project is that the characters more or less resemble each other, and their faces are gloomy and in deep thought. This makes them seem like they are living in another world and that that world is more important than this world. The only difference is that their world is no less manipulated than this. The faces of the characters in my paintings look calm and are sometimes covered by light and shadows, which makes them seem like they are always thinking and living in the historical past. The table turns into a real character in my drawings and future paintings. The whole mystery of artistic works can be explained by the discovery of the table, the pen, and the paper. Everyone today knows the value of a notebook and a pencil, and various studies have even been written, but the table has always been left aside. With the table as a character, I want to shed light on the mystery of letters and how Aeschylus wrote his works when there were no books and basic libraries. The table in my paintings turns into a character and is part of the life of the characters that are part of my philosophy.
The results achieved by this artistic concept are the concrete work during these three years of research. Communication with people and professional artists regarding my work has also been an essential connection between the work and the result achieved. The impact of my work and the effect on people has been natural because, for almost everything I have drawn and painted, I have argued with people about how negative social phenomena are viewed from my side. I discussed all these negative phenomena with artists and the new generations who love change. All expenses have been covered by me.
The primary methodology used in my art concept is to stamp live scenes in the city through cafes and streets. My methodological work focuses on experimenting with different painting techniques, using other materials and various surfaces, such as boards, tables, and doors. My technique is a mix of techniques originating from the Renaissance, such as mixing tempera with eggs, to contemporary techniques; for example, after drying the enamel, I used acrylic or only enamel, then pastel, oil color, then pastel and pencils, etc.
The leading global focus of my concept is how technology and media hugely impact how the individual perceives reality. This virtual reality, which may not be true even when it seems as if it is true, has the power to arouse suspicious feelings in different generations. My art concept focuses on the impact of technology at the global level, referring to concrete examples in my country. The perception of significant technological changes brings negative thoughts to the perception of reality. Countries with little economic development are not ready to join such a world, and unfortunately, the Internet, social networks, and fake news have become more potent in adapting a network where the reader or viewer must be very educated. In my project, the gloomy faces, who do not talk to each other, who only look at the table, are lost in thought, turn into saints, turn into pornographers, etc., are all in a group that is influenced by different resources that they don't have control.
