Exhibition of Eshref Qahili in Chifte hammam

Towards the work of Eshref Qahili

The artist and professor Eshref Qahili will exhibit for the first time in the magnificent building of the profane Islamic architecture Chifte Hammam at our National Gallery.

The exhibition has an interesting title – “Museum of Childhood”. Through thirty works grouped in cycles, the author guides visitors through everyday events ranging from early childhood, through youth, to adulthood. Through elements of the explicit expression of the experiences, he tells about the meetings with the world capitals of art and the sessions with the artists from the region, where they exchanged many creative thoughts and experiences.

Qahili’s works are very close to the Paleolithic, Magdalenian paintings, which, through the line and drawing, capture the expressions of the hunt, presenting to us the animals, vessels, weapons used by the then people. In them, Qahili through the past reflects the present, and leads us to the future through his creative outlook through the artistic outburst. In the works, geometry, schematicism prevail, and the figurative representation is melted into symbols and various signs of religious concepts.

In the exhibited works, the figure stands out as an expressive model, inserted on a clean background, mainly white, but sometimes also colorful. The figure and the amorphous also meet on a blue background, which achieves the effect of artistic balance. Through the cycle of paintings “Museum of Childhood” Eshref Qahili takes us through the football fields of the game dominated by the line as a measure and perfect apparition of the selective organized gathering.

Maja Krsteska

Senior Curator