» Ex Post Facto «
What could the various series of paintings from Gazmend Ejupi contain for us? What’s in them
for us to grasp when faced with the imagery of the different series? Is it about mere testimony or
does his language develop into something else, offering more than one simple reading – that of
witnessing to some historical facts? Most of all what method is he using to present his subjects?
These are some questions that pose themselves when looking through the different series of
paintings by Gazmend Ejupi. If one wants to find the right phrase that could coin his method, one
needs to follow the logic he’s using when painting his posters and it is obvious that his artistic
approach is some kind of Ex Post Facto, a Done After the Fact approach, a retroactive appropriation.
While movies are always a good way of achieving this, the posters are the tool normally used
to introduce the story they tell to the public. The posters with their bright colours, depicting
the hero or the heroine of the movie, in glamorous poses with big letters across them, have not
changed much since their early days. The only big difference is the technique in which they were
created; in a way they have been a constant presence throughout the changing times.
The painting in itself can be intimidating to a broad audience-the very same audience that that
admires these film posters designed to recreate history although they are, or can be in a different
‘league’ or ‘wavelength’.
By doing paintings to look like posters Ejupi wants to make them more accessible to the public,
so the public familiarize with them and the story behind it.
He’s choosing subjects that tease our knowledge of history and reinstates them within a new,
dominating iconography – that of the fiction film posters, investing them with a new, much fami-
liar and coveted status – the status of celebrities. His poster paintings though, acquire a new value
and reading only on a retroactive basis. At first glance they look like some old fashion film posters,
with faded glamour. It’s not until one is informed about the main characters that a play starts in
our mind, throwing into question our concept of history and the way how we actualize past and
present values. By combining poster aesthetics with painting techniques he confuses our
structured perception, while by retroactively appropriating the subjects, he opens up new
possibilities for historical critique, not only on past constituted history, but on current trends
and culture too. By the act of painting and not printing of the posters, he wants to enhance
the desirability of two familiar, yet estranged forms with obscure content.
Ex Post Facto – a sort of Back to the Future attempt that wants to warn us from what we were
in a distant future, not so long ago.
Edi Muka, Aferdita Statovci
Vernissage:
Freitag, 09. Oktober 2009 | 20 Uhr
Ausstellungsdauer:
09. 10. 2009 - 18. 10. 2009
Öffnungszeiten:
Sonntag, 11. 10. 2009 und Sonntag, 18. 10. 2009 von 15 – 19 Uhr
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Gazmend Ejupi nimmt teil an
T.I.C.A.B – Tirana International Contemporary Art Biannual
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