Harabel Contemporary Art Platform is pleased to invite you to the personal exhibition entitled “Drawings of a lifetime” by artist Lekë Tasi. The exhibition is curated by researcher Zef Paci and Harabel Platform. The exhibition will take place at the FAB gallery premises in the University of Arts and will remain open to the public through 17-28 April 2019.

It is the first time Harabel Platform enables the exhibit of Lekë Tasi’s drawings and this is organized on the occasion of the author’s 90th birthday. For this reason we used the notion of parallels between birth and drawing as procreation, genesis as conception of the art work. The exhibition is a selection in the long-lasting artistic quest of a person who once lived in persecution, who, without being able to express himself freely through speech and writing, has used and keeps using drawing as a communicating tool in everyday life.

His drawings preserve the spirit of short stories, anecdotes, games, gossip; sometimes they convey something lustful. He seeks to attract and direct attention through what he draws to the hidden and unhealthy tensions that liven up the space.

About the artist

Lekë Tasi was born in Athens in 1929 in a family of Albanian emigrants. He studied music and worked as a cello player on Radio, Philharmonic and at the Opera Theater (1946-1967). Dismissed for political reasons, he was sent in exile in Myzeqe, where he worked in farming.

He was released in 1990. In 1991 he was appointed at the Secretariat for Religion at the Ministry of Culture and later to the Prime Minister’s office, where he contributed until 1998. From very young age he practiced painting; initially with graphics (aquarium, tempera, pastel, chinese ink, flomaster) and later he painted almost completely in oil. Although self-taught, even his earlier works have been appraised by well-known painters such as Mio, Buza, Zajmi and Paskali with whom he consulted regularly.

Lekë Tasi was a participant in the joint exhibition organized by the Soros Foundation (1992) at the Pyramid and four other times at the GKA (1992, 2003, 2007, 2015). He was part of another joint exhibition together with other painters Ll. Blido and R. Guci at the “Joseph” gallery (Durrës, 2005). He has been a participant at the Onufri exhibition three times during the ’90s; the last participation was in 2004 with the exhibition entitled “Prominent Places”.

Among his personal exhibitions we can mention those exhibited in galleries such as: “Exit” (Peja, 2005), “Zeta” (Tirana, 2012), and “DIDART” (Tirana, 2008-2012). His works have also been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Genoa Italy along with 25 other artists at the exhibition “Art in Albania – before and after the 1990” (November 2009 – February 2010). In Alba, Galeria d`Arte – Angelo Galeasso, he opened his personal exhibition “La Mia Açademia delle Ore Libere” (21-29 July 2014). In April 2016 he participated with 163 Albanian artists in the event Luciano Benetton Collection “Imago Mundi”.