A Berlin gallery has found strong demand for the works of a surprising breakout artist — and elected leader.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Tirana and later drew attention, as the capital’s mayor, for repainting austere Soviet apartment blocks in bright colors. Following showings of Rama’s drawings and sculptures at this year’s Frieze London and Art Basel Paris, Berlin’s Société said it sold about half of the 25 drawings exhibited, and was in talks with prospective buyers for three of his sculptures.
Blending elements of “expressionism, abstractionism and formalism,” Rama’s art constitutes a “new form of neo-Expressionism” influenced by Wassily Kandinsky, an Albanian critic told The Art Newspaper.