Through Genc Rodiqi’s Totems

“My totems generate their own full power when they are together”

On April 29, the Genc Rodiqi’s “Totems” exhibition opened at Europe House Kosovo in Prishtinë/Pristina. His works are inspired by a dark period in our society. They were created during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, they withhold plenty of color and vibrancy. We sat down to talk with Genc about his travels through all these years, which led him to “Totems”. In the following interview, Genc reveals his thoughts on his relationship with the world, art, and the depths of the soul.

Europe House Kosovo: You have serendipitously moved through various professions, all very different from each other, therefore, your relationship with art is not conventional. Can you tell us about this journey?

Genc Rodiqi: True, throughout my life I’ve been involved in different things and jobs. Life would be so monotonous to me if I only dealt with one thing. I’m not conventional in this regard, I need freedom. I just can’t tie myself to a certain profession or job.

I follow a life philosophy I have adopted since an early age and in which I believe even more after reading the books of the English author Charles Handy. Many years ago, Handy argued that society is changing, that there is no longer a ‘job for life’ like our parents had, for example, and that people need to have a ‘portfolio of skills’ to survive. This philosophy of life suits my character.

Often, humorously, when people ask me what I do, I tell them that I am a ‘lazy man with many trades’ or as they say in English, a “Jack of all trades, master of none.” I have switched through various jobs and professions, from being a shoeshine boy at a disco in London to being the CEO of three companies. My work has connected me with the world’s most renowned media brands such as: The Economist, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and many others, as well as with celebrities from the world of European politics and economics.

Since I have worked and continue to work in different industries and with people from different social backgrounds, I think I have been fortunate to create a different experience from people who only do one job and spend time in a single social circle.  This approach to life is unimaginable and very dangerous for many people, but these major changes and adaptation to different environments are welcome for an artist. This life experience has helped me a lot in my artistic creativity.

Europe House Kosovo: How was the “Totems” series produced? Was it a deliberate decision to start this series or did it just flow from your relationship with art?

Genc Rodiqi: In November and December 2018, when I was 52 years old, spurred on by friends and some family members who liked my works, I began publishing them on social media. At the same time, I started painting on canvas for the first time. At the beginning of 2019, I had the opportunity to exhibit these works at the “Gallery at the Club” in Switzerland. They were the works of a beginner in this field. So, I decided to advance my artistic work with more meaningful work, and “Totems” is the result of that.

Europe House Kosovo: Why did you decide to work on cigarette packs? What symbolism do they carry for you?

Genc Rodiqi: The idea came to me from an old habit. There was a time when, after smoking a pack of cigarettes, I would rip the pack open and paint on the inside, which is white. I would also draw on other things at hand, napkins, chocolate wrappers, and the like. Alas, I’ve lost most of these works.

During the pandemic, as I was looking for a new idea for more meaningful artwork, while looking at cigarette packs, I remembered that their transformation from an object perceived as something negative, such as tobacco consumption, into a beautiful object, is a metaphor in itself that would explain the main concept of this work, which is that with a little work and a little willpower, people can transform themselves, their family, society, and the world, for the better.

If we can transform a pack of cigarettes, which symbolizes a rather harmful habit, into a beautiful object, then anything is possible. People can, with a little work and willpower, transform their lives for the better, and by transforming themselves into better and more caring beings, they can impact their families and society in general.

That’s how things got connected. The opened pack was shaped like Indian totems. This is where the name of the cycle of works came from. Totems are recognized as spiritual objects in many cultures around the world. My other argument was, especially during the pandemic when it became clear that the world was not ready for such a crisis, that the world needs wise people to lead it, people who will care about nature and the spiritual side of our society. So, we need ‘spiritual leaders’, was the other argument. I don’t say this in the religious sense of the word, but because the world belongs to all of us and we should not ignore it and destroy it.

Then I thought, what if I chronologically documented a year of my life during the pandemic? Thus, 365 miniature works were born, each representing a depiction of my moods during those days.

Some of these works display clear messages, some are abstract, but all are influenced by the reality of my life, my history, my meditations, thoughts, memories, daily news, events, etc. 

Some of these works have clear messages, some are abstract, but all are influenced by the reality of my life.

Europe House Kosovo: Are these packs just a practical medium, or do they carry a deeper meaning for you?

Genc Rodiqi: As for the question of whether this medium is suitable for working in and creating artwork, I think it is not. The cardboard absorbs the paint immediately and leaves no room for any later intervention, improvement, or change.

On the other hand, there are also surface limitations, because you only have a certain dimension and a relatively small surface area to realize the idea.

The cigarette packs, in the case of this artwork, have done their job. In themselves, they have no symbolism other than the practical aspect of holding 20 cigarettes in one place.

Europe House Kosovo: Your work often addresses topics such as climate and political crises and social situations. How important is it to you that art speaks about reality?

Genc Rodiqi: My main preoccupation in life, as well as in my art, is the common person as a biological and social being, and how these major social, climatic, political, and economic changes affect their mental and material well-being.

I am a supporter of democracy and the free market economy, but since my youth I have noticed the defects of the capitalist system, which in many countries around the world is extremely harsh.

I hoped that humanity would find a more suitable social system for everyone, but I never imagined that I would be able to live in a post-democratic system (which prevails in the world today), one of world leadership by oligarchs. So, life for ordinary people, instead of getting easier, is getting harder.

For me, it is incredibly important that artists address topics from social reality and the environment in which they live. They may also be global themes, because ultimately we are also inhabitants of the same planet, but they should be fresh, original, themes that stem from their thoughts and observations, and not repetitions or copies of themes that other artists have addressed before them.

Europe House Kosovo: Your works are vibrant, full of life and color, although they were created at a difficult time for the world. Is this your way of resistance?

Genc Rodiqi: As for the “Totems”, it is true that they are made with very vivid, lively colors, often even fluorescent colors. The pandemic was like this; people needed positive colors that uplift the spirit and give hope. This doesn’t mean that I will use the same color scheme in the future.

One more thing must be understood – as a self-taught artist, my freedom of expression is absolute. I have no limitations from anyone and I have no fear of anyone, because I do not belong to the academic world of art, I do not need to prove myself to anyone.

I work spontaneously and have refused to take courses from other painters or learn from social media. My goal is for my art to remain 100% uninfluenced by anyone.

There is nothing more sacred to me than seeing the people around me happy, smiling, relaxed, positive, and with ambition and will to live – ambition to do things that will move us forward, into a better society for all.

So, if my spontaneity in art, naïveté, experimentation, humor, sarcasm, contribute even a little in this direction and resist negative phenomena in our society, I am happy.

Europe House Kosovo: In an interview you said that love is your main motivation to create. How does this love manifest itself in your art?

Genc Rodiqi: I will try to answer this question with just two practical examples, although there are many more cases and examples where my love for people manifests itself through art.

During the pandemic, especially during the lockdowns, I’d offer to the public a small work of art every day to draw their attention away from the disruptive situation that had been created and to give them hope that better times will come. I was fully aware that half the people would be happy to see them, while the other half would curse, criticize, and perhaps even mock me.

If my works had the attention of even one person during the pandemic, even for a minute, I would have achieved my goal. 

Fortunately, and to my great joy, Totems were welcomed by an entire army of people, not only from Kosovo but from all over the world. Engagement statistics (time spent viewing my work) on social media show a very large figure – thousands of hours.

If we add to this fact the time that people have spent discussing my works (regardless of whether they have a positive or negative opinion of them) at home, in coffee shops, and in various lounges, it becomes clear that I have achieved great success with my work.

Another example is that through my work I have helped many people of my generation find the courage to reveal and publish their works, which they have kept locked away within themselves for years. Our people are very talented. You have no idea how many people have contacted me telling me about the poems, paintings, songs they wrote during their lives, but never had the courage to publish.

We need to break the age taboo in our society, and I believe that with my work I have managed to alleviate this situation a little.

Europe House Kosovo: How do you feel when you see the entire completed “Totems” cycle – 365 works – displayed as a whole?

Genc Rodiqi: First of all, I feel very happy to have engaged in this cycle, and secondly, I feel very relieved to have completed it. There were various challenges during the 17-month production process, but I finally made it.

I feel happy that I did it, because I hope that at least one person will benefit from the message of the work.

I also feel happy that I have completed this cycle, because with the completion of this cycle, another stage of my life ends. Unleashing all those thoughts and emotions, which had accumulated over years and years, was therapy for me too.

We must understand that there are many people in the world who are unable to express their emotions clearly through communication. People carry different feelings within themselves: memories, experiences, successes, defeats, joys, traumas, sorrows. Art is a good way to express themselves, to get these feelings out of their bodies.

My totems generate their own full power when they are together. I see them as soldiers in an army, so I hope that in the future, wherever they end up in the world, they will always be together.

It’s a special feeling when I see all the works in one place.

Europe House Kosovo: Are you also passionate about music? Do you think there is a connection between color and sound? Do you experience them in an intertwined way?

Genc Rodiqi: I believe that in the universe all things are interconnected. Therefore, my answer to this question is: yes.

How I experience these things, is a little different.

If I am allowed to associate color with visual art, and sound with music, I give priority to music. In the sense that sound or music is something more divine than color – something that has no limits.

Colors, on the other hand, and visual art, although they are also part of the universe, are man-made and, in my opinion, have a limit.

I often ask myself: which of these two is the ocean, which is the universe?

I believe that color/visual art (which science says does not exist, but is only a manifestation/production of the human brain) is the ocean – in the sense that the ocean has a boundary, has a definition, even though it is composed of trillions of drops of water.

But music is something divine, inexplicable so far, and it is boundless.