Mariage

Albanian artist Edi Hila depicts the buildings of his country, frontier-zone between East and West. Standing witness as an artist to developments in post-Communist society, he says his unfinished buildings reflect “a tension between the transition to capitalism and the ways of life that prevailed earlier”. This painting shows a 4 x 4 decorated with wedding ribbons travelling through a deserted and impoverished town. In its gripping contrasts, it epitomises the Albania of the first decade of the new millennium. The distinctive treatment, combining illusionism with a focus on the material, confers a certain mystery on the painting.