Rovers Malaj
Rovers Malaj was born in Albania before moving to and growing up in Belluno, Italy. He initially studied
at Catullo Artistic High School in Belluno before completing a Batchelor degree in painting at the Venice
Academy of Fine Arts. Throughout his studies at the Venice Academy of Fine Arts, Rovers has found
working within a communal arts space invaluable. Through studying for several years under the
supervision of Carlo Di Raco he has gained understanding of different trends and possibilities within the
world of contemporary painting.
Rovers Malaj is a painter. He has a strong interest in translating everyday life into painting while at the
same time nurturing a particular focus on irony and playfulness within what he creates. Within his work
fish, birds and coral are recurring subject matter. With the occasional addition of portraits and still lifes.
As an emerging artist, Rovers is enthusiastically committed to creating, taking on new challenges and
continually seeking experiences.
Could you tell us more about your background and how you began creating art?
I lived in Albania until I was 9, then I moved to Italy with my family. I lived in the area of Belluno and attended the Tommaso Catullo art school. In 2015 I moved to Venice where I studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts under the supervision of professor Carlo Di Raco.
I never drew before coming to Italy, until I was 9 years old. Then, probably due to linguistic difficulties, in elementary school I drew monsters or characters inspired by Dragon Ball all day long. Before that moment I had never had the stimulus or picked up a pencil to draw. Since then it has become one of the ways in which I relate to and observe the world.
What does your art aim to say to its viewers?
My paintings show viewers something without telling them exactly what they are looking at. The paintings I make certainly don't focus on dramatic aspects. I think it is more that they want to keep the viewer company and entertain them.
Can you tell us about the process of creating your work? What is your daily routine when working?
I often draw a lot on paper, even the same subject more than once. Then on canvas there may be the moment in which I launch myself and maybe wet the canvas, or while the priming is still fresh I paint on it. However, I prepare the canvas and sometimes I also make a more or less precise drawing. When it's very precise I end up working a lot on it and it can become a bit of a cage. For a few years I painted a lot in oil, then with tempera and now I'm also using acrylics. What interests me is to combine pencil drawing with painting or in any case try to make the image work with few marks, even with the color very diluted on the canvas, almost like watercolor. Sometimes I use something that has already 'lived' as a base to create a new painting, such as a towel that I have cleaned my brushes on or a wooden slab that I used as a palette for a while.
Even the choice of subject often is not too serious or pretentious. Then later I grasp different possibilities, for example: in the seagulls fighting, a kiss can also be seen; in the aquarium you can glimpse the problems connected to the sea, to the bleaching of the corals. Even if maybe it's just an aquarium, a happy image, in the process of painting it and thinking about the work I happen to have many thoughts about what the subject is - and how it can grow and develop.
What is the essential element in your art?
I can't get serious. For example, I have composed images such as that of a jockey on a shark. I let myself be entertained and in general my tone in painting is playful. I use soft, clear colors, I transform the image. As if by painting it, I could turn a real situation upside down. Often my approach to painting is ironic, beyond the subject even in the way of doing things, in leaving the figures very light.
In your opinion, what role does the artist have in society?
It seems to me that in contemporary society the work of an artist is like a TV channel. What he shows feeds and influences his audience. Somehow we work in the field of cultural entertainment. Our "shows" have the possibility to both dull the audience and / or amaze and enrich life.
